Can $3000 be turned into a good fast car?

[Freezepc]

What can I do with $3000? I would like a sports car, but cannot really afford a 20k one.

[CAptynCrunch]

That depends, what kind of car do you want? Do you want one thats fast at drag racing or one thats fast around a track?

Also, what kind of experience do you have with working on cars? everything you do could easily have it's cost cut in half if you can do installation/service yourself.

give a little more information as to what you'd like and then I'll make some specific suggestions.

[Freezepc]

I can do minor work myself. I'm looking for something reliable that looks nice and is decent, speed wise. I was looking at the older 1st gen 300zx's but the high miles on most of them turned me off. I was also considering an older CRX, but the low HP turned me off of that. Recently I have been looking at 240sx's.

[YogsVR4]

3K isn't much to work with especially when it also involves the purchasing of the car. If this is to be your daily driver, you'd be better off not looking at a sports car.

[Thepeug]

I think the CRX is a good idea. You could find a '91 for 2k or less (I saw one in good shape for $1800 the other day). Sure, the engine sucks, but you could get a fairly new D-series engine for pretty cheap. The D16Y8, for example, has 127 hp, and it would be at least a '96 engine. 127 hp doesn't seem like a lot, but in a car that weighs less than 2000 pounds, it'd be more than adequate for fun driving. You're not going to run 10's, but it'd be a fun, reliable daily driver.