What's a good first Autocross car?

If you have a job as a pizza delivery guy or pizza maker guy and $5K saved up, autocrossing is not what you should be spending your money on. Get your race fix go karting at K1 Speed. Your wallet and future financial outlook will thank you.

If you must be financially retarded, then your best bet for autocrossing on a budget is a Mazda Miata, followed by a Honda Civic. Honda Preludes are not good track cars, the Eclipse ain't much better outside of a drag strip if someone dropped a built engine and monster turbo into it and that costs lots of $$$$$$

Mazda Miata is one of the best out-of-the-box autocross ready cars. But for this or any autocross car, to be competitive you'll need to have a second set of tires just for autocross track use that would be too soft / wear too fast to drive on the street, so budget another $1000 or so for the competition wheels and tires, and you also want some adjustable GAB shocks, budget another $1000 for the shocks. Oh and you don't have trunk/hatch space to carry 4 extra wheels to the track, so budget for a trailer to tow.

I started autocrossing 3 years ago in my Porsche Boxster. I was also a pizza delivery guy. I made $18/hour with tips working at Domino’s driving 100+ miles per day for delivery. After a year of saving up, I found a Porsche Boxster for $9700. Even with its near 50/50 weight distribution, light weight body, amazing handling, and my racing lessons, I lost to $3000 Mazda Miata’s. I ended up selling the Boxster and got a tiny lightweight Mazda 2, which is excellent in autocross and cheap to modify for the track.

Join the SCCA(scca.org). It costs around $80 per year for membership, but then you get discounts in autocross events and you get a subscription of SCCA autocross magazines and discounts at hotels and car rental agencies.

On SCCA’s website, you should find the results of autocross events. You can see a list of drivers, their cars, their classes, and their times. There are so many different classes for stock cars, lightly modified, heavily modified, track prepped, etc. Look at the cars you are interested in (Prelude, Eclipse, etc) and see if you find them on the list. That is a good way to tell which cars are good in autocross.

In any class that the Miata qualifies for, the Miata (MX-5) is usually king. That car was designed for autocross. In any class the Ford Fiesta ST qualifies for, that is usually the fastest car in the class.

I have never seen Mitsubishi Eclipses or Preludes at autocross events. Maybe because they are not so common anymore and most are ending up in the junk yard.

The Prelude does handle VERY well, but it is a long car which could make it difficult in very tight corners. The Eclipse handles well, but it is unreliable. In your price range, a Miata is best for the track.

Good Autocross Cars