These Are The Most Fun Cars Under $15,000
Sky-high used car prices still have a few exceptions
The used car market, as it stands, is unfriendly towards budget-minded buyers. But there are still a few hidden gems scattered through the classified ads, secret cars that haven't yet felt the sting of rising prices. For the budget-minded enthusiasts, options are still out there — you just have to know where to look. Yesterday, we asked you all for guidance, and now we're back to compile the list. For cheap fun, look no further.
Mk.6 Volkswagen GTI
The low-hanging-fruit answer is a Miata, as it's pure joy to drive — when it suits your lifestyle. Unfortunately, my wife and I had to sell her Miata since it no longer suits our lifestyle with a baby on the way. With that in mind, my vote goes to the Mk6 GTI because it is crams so much fun (especially with an ECU tune) and practicality into a singular package.
I can carve canyons with my snowboards on the roof rack on my way to the slopes with 3 passengers, and still return 30MPG round-trip. I can fold the seats down when I need to pick up a new TV or grab a new set of wheels off Craigslist on my way home from work without a second thought. We'll soon have a baby in the back seat and a stroller in the trunk, which is not something the Miata would have accommodated. It's easy to parallel park in the city, and has great visibility in all directions – which is a necessity for SoCal traffic. And did I mention it has great safety ratings?
It may not be the most fun vehicle out there, but its versatility means that it's always ready for fun at any given moment. There are faster cars, there are nimbler cars, and there are more efficient & practical cars — but few manage to balance it all quite as well as the GTI. Mk6 have some known issues that need to be addressed, but if you find a well-cared for example (with the updated timing chain guides), you're in for a treat!
This may be a hot take, but the Mk.6 GTI might be the best the car has ever looked. I'll always have an emotional connection to the Mk.4, the cheap Golf of my childhood, but the Mk.6 has aged so gracefully.
Exocet
Miata is sorta the answer. Technically, an Exocet.
$9k for the Exocet Sport kit with shipping, plus $3500 for a lightly crashed NA/NB on Craigslist, with a few bucks left over for fixes and upgrades. This assumes zero cost to assemble it, but well, my time is worthless.
We did ask for a fun car rather than a practical one, so why not turn that dial all the way to the end and get something really interesting. Who needs doors anyway?
A Well-Loved WRX
A WRX they're in manual 80% of the time and if you don't crazily modify them they're pretty reliable and it's equally fast and fun to drive.
Nothing seems to hold value like a Subaru, but high-mileage GD-chassis WRXes can be found well below our $15,000 cap. If you're lucky, that'll leave room in the budget for you and the mad scientist to rip apart the block and replace the ringlands that are almost certainly fried.
A (Preferably Red) Barchetta
For a bit of european left field: Good Fiat Barchettas can still be had for less than 10k. So much fun to hoon despite FWD and pretty as heck inside and out. Here is a relly pretty red one with low mileage and in excellent condition:
Nothing's sweeter than a forbidden fruit, right? Gaze longingly, Americans, at the compact roadsters that will forever remain tantalizingly out of reach.
Triumph TR3
Triumph TR3 with bad cosmetics and good mechanicals can be had for this price. I have never owned one, but several long term acquaintances are also long term owners. The low cut door, lack of any sound proofing and direct mechanical feel never fail to put a smile on your face as a driver or passenger.
Everyone complains about the height of doors on modern sports cars, so why not buy an old car with comically low windows? Sure, a British roadster older than its owner may not be the apex of reliability, but who doesn't like a bit of wrenching?
Porsche 944
Porsche 944, they're getting old now (plus not at all fast by modern standards) and the very best ones are over budget, but they are great fun car to drive.
I love the idea that the 944 is getting old. The first model year for that car was 1982, exactly forty years ago. By that metric, Olivia Newtown-John's Physical is getting old.
Fiesta ST
Although I haven't had the pleasure of driving a ton of different cars, the single most fun/$ car I've ever driven was a Fiesta ST hands down. There's just so much spunk and it's always eager to torque steer you out of a corner (might not be fast, but is really fun at low speeds).
I was really close to buying one, but Michigan roads and my brother's reliability woes pushed me to my Mazda3. I'm happy, but I do sometimes long to drive a FiST hard again soon.
The Fiesta ST is a fantastic choice. I even came close to buying one myself, before falling down the rear-wheel-drive wormhole of the FR-S and Miata. If you have the means, I highly recommend it.
MR-2 Spyder
MR2 Spyder
Inexpensive, mid-engine, and bullet proof. Trackable, weekend-only, or DD.
And most non-Jalops will think it is WAY more expensive than it is. And it is not a Miata, it is better and LIGHTER!
Speaking of cars I've almost purchased myself, the Mister Two Spiders Georg is a fantastic option. Lightweight, fun, but still Toyota reliable. What more could you want?
Fiat 500 Abarth
Absolutely a Fiat 500 Abarth. I bought one just over a year ago for $7600 before prices jumped, they're probably more like $13k now. Currently turning it into a rally car.
Look, there are two simple ways to make a car better: Turbo noises and scorpions. Fiat, in its infinite wisdom, included both from the factory on the 500 Abarth and its crossbred 124 Abarth brother. That's Italian excellence.
Two Wheels Good
The most fun car under $15k is a motorcycle. Maybe 3 or 4 motorcycles even, so you can follow multiple whims. I will take no further questions on this.
Fifteen grand can get you a dual-sport, a cafe racer, a sportbike, and a cruiser, and still leave you with half your budget left. You could expand the list, throw in all your gear, and still not meet the price of a new Nissan Versa. The bike folks have it figured out.
LS Swap Your Garage
Fun? I'd say a 99-02 LS1 M6 F-body.
Now-a-days it will probably have north of 100k on the clock but you can still find one in relatively good condition for that price. Simple bolt-ons and you have a seriously fun car you can still row gears in and keep up with todays direct-injection turbo 4 and 6 cylinder stuff.
You could make the argument that mileage barely batters on an LS — they're designed so simply that they'll run on spite. Still, the idea of taking a relatively recent V8 and modifying it to keep up with four-cylinders is extremely funny.
986 Porsche Boxster
The answer used to be a 986 Boxster S (2000-2004).
However with increased values it seems that 986 base Boxster (1997-1999 or 2000-2004) would be the answer. Both are great, but the 3.2L Boxster S is no longer the underappreciated bargain it once was.
As long as you don't mind IMS anxiety worming its way into the black matter of your brain, a first-generation Boxster ticks every box: Lightweight, powerful, with solid handling even in the most base models.
Go Classic
An old 60s domestic convertible in running shape.
Sure you won't find the popular stuff or a concours shape car for $15k, but the unloved models are still cool cruisers now just by virtue of age, and running ones aren't very expensive. Bonus points for being fun projects to work on if/when they do break down.
Fun doesn't have to mean driving. Classic American cars are fun just to work on, with wide-open engine bays and simple construction. They're approachable as projects, and priced cheaply enough that anyone can get in on the fun.
Wrangle With Your Budget
As the owner of an NB I'll agree with the above suggestion.
But for my own suggestion, I'd go with a Wrangler. I realize this depends on your interpretation of enthusiast but you can pick up older but still perfectly useable Wrangler with a 5 speed and a soft top for less than 8k and head for the trails or the beach smiling all the way. It's hard not to enjoy a nice summer day in a Wrangler.
Around here, in the Northeast, Wranglers seem to hold their value forever. No matter the age, mileage, condition, or amount of rust, they never seem to get too cheap. If you find one under fifteen grand, look carefully but look quickly — if it's got an inch of its frame rails left, it'll sell within hours.
Fox Body
Hands down, there's no car more fun than a fox body Mustang. With 225 hp and about 300tq or rear-wheel drive fun, these are little bits of nostalgia that people typically remember fondly as they made appearances in countless music videos and movies. For kids of the 80s and 90s, these were the quickest affordable cars out there. It wasn't uncommon to see 5.0s in the school parking lot throughout the 1990s.
The fox body Mustang was made in mass numbers, and parts are readily available. They're infinitely customizable. With the right heads, intake and other little engine bits, those SBF motors can make some stout power. You can definitely overpower that chassis, which adds to the fun too. There was no ABS, no traction-control. It didn't even get an airbag until 1990, and then there was only one. Drum brakes were the only option on the regular production cars, until the 1993 Cobra.
These Mustangs were around before more modern models became the epitome of Cars and Coffee jokes.This era of Mustang has already bottomed and is on the rise. Some pristine examples have set records in the six-figures. Though it is getting harder to find good ones for <$15k. The market for these is hot right now, and for good reason. Here's a clean one at a fair price. https://www.carfax.com/vehicle/1FABP44E9KF256516
Plus, who doesn't like 4-lug wheels? These 10-hole wheels were originally on the pre-1987 GT, that then made their way to the LX.
I'm not sure I'd agree that there isn't a single car more fun than the Fox Body. After all, we live in a world that contains the FK8 Civic Type R and any number of drift-prepped Corvettes. Still, neither of those cost fifteen grand — the Fox does.
Honda S2000
Done. Everybody else is just wrong.
It may not be the cleanest S2000, but these are getting harder and harder to come by for prices that start with a one (at least, prices under six figures). The S2k may have the world's greatest factory seating position, and here it is for the very edge of our budget.
The Car You’ve Got
Whatever you have. It isn't what you drive, it is what you do with it that makes it fun. Go drive like you are having fun and you will.
Car is, on average, more fun than Not Car. Sometimes, the best option is to keep what you have and find more entertaining was to use it — and save yourself a bunch of cash in the process.