On the other hand, the old adage of 'don't take a car to the track that you're not willing to walk away from' rings true. If you can afford to/don't want to blow it up, crash it, scratch it, or destroy it, don't take it to the track.
This is why I so badly miss my 91 Miata. You could pound on that thing for days on end and it didn't care. It wasn't the fastest thing, but those cars were built to run forever and be fun while doing it.
This is why I like Nissan's Z line so much!
You can pound on them day after day.
Sure you may need an aftermarket oil cooler for the 09-12 model years , or frequent brake replacements in the 04-06 non track models.
but those are easily addressed and everything else will be fine.
Also the dealerships were generous with coverage:
I once brought a 2005 Z into the dealer.
Just ever so slightly out of warranty.
Had track stickers and racing graphics all over (it was a club racer, but not the "Track" trim), aftermarket supercharger, big brake kit, etc etc.
The shifter was a bit notchy fron 2nd to 3rd (known issue in the community for some for 04 and 05 model years.)
The dealership could have easily said:
a) "You are 500 miles out of warranty, no deal"
b) "hey its compeltly drivable nothing is broken, we have no obligation to repair " or
c) "this is obviously a heavily modified and heavily tracked car, no deal"
All they said was
"if you want a new transmisison we'll give you one, even though you are out of warranty. there is an advisory out for those 04/05 syncros so we can use that to get you good-willed"
I was like:
" how cool is that, you dont mind its been heavily tracked" (I mean the car literally had Laguna Seca and other courses in outlines on the rear fender)
"No we dont care, its sold as a sports car, we'll give you a new tranny if you want it."
Contrast this to so many other brands.
That made me the Nissan Fanboy I am today.
PS:
Funny this is it didnt even need a new tranny the issue was pretty minor, and I was busy enough with a looming divorce at the time I never bothred to have them put ina new transmisison.
Worked fine for many years until I sold the car to another Nissan fan.
