what i find interesting is why there are so many people in your position.
i have modified my ke70 to the point of alot of ae86's are (4age, respray, coilovers, brakes, bucket seats, suspension, stereos, guages etc etc) and it has been my daily driver for the last 3yrs and the maximum amount of time it has been off the road was 6 days when i was respraying it. everything else has been done on weekends and completed before having to drive it to work on the monday.
my car has been reliable to the point where i can drive it to work everyday without a problem, there are times when i have had to drive to work with half the interiour not installd, but i still got there...
my engine is engineered so i shouldnt have any dramas with cops.
if your ae86 is causing you so much greif maybe you need to re think what you are doing, plan your mods better. and why "throw $6k at it" all at one time. do it progressively, so you dont need to have the car off the road for extended periods of time. and if you do one mod at a time, you can do them properly, and you can fine tune each mod as you do it.
on the other hand if you want a comfy fast car you can just drive, then maybe a nissan is for you.
as others have stated these old corollas are 25yrs old, you need to treat it like a hobby, not just a get around car. be prepared to be always fixing something. and they are NOT a sports car out of the box, you need mods to do that.
the other cars you mention, nissans, are sports cars out of the box, so they dont need as many mods to get them up to scratch, and they are newer cars...so you get newer car comforts and newer car reliability.
In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.
- Blaise Pascal
Firstly, you'll never be 100% happy and finished with either car. Everyone always says "just this, and that and the other and everything will be finished". No, it won't. There'll still be a new list of things after that.
Also, don't underestimate how much you'd have to throw at a 180 to make it clean, neat and simple.
Either way, you choose.
Hen
The big difference is the level of aftermarket support.
I built a 180SX track car for a mate, and literally it was catalogue shopping, the most fabrication that i had to do was to rivnut mounting points on for attachments. Thats it, everything was bought and just fitted.
Compare that with the AE86 and even my MA61 where ive easily spent more time fabricating things as i did on the entire 180 build.
I was in this position about 2 months ago,
I was pondering selling off the ae71(engineered 4agze,suspension ..etc etc) because it was just getting tiresome to drive around every day, No a'c and a fixed back just sucks when it comes to 3hour+ plus driving stint.
My options where to drop some cash on a daily and finish what was left to do to the ae71 or buy a car (s13,1804dr r32/r33) that would serve both purposes.
I ended up buying a falcon wagon and keeping the e71, my reasoning was
*whats the point owning a car that only half does what its meant too.
*Its awesome being able to drive where ever and not worrying about something breaking and being stuck
*No cops hassles, because one its a stock car and two your not tempted to drive like a tool on public roads
*allows you take you time modding your car so things are done right the first time and not dodgy
*You can get far more serious with your fun car because you dont have to worry about being defected
*You don't wear out your good car with needless daily driving, so your saving money to be spent on mods instead of on tires, fuel, bushes and oil
*buying a car some one else has modded will never feel right because there will be things you want done differently so you end up back at square one.
* And the main reason I found is I'm not going to be done with modding my rolla for a long time, you will always find little stuff that can be better,
Its why we are car enthusiasts.
to be honest, your going to end up spending 6 grand or more
if you keep AE86, your starting from a a higher point then you would buying a stock car again and could end up where you are now again with a different car and less cash
I found myself thinking almost the same thing over the last year or so.
It was an easy fix, just bought a daily driver which i dont care about, and which is so much more comfy too.
Daily driver = transport
fun car (ae86)= enjoyment
You cant really mix the two anymore.
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