polarbearit

Right due to a change in circumstances it looks like my mileage is going to increase from 20-25k pa to 30-35k pa

Now I want something flashish too and enjoyable to punt round B-roads and shift up and down the motorway... Not too worried about fuel consumption - I'll go LPG if its silly. Was planning on an R33 GTR, but given the increased mileage I'm not sure that the skyline is a good option. Got £20k, and may buy more than one car...

So far I've come up with a couple of thoughts -
M3 Evo
740 (not sure about b roads with this, but nice and cheap)
Supra (seen a couple of 100k + examples and they seem to hold up to the mileage well)
Impreza (Would go for a UK one for the longer gearing)
Legacy B4 (Tops out at 170mph so should be good for the motorway)

I'll probably keep the car for 18months /50k and I'd prefer something that won't suffer stupid depreciation! Any comments on the above are welcome, and any other suggestions would be handy.

Cheers,

Jon

47 NAT

The M3 sounds like a good choice. Its a good allrounder with great handling and a nice bit of grunt...and it has a nice bit of presence as well, in the right colour..Estoril Blue

Nath

Maz-old

Instead of a 7 series, get a 80,000 miler 5 series for about £8,000 and run that for a year or two (if you get a 535 or 540, you'll enjoy it) and a scoob (MY99) for about £11-000 - £12,000 with about 40,000 miles on the clock for weekends and when you fancy a change from the 5 series.

Both have resonable-ish mpg (around the 26-28 mark) and can be flashy if you want and have reasonable boot space and are cracking fun to drive.

Maz.

astraboy

If you want something real cheap how aout a carlton GSi 24v? Nice handling, RWD and stupid cheap.
astraboy.

carl

What about a 3.2 911? Get one with 100k miles on, run it for six months, send it back with 117k miles on and get another with 100k and so on...?

MattN

Lexus soarer 4.0 V8.

Mile muncher - low depreciation - faster than a UK scoob.

Olly

Buy 3 cars.

1/ A 944 Turbo. £11K gets you a mint, low mileage example. Depreciation proof. 250bhp. Its a Porsche. Should fit the A & B road criteria.

2/ A loaded later shape BMW 730i. Cracking motors, all the toys, go well, not too excessive on fuel. Glide up motorways. Will do the miles. Bargain well and a good, FSH 100,000 miler will be yours for £6-7K, especially in todays market. No-one wants 'em.

3/ A 205 1.9GTi. Wonderful, wonderful cars. Not as quick or as capable as a Scoob, but 10 times more entertaining. £2K buys a minter. Again depreciation proof.

Insure the Porker and Pug on cheap classic policies, and go have FUN.

Ed Hodgson

If you only get one car, the B4 is a very good compromise - best I've found so far, and you can buy a new one for 22K. Ride is not too harsh - better than a 3 series with sports suspension (and much better than an impreza), but it still handles well, and is very quick on the second turbo.

but
petrol consumption & servicing costs are high - like most subarus.
and it's an import

and
most of the time you just don't need that sort of performance, so 2 cars makes sense if you've got the room to keep them. I'm thinking about getting something cheaper for the road next time, & putting the spare cash into my track car.

Ed

polarbearit

Performance is important to me... Not sure about an old porker myself, 911's seem to age well, but 944's tend to look a bit tatty.

Id I went M3 Evo option I'd probably spend around £13-14k on a 96/97 car with circa 50k, and expect to sell it for 9-10k in another 50k, which I think is quite sensible depreciation, though I know running costs will be silly. I don't really want to go over about £20k for the cars, as I find it hard to justify bank loans for cars, so I'll stick to what I can afford with cash

Looking at a supra tomorrow, not the most sensible option but this one will leave me with plenty of change for a 7 series or something else...

polarbearit

Oh and as too more than one car, the most I've had at once previously is 4, the only problem I have is that I don't have a garage, just lots of parking space, thus far my cars haven't been vandalised, but I don't want to push my luck to much...

BOBBY G

Hi,
How about a Mitsubishi 3000GT?
They may not be the best handling cars on the road, but they are getting cheaper, performance is good, and they are reliable.

Another possible is an Audi A8 4.2 Quattro. Again, handling a bit jaded, but it is a bomb proof, comfy, sneaky quick machine!!

cheers

Bob.

polarbearit

Nearly bought an A8 at auction a couple of years back, would make a good second car, but values are likely to be knocked soon with the launch of the new one...

Driven a 3000GT and hated it I'm afraid...

Spudgun VI

nah jon, not selling my ibiza, love the little thing. keeps my evo blocked in at night too


if i were you? forget the skyline, its too many miles a year. buy a diesel **** mobile to rack up the miles in, and buy summat mega for the weekends/occasional use. evo4 perhaps? goodlooking in silver (for an evo) ayc, etc etc etc. get a decent one for 10k, few mods and bobs yer uncle...one serious car

ian_sadler

Worth looking at some Saab Turbos - Carlson, Aero, Griffen etc.

Good value, quick, run forever etc.

Ian

GaryC

With 50k in 18 months - any car is going to suffer 'stupid depreciation' unfortunatly

Fun, £20k, 35k/yr, AND slow depreciation just doesn't go

I would say best to go for two cars. An old £7/8k BMW/Merc, 325tds if you want to be very good, early 328i if you want some fun (bear in mind the E36 328 is as fast as a std Scoob in a straight line, and doesn't lose a great deal on the twisties), then with the £12/13k left over buy a proper fun car. Either a real weekend car (westfield etc) or an STi4 for a mid point compromise.

A 20k M3 will lose a fortune, AND be expensive to run a that mileage AND is that much of a fun twisty handler

I was fortunate to have a bigger budget and went for a 330d touring auto as a mile muncher, and a Diablo performance westfield for the weekend

Nothing that is great fun at the weekend is comfortable for 35k/yr, and vice versa. Go for two 'purpose designed' cars and you will have the best of both worlds


[Edited by GaryC - 6/9/2002 9:53:51 AM]