sti10

Tvr t350
audi s4
subaru wr1
lotus exige

any ideas how the wr1 compares to these other marques

what are the residuals going to be like with the new sti coming out soon.

any ideas or tips would be aprec'

thanks

Nevetas

Spec C for me, and some defi gauges with the change

scooby-zeus28

second hand m3 or an m5

corradoboy

Although similarly priced, this list is a little varied.

Tvr T350, wouldn't want to rely on it as everyday transport Sure, stunning performance, but in anything other than perfectly dry conditions you'd better be either a good driver, or very well behaved.

Audi S4, more comparable to the Scoob. Practical, reliable and obviously quick. Just a bit souless and uncommunicative for a proper driver.

Subaru WR1, although not the best Scooby ever made they are still an excellent car. Being so similarly spec'd to the 05 cars is sure to hit residuals, as they were really just an STi with a load of Prodrive options on. The only real benefit was the DCCD-A which is already available on the 05 cars, and is on all JDM STi's anyway.

Lotus Exige, stunningly quick and capable drivers car, but how long could you live with it daily ? More of a weekend/track toy really.

A more realistic list would be something like....

Scooby WR1
Scooby Spec C
Evo MR300
M3 (or 330 CS )
S4
350Z
RX8

Personally, with £30k to play with I'd either save a while longer and get a Scooby Type 25, or consider a late Z3 M Coupe and have a Skoda Fabia vRS as a daily. But that will change in 10 minutes

mick02wrx

Personally i would wait a bit and grab a new Vauxhall Moreno 5.7L V8.
You will get a handsome amount of change, no understeer and plenty of big smiles from the sound and back end fun(Oooh misses).

Not that ive ever driven one but every write up so far has been 5* and they look and sound fantastic on the telly.

Mick

eldudereno

I would go for the TVR.

subaruwr1

Wr1 everyday

igratton

A westi, trailer and tow car.

austen_wrx

T25!

Type R

Ive driven 3 of the 4 above.

T350 is not exactly an everyday car IMHO, the TVR is a handful on our British roads, and in the wet would be quite scary, Ive looked at a fair few, they seem to be knocked together reasonably well these days, and although not 100% reliable they are not half as bad as people make out. The power delivery is awesome, find a clear stretch of road and hit that loud peddle, which is quite starge as the peddles are weird in the TVR, took a while to get there, brakes were very very effective, handling was tricky on the back roads, and if you use full throttle you can feel the back end twitching. I really liked the look of this car, and now I have a 2nd car will consider next summer.

Exige S2 again I wouldnt have it as an everyday car, I currently drive a modded Elise, and I found the engine extremely noisey, and annoying on the 1 hour test drive I had, also the engine is not great, for those that call the VTEC/iVTEC engines the Toyota lump is a lot worse. Its great if you can keep it on cam, which on track is easy but on the road can be quite hard work, when on cam it flies . The handling as you would expect is awesome, the chassis is a peach, and makes up for the poor choice of engine. The S2 Exige uses the Yoko A048-R which is a road legal cut slick (I have these now fitted to my Elise), its is fine in dry/damp conditions, but with standing water, it aqua plains at low speeds so be warned. You would need A/C as the cabin gets very hot. The roof is removable which the dealers won't tell you. The brakes have been critiscised by some, but I found them to be very effective, combination of good grip from the tyres and not to sensitive ABS system. ABS in an Elise ????

Audi S4 compared to the above it is quite simply boring, it does everything so well, you feel like you're a passenger not a driver, not my sort of thing, build quality, dealer, engine, brakes, interior were very impressive, but when driving you are just another car, stealthy yes.

I havent driven the WR1 so can't comment.

I love the RWD small market producing car companies like TVR & Lotus, but as Ive found out, you will have problems, its best to expect them, but you get something very individual, and you get people waving at you, smiling, letting you out at junctions, very little jealousy, or amnimosity towards you're car which I like.

I think the decision you have to make is do you want a RWD play thing, or an all weather fast driving machine which is not so fun.

The Fixer

Buy a secondhand Impreza Spec C or EVO FQ300/FQ320 for £20K and find something else to spend the remaining £10 K on. If you buy new you'll only throw most of that £10K away in residual anyway.

Chris L

Interesting post from Type R. I would certainly try the 111R Elise. The Exige is a beast and even more extreme. 111R with air con and touring pack would come in around £30K (with a bit of negotiating). Well worth a test drive (I was very impressed) - it is totally different to a Scoob, but I didn't find the engine noise that intrusive. Perhaps it is more so in the Exige? If you have the Touring pack fitted to the Elise, it does include a bit more sound deadening material which may account for the difference.

T350 very tempting (one of my favourite cars), but I would be hard pushed to call it an everyday car. As the Lotus dealer I talked said (also a TVR dealer) - if TVRs were built half as well as the latest Elise we'd be laughing.

mightyyid

Eeer, that would be a 'Monaro' then - good cars for the price, but not the levels of quality you would 'expect' for a car costing that much in terms of European standards. It's just not as nice to live in as most others, but it all depends on how much you value this - plus it ain;t light on the wallet for fuel, and resale will be an issue with minimal numbers selling and minimal demand. But for the dosh - excellent for performance...

tozerman

If i had £30k it would be a 2 year old sti and a caterham.

GRIFF007

If I had £30k --- I would be £30k less impoverished..!

Used T25 - then look at the new S3 Audi when released - expecting 300+ bhp, 4wd, good build and the amazing DSG

Gutmann pug

964RS ............ westfield XTR4..........radical SR3

tuscan57

the tvr will be awesome BUT as mentioned a million times soooooo dangerous in the wet.... not that it stops me half the time just make sure your well awake before driving even if damp. but anyway i would/will be getting a used spec 'c' for around 20k when the tvr goes.....

hail-hail

I shall be keeping my eye on this thread closely as I will be spending between 30 and 35k early next year on what will be a third car.

i am currently set on a 996 with GT3 Aero kit, posssiby targa but yet to fully decide. I have been though a number of favoutires including a 348, E55 AMG, M5, M3, but these where when the car also had to be my day to day.
Now I have decided to keep a dailly runner (Mondeo ST24), i can afford to be a little less practical. I have yet to test drive anything as I like to have the money ready to spend before I do.

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but any other suggestions for me, along the line of a 3rd and playing only car around the 30-35k mark

mightyyid

My last car cost £36k and was a Porsche 993 - and one of the best cars I have ever driven, and regrettably beats the current Scooby in many ways (then again, it cost twice the price and was a1997 model so it should), but was a wonderful car to drive. If you like flat 4 engines, imagine what a decent flat 6 sounds like. Drive a 993...

Type R

The reason I have tried those cars is I was looking at changing my S2 Elise in the summer, and tried loads of cars with a budget of around 35K.

In additon I tried, VXR (Couldnt get a test drive, dealers poor), TVR Tamora, Evo 8, 2nd hand Noble, Boxter S, 350Z (Couldnt get a test drive for love nor money & dealer treated me like crap) Second Hand M3.

I found it really hard to replace what I already had, trying to justify another 17K on top of my car, none of them were 17K better, all had there plus and minus areas.

In the end I have thrown 6K at my S2 Elise

Dr Nick

Difficult to impove on a Scoob IMO but for that money I'd probably have a look at an EVO, Caterham or maybe go for a bit more comfort with BMW330d

hawkthescoobslayer

been through exactly the same dilema, ended up shifting my goalposts slightly , now ended up with my dream car.

the decision making was pretty ruf tho

in all honesty though i'd second the comments by corradoboy earlier

many cars look great and drive great but are terrible when you realise you have to live with them day to day every day.

spend plenty of time trying them all before you buy, your final decision make shock even yourself. Have fun