Fastest cars for under £XXXX
Discussion
UKBob said:
What are the fastest cars money can buy (new or used, in good working order, no repairs necessary)
For:
£ 5k or under
£10k or under
And for a laugh, a couple of hundred quid.
I guess it depends on what you mean by fast, in a straight line, rounds twisties, to 60 etc.
My choices would be;
Under 5k, Nissan 300ZX or 200SX
10k - Mazda RX7, older skyline, caterham etc.
For only a couple of hundred quid though, Towmans car would be well up there along with maybe an old 80s hot hatch.
Do you mean fast or quick? 
10k will get you a decent basic second-hand superlight Westie or (maybe just) a Caterham, quicker than almost all Ferraris/Porsches/TVRs around a track*. But they are not that fast - generally topping out between 110 and 140 mph. (One of my sevens made it to 156)
* In 40+ track days I've once found a Ferrari I couldn't overtake in a race prepped Seven (but never a TVR or 911) - so there are exceptions - but EXPENSIVE exeptions!
Can't help with fast I'm afraid - well not for 10k anyway! - but straight line speed is overated IMHO (200 is just wind noise and wait for the tyre blow out!) cornering at speed is another matter and much more fun
Steve
10k will get you a decent basic second-hand superlight Westie or (maybe just) a Caterham, quicker than almost all Ferraris/Porsches/TVRs around a track*. But they are not that fast - generally topping out between 110 and 140 mph. (One of my sevens made it to 156)
* In 40+ track days I've once found a Ferrari I couldn't overtake in a race prepped Seven (but never a TVR or 911) - so there are exceptions - but EXPENSIVE exeptions!
Can't help with fast I'm afraid - well not for 10k anyway! - but straight line speed is overated IMHO (200 is just wind noise and wait for the tyre blow out!) cornering at speed is another matter and much more fun
Steve
I appreciate that UKBob has stated "in good working order" but when it gets to the really cheap stuff I wonder how fast one could realistically expect an old car to be. Say one had a 20 year old XJS that had been round the clock twice and was on its eighth owner. Would it be faster than my dad's 10 year old, one owner, 115bhp Cavalier with 80k on the clock. I'm thinking both would be worth "a few hundred".
Assuming that fast means laptimes round a track:
£10k:
Tuned up nutter spec Westfield (nowhere near as nice to drive as a Caterham, but would be faster for this money).
£5k:
Tuned up Westfield again.
I had a perfectly normal 550kg 156bhp Caterham (nothing monsterous in other words), and I only got overtaken twice on a trackday in four years - once by an instructor giving a demo lap in an M400, and once by a Caterham R300 on racing tyres...
Ordinary cars with windscreens and roofs don't even come close in performance - a totally different league.
Oh, and true to the spirit of the budget, my Caterham cost £230 a year to insure and still had the same tyres and brake pads on after 11,000 road and track miles! :-)
£200:
Are we allowed go karts? :-D
There's gotta be some dodgy almost about to blow up Sierra Cossies out there for this money :-D Alternatively, a 205 Gti 1.9 :-)
£10k:
Tuned up nutter spec Westfield (nowhere near as nice to drive as a Caterham, but would be faster for this money).
£5k:
Tuned up Westfield again.
I had a perfectly normal 550kg 156bhp Caterham (nothing monsterous in other words), and I only got overtaken twice on a trackday in four years - once by an instructor giving a demo lap in an M400, and once by a Caterham R300 on racing tyres...
Ordinary cars with windscreens and roofs don't even come close in performance - a totally different league.
Oh, and true to the spirit of the budget, my Caterham cost £230 a year to insure and still had the same tyres and brake pads on after 11,000 road and track miles! :-)
£200:
Are we allowed go karts? :-D
There's gotta be some dodgy almost about to blow up Sierra Cossies out there for this money :-D Alternatively, a 205 Gti 1.9 :-)
zippee said:
For only a couple of hundred quid though, Towmans car would be well up there along with maybe an old 80s hot hatch.
Cheers Zippee.
Rover 620ti. aka The Walnut Warrior. We had 135 out of it on a private track in France last week, and it pulls like a train. It seats 4 in comfort and uses slightly less fuel than SilverCerbs motor. Best bit - it cost £300 so i can absolutely spank the tits off it without worrying - if it dies I just leave it and get another. Oh yes, it has a fantastic keyless entry system.
UKBob said:
anonymous said:[redacted]
B`stard !!!
Whats with the entry system? I didnt have a proper look at your motor the other day
His immobiliser locked him out his car with the engine running whilst in France. Steve improvised and delicately removed a window in order to get in.
Under £10k? See my profile for some good candidates!
Mitsubishi GTOs are looking dirt cheap now, 3 litre twin turbo for bugger all cash. I know already they are not everyone's cup of tea but they are a lot of car for the money. 282BHP, 0-62 in 5.6, top speed reckoned to be 155 but with a few choice mods mine saw 160 on the GPS in 4th! Less than £5k now for a mk1 (pop up lights)
RX7 FD, their somewhat undeserved reputation for fragility has brought prices right down, £7-8k for a car that has had the engine rebuilt already (desirable). Roughly 280BHP and 60 times in the 5's but reducable fairly easily
Mitsubishi GTOs are looking dirt cheap now, 3 litre twin turbo for bugger all cash. I know already they are not everyone's cup of tea but they are a lot of car for the money. 282BHP, 0-62 in 5.6, top speed reckoned to be 155 but with a few choice mods mine saw 160 on the GPS in 4th! Less than £5k now for a mk1 (pop up lights)
RX7 FD, their somewhat undeserved reputation for fragility has brought prices right down, £7-8k for a car that has had the engine rebuilt already (desirable). Roughly 280BHP and 60 times in the 5's but reducable fairly easily
All those people syaing that a 1.9 GTi would be fast at £200 clearly haven't seen the kind of sheds advertised around the £1500 mark!
Whilst I have no doubt that there are some great examples around for £1k if you look hard enough, anything at £200 is going to be (severely) down on power and the gearbox will most likely drop out on the first 0-60 attempt.
Whilst I have no doubt that there are some great examples around for £1k if you look hard enough, anything at £200 is going to be (severely) down on power and the gearbox will most likely drop out on the first 0-60 attempt.
Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff