Cheap cars that feel special

[Bradley1500]

I was going to say Jaguar XK, but as another poster has already mentioned these I'll go with a Mitsubishi GTO.

Don't see many about, and they certainly get a lot of looks when you do. And you can pick them up for a lot less than £10K.

[billzeebub]

Jaguar XK8/XKR
Range Rover (any)
Porsche 996
Audi A8/ BMW 750/ Mercedes S Class
Lexus LS400
BMW 6 Series

[R2T2]

Jag XK?

Surely that'll feel special enough

XK8 is definitely under 10k, might even get an XKR for that too.

[R2T2]

Nissan Silvia - Can be had for under 10k, and look epic!

[WarnieV6GT]

Any Alfa V6
6 series old and new
M3
M5
190e cosworth
w124 coupes (esp with AMG kit)
Porsche 944 turbo
Jag XKR

For me, for a car to feel special it has to have leather, has to look good but most importantly it has to be quite rare and have an exotic engine/note.

[Eddh]

Porsche 996 for 10k...

[8Ace]

Hooli said:

Any old Jag XJ.

Happy to agree. WBAC valued mine at £185. It's tremendously good.

[Nickbrapp]

Mk1 focus RS

[Joey Ramone]

Toyota Supra 3.0 twin turbo. 10K will get you a lovely example.

[Pat H]

I think this thread would be more fun if the limit was £3000.

Any V6 Alfa with leather is a contender. They may be flaky old things, but they look sound and feel fantastic.

My 60,000 mile 156 V6 is due a timing belt, which means that it can't be worth more than a grand.





And a few years back I sold this wonky Esprit for £3500.






But if we are allowed a ten grand budget, then how about a super rare 3.2 V6 GTV?

I sold one about three years ago with 20,000 miles for £9500.

From the driver's seat it felt and sounded incredibly exotic. It didn't look too bad either.

[SidewaysSi]

Honda Integra DC2 R. A fabulously focused machine for not much money. The race car engineering in it is really quite wonderful to a geek like me-I loved mine. Felt so much harder, sharper and plain enjoyable than cars worth 20 times as much.

[CAPP0]

I still think this looks pretty damn good, particularly given the age of the design (the car in the middle obviously!)

[Daston]

Ten grand certainly isn't 'cheap' in my book.

Around £5k is a good entry point to interesting cars This is what I got with our £5k

[nottyash]

my mk1 mr2 felt special. bought for 1000 pound and spent 3000 on it.

[white_goodman]

I think that despite their humble FWD routes, the Fiat Coupe Turbo and Peugeot 406 V6 Coupe still look very exotic and most people wouldn't believe how little you paid for a nice one.





Thinking new, which is quite a challenge. My wife's Fiat 500 Pop with the red and white ivory interior and optional leather steering wheel and chrome-look mirrors felt unbelievably special for less than 10k new (ordering a car to our exact specification helped). The other vehicles that we looked at (VW Polo, Mazda 2, Suzuki Swift, Peugeot 107) just felt cheap and cheerful in comparison.





I also thought that the f****** idiot comment was unecessarily harsh!

[danjama]

SidewaysSi said:

Honda Integra DC2 R. A fabulously focused machine for not much money. The race car engineering in it is really quite wonderful to a geek like me-I loved mine. Felt so much harder, sharper and plain enjoyable than cars worth 20 times as much.

I really have to scratch this itch, just as soon as I can stay away from MR2's!

And Daston, that looks just right for a Rex!

[AndyT77]

Mini Cooper S (BMW variant).

[LasseV]

AndyT77 said:

Mini Cooper S (BMW variant).

No way....

[MSamps]

MK1 MR2. Got mine for £1100 and probably the most fun for the price you will get

[AndyT77]

LasseV said:

AndyT77 said:

Mini Cooper S (BMW variant).

No way....

Your opinion differs to mine. No drama.