Fastest you can go for £3500

[egor110]

Cyder said:

I bought my 350Z for £3800. ~280bhp, 0-60 in 5.8 seconds.

Awesome value.

No 4x4 system to worry about , no tired old turbos and near as damm it on budget.

Did you have to do anything to it?

[V8covin]

300zx twin turbo

[Kenny6868]

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

Audi S8
Enough change to fill her up once or twice

[Cyder]

egor110 said:

Cyder said:

I bought my 350Z for £3800. ~280bhp, 0-60 in 5.8 seconds.

Awesome value.

No 4x4 system to worry about , no tired old turbos and near as damm it on budget.

Did you have to do anything to it?

Rear wheel bearing was on its last legs which cost me £250 to have replaced but that's it in the 3 months I've owned it.

Apart from that it's high mileage (120k miles) but has spent the past 5 years commuting on the M3 for miles so actually the wear level on components and inside isn't bad. It's even got the GT pack with the Rays alloys and Bose sound system.

I couldn't believe how cheap it was advertised, my first question on the phone was "what's wrong with it?"

[vinnie01]

this was under budget at 3400£ probably not super fast in a straight line but seems reasonably quick on a track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuHIemMF4kY&li...

[R8Steve]

andy-xr said:

Fastest you can go for £3500 and we're offering up Clios and Mondeos? The fk happened to this place?

OP - you need either a big engine or a big turbo'd engine. Ideally both, but that might not happen.

4.2 S Type @ £3995 negotiable http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaguar-S-Type-4-2-V8-6-S...

Skyline for under £3k; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1995-NISSAN-skyline-r33-...

Mitsubishi Airtech (Evo engine) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-MITSUBISHI-AIRTREK-...

Phaeton; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volkswagen-Phaeton-3-2-V...

Capra R; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-SEAT-LEON-CUPRA-R-B...

S4; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-S4-Avant-2-7-Quattr...

If it's all about going fast in a straight line, perhaps (although i suspect the clio will be faster than some of the above even at that). If there's corners involved the clio would leave pretty much all of them behind.

[FD3Si]

If you want a sensation of speed you need a turbo IMHO. Clio 1x2s and E46 330is do not 'feel' fast. In fact the 330i hides the sensation of speed better than most.
95 Aeros don't feel particularly fast in standard trim either

You need some 90's turbocharged Japanese metal - that might scrape you an S14a 200SX which, with cheap stage 1 bits will feel quite spritely. An MR2 Turbo will certainly feel quick as well, and you may be able to scrape a 1J soarer? (although haven't checked the prices of these of late)

There's a cosmetically tatty but mechanically almost complete GT35r turbo'd RX7 up for sale at the moment - needs new starter and a few other bits, but that would easily see you knocking 450 in a ton and a quarter of metal.

[C70R]

I would personally be looking at something large-engined and AMG if I had those requirements/budget.

An E55, provided it's largely rot-free (look carefully, they're out there), is incredibly hard to beat at sub-£4k, and makes an unbelievable noise while doing it.
The C32 is an incredible Q-car proposition, and can be found frequently in this budget.

[TVaRt]

Mr2 Rev 3+ Turbo, or my Clio 172 CUP Turbo (which im about to sell for 3.5k).

its not quick, its fast!

[The Turbonator]

andy-xr said:

Fastest you can go for £3500 and we're offering up Clios and Mondeos? The fk happened to this place?

OP - you need either a big engine or a big turbo'd engine. Ideally both, but that might not happen.

4.2 S Type @ £3995 negotiable http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaguar-S-Type-4-2-V8-6-S...

Skyline for under £3k; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1995-NISSAN-skyline-r33-...

Mitsubishi Airtech (Evo engine) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-MITSUBISHI-AIRTREK-...

Phaeton; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volkswagen-Phaeton-3-2-V...

Capra R; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-SEAT-LEON-CUPRA-R-B...

S4; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-S4-Avant-2-7-Quattr...

That S-type is lovely, it would scratch my V8 itch too. There's even a few R models within budget but have higher mileages.

[LimaDelta]

My XJ Super V8 was timed 0-60 under 5 sec. 4.2 supercharged V8, 400bhp out of the box. I understand that with the limiter removed it will top out around 170mph. And contrary to popular belief they are surprisingly light and small (well, narrow and low) by modern standards and as such are pretty nimble along the twisties. It will even manage 21mpg.

Literally zero interest even at £4k.

[johnxjsc1985]

I just bought an A3 Quattro 3.2 for £4k to use as a daily driver. Its quick enough its a hatch back and fairly practical gives about 25mpg avg.

[BuzzBravado]

Prof Prolapse said:

I had one running at 290bhp.

fking terrifying when the front end went light. Part of the reason I sold it.

Great car, but really difficult to use the power.

Only car i regret selling.... L434 PSX where are you?

[The Turbonator]

What are the big cats like for reliability and repair costs?

[johnxjsc1985]

The Turbonator said:

What are the big cats like for reliability and repair costs?

I also have an XKR and like all cars of an age that £4k will get you ,you take a chance and if something goes wrong it can be expensive. Personally having had 6 Jags I never had a problem other than a turbo on a S type cost me £800 to sort it and that was cheap having sourced the part myself

[anonymous-user]

andy-xr said:

Fastest you can go for £3500 and we're offering up Clios and Mondeos? The fk happened to this place?

Well said. The thread title is "fastest", so I'm afraid anyone suggesting a slightly chavved French FWD shopping car can GTFO, school lunchtime is over.

I'd have a big old CL500 or an XJR or something equally barge-like and preferably V8'd.

[egor110]

FD3Si said:

If you want a sensation of speed you need a turbo IMHO. Clio 1x2s and E46 330is do not 'feel' fast. In fact the 330i hides the sensation of speed better than most.
95 Aeros don't feel particularly fast in standard trim either

You need some 90's turbocharged Japanese metal - that might scrape you an S14a 200SX which, with cheap stage 1 bits will feel quite spritely. An MR2 Turbo will certainly feel quick as well, and you may be able to scrape a 1J soarer? (although haven't checked the prices of these of late)

There's a cosmetically tatty but mechanically almost complete GT35r turbo'd RX7 up for sale at the moment - needs new starter and a few other bits, but that would easily see you knocking 450 in a ton and a quarter of metal.

Feeling fast is different things to different people.

I could take you across exmoor in my cup and it will be fast from point a to point b , i could take you to cadwell park or brands indy and it will be fast because i'm playing to my cars good points carrying corner speed all the time.

The flip side is you could then floor it down the slip road onto the motorway or on a track with long straights like silverstone or thruxton and anything i gained on a corner you'd just whip back past me on the straight.

[R8Steve]

OpulentBob said:

andy-xr said:

Fastest you can go for £3500 and we're offering up Clios and Mondeos? The fk happened to this place?

Well said. The thread title is "fastest", so I'm afraid anyone suggesting a slightly chavved French FWD shopping car can GTFO, school lunchtime is over.

I'd have a big old CL500 or an XJR or something equally barge-like and preferably V8'd.

Which would be great if the slightly chavved French FWD shopping car didn't accelerate faster than the big old CL500.

What else was offered up, a 3.2 V6 phaeton?

The OP wanted a reliable daily driver with a 0-60 of under 7 seconds – the CL500 doesn’t really meet any of that criteria.

[egor110]

OpulentBob said:

andy-xr said:

Fastest you can go for £3500 and we're offering up Clios and Mondeos? The fk happened to this place?

Well said. The thread title is "fastest", so I'm afraid anyone suggesting a slightly chavved French FWD shopping car can GTFO, school lunchtime is over.

I'd have a big old CL500 or an XJR or something equally barge-like and preferably V8'd.

That's a bit ironic from somebody running 2 old saabs.

The thread also mentioned most reliable, and we have people putting forward nissan skylines, subaru sti's for £3500!

This thread has been pretty good with people discussing the ups and downs of there cars with no idiots unable to see any downsides what so ever with what they've got.

[aka_kerrly]

What's this obsession with straight line speed and powerful FWD Saabs all about, no one does 1/4 mile standing starts on the road, very rarely would you do more than 0-30mph pulling away from lights or 40mph>70mph down a slip road. A car with circa 200hp that can perform overtakes in NSL limits and gives you the opportunity to run flat through 2nd an 3rd gear is FAR more fun in most cases than any luxo barge with really long gearing.


If back seats are only a small requirement then why even consider a Saab 9000/9-5 , Jaguar XJRs and other tanks that happen to have enough power to make them appear fast in a straight line - even though on the inside they are loaded with ten tonnes of sound deadening and largely mask their speed.

The OP was on the right lines with his opening post, things like RX8s, Celica GT4, 200SX, Skylines, Fiat Coupe Turbo, honda Integra DC2, Corrado VR6, Alfa GTV v6, Boxsters or maybe a Z3/4 would in my opinion be far more entertaining every day than spending 90% of your time in a Saab wishing/waiting for an opportunity to be able to stamp on the accelerator an feel like the big man.