Car to compete with an m140i? sub 16k

[Hammy98]

Hi all,

Posted in here a while ago near Christmas time looking for new car ideas.

Basically, current car is worth about 5.5k trade in. Parents are lending me the difference up to a max of 10k.

I was planning to take finance however my parents have just sold their motorhome and are willing to lend me 10k over 2-3 years which I will pay back monthly over direct debit - avoiding finance companies etc.

One of my mates has just picked up an m140i, another has an s3. Looking for something to keep up with both, doesn't need to be faster but not wanting to be left trailing when going for a drive up in the highlands on a Sunday.

I do around 12k a year and that includes commuting, I rely on the car for getting to work so has to be reliable.

Insurance is also a factor, I can't quite insure an m135i/m140i.

So far my shortlist is as follows:

Mk3 Leon Cupra: Low mileage examples in my budget, can be mapped to 360bhp - would it keep up?

Mini Cooper S f56: Nicer interior than the leon, slower as standard but can go to 260bhp-ish. 300bhp for the JCW.

Mk2 Audi TTS: Older, quick as standard and very quick mapped IIRC.


Any other ideas? Would love a 5pot at some point but the only reasonable one to insure is a Volvo c30 t5.

[Herbs]

2 seater?

[wemorgan]

Why not a M135? It's a very decent car. If your friend has the 5dr, then get the 3dr if you want to be different.

[WonkeyDonkey]

Lotus Elise.

Infinitely cooler than any German box car, may not be as quick in a straight line though if that's all you care about.

[CarAbuser]

Any car with an N54 engine (Z4 35i, 335i, 135i). Tune with MHD for an easy 400bhp with no other mods and you will be passing both the S3 and M140i.

[Hammy98]

Herbs said:

2 seater?

Can be, insurance is the main killer though as I'm sure I could pick up a lot of quick stuff.

[Hammy98]

wemorgan said:

Why not a M135? It's a very decent car. If your friend has the 5dr, then get the 3dr if you want to be different.

These still seem to be a little over budget, I'd be looking at sub 30k mileage. Any idea on reliability at higher mileages?

[Hammy98]

WonkeyDonkey said:

Lotus Elise.

Infinitely cooler than any German box car, may not be as quick in a straight line though if that's all you care about.

I'd love one, 12k miles a year though? 5-10 mile commute to and from work every day in start stop traffic.

[Hammy98]

CarAbuser said:

Any car with an N54 engine (Z4 35i, 335i, 135i). Tune with MHD for an easy 400bhp with no other mods and you will be passing both the S3 and M140i.

Was briefly set on an e92 335i but the potential wastegate actuator problems and expensive bits and pieces sort of pushed me away. The later single turbo ones (is that the n54) are a little out of budget for sub30k mileage.

EDIT: One silver car on autotrader for 15500, might be worth a look.

Edited by Hammy98 on Friday 24th March 10:25

[seadragon]

Well I am hardly an expert on mapping, but have had a few pretty quick cars in my time. I had a 55 plate Leon Cupra R225 and except for the super low front splitter which scraped over pretty much anything, I really loved the car. The quality felt really good and I would love to have one as a 2nd fun car again.

The Mk1 TT 240 QS I owned was also lovely. I am sure you will get lots of hints from other people, but nice to get maybe something you hadn’t considered

Good luck

[Hammy98]

seadragon said:

Well I am hardly an expert on mapping, but have had a few pretty quick cars in my time. I had a 55 plate Leon Cupra R225 and except for the super low front splitter which scraped over pretty much anything, I really loved the car. The quality felt really good and I would love to have one as a 2nd fun car again.

The Mk1 TT 240 QS I owned was also lovely. I am sure you will get lots of hints from other people, but nice to get maybe something you hadn’t considered

Good luck

Theres a black TT QS near where I stay, lovely looking car. My dad also used to have a mark 2 cupra, it had the double center exhausts from what I remember - K1?

[Herbs]

Hammy98 said:

Herbs said:

2 seater?

Can be, insurance is the main killer though as I'm sure I could pick up a lot of quick stuff.

You'll be suprised on the insurance front as some work out quite a bit cheaper. Look at an Elise or Z4M - both would be great up there and won't cost you a penny in depreciation compared to a hot hatch.

[Glasgowrob]

Early Monaro. will laugh at your mates cars with a few minor tweaks leave a few grand in the kitty for maintenance and still be worth a good chunk of what you pay for it in a few years time.

like this

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/v...

Edited by Glasgowrob on Friday 24th March 10:46

[TurboHatchback]

Why does 'competing' matter? Unless your mates drive like they're playing GTA (in which case leave them to go kill themselves) then the performance of their cars won't be the limiting factor, you could keep up in pretty much anything. Personally I wouldn't borrow huge amounts of money to buy a fast-depreciating car, I would either spend much less or buy something which isn't really depreciating and focus on fun rather than pointless numbers.

A few suggestions:
Cheap options:

• Toyota MR2 Roadster
• 2.0 MX5

They might not win a game of Top Trumps but believe me you won't get down a twisty road quicker if you value your license and safety. You'll also have more fun than you'd ever have in a modern German hatchback and not have £10k of debt to repay.

More expensive options that don't depreciate much:

• Monaro VXR. 6.0l models seem to have been sat at £10k-£15k for several years now and I don't see them dropping.
• 2004-2006 Blobeye Impreza STI Widetrack. These actually seem to be getting more expensive and would be a hoot to drive. I almost snagged one at £7k a while back, now it's rare to see one below £8-9k.

The insurance on these would be high but I'd far rather that than massive depreciation on a dull German hatchback.

[Hammy98]

Herbs said:

You'll be suprised on the insurance front as some work out quite a bit cheaper. Look at an Elise or Z4M - both would be great up there and won't cost you a penny in depreciation compared to a hot hatch.

A 3 litre z4 was costing 1800+ to insure, was gutting as I'd always wanted a coupe. Leon cupra for example was 1400. Reckon a Z4m might be cheaper?

[CarAbuser]

Hammy98 said:

Was briefly set on an e92 335i but the potential wastegate actuator problems and expensive bits and pieces sort of pushed me away. The later single turbo ones (is that the n54) are a little out of budget for sub30k mileage.

EDIT: One silver car on autotrader for 15500, might be worth a look.

Edited by Hammy98 on Friday 24th March 10:25

The single turbo is the N55, not a bad engine but the N54 has a lot more potential for tuning.
I don't think you're going to find reliability from any 300bhp+ car for 16k.

Maybe a tuned 330d would offer performance to catch up with your friends. It's a rattly smelly diesel but quite reliable as far as I'm aware.

[Hammy98]

I hear both of you on the Monaro. I'll run a few quotes and see what the story is.

[Herbs]

Hammy98 said:

Herbs said:

You'll be suprised on the insurance front as some work out quite a bit cheaper. Look at an Elise or Z4M - both would be great up there and won't cost you a penny in depreciation compared to a hot hatch.

A 3 litre z4 was costing 1800+ to insure, was gutting as I'd always wanted a coupe. Leon cupra for example was 1400. Reckon a Z4m might be cheaper?

No guarantees but with the right policy you may be in luck, for example I insure my Aston Martin for about half what both my Z4 3.0 was, Z4M x2 were in between.

[TameRacingDriver]

TurboHatchback said:

Why does 'competing' matter? Unless your mates drive like they're playing GTA (in which case leave them to go kill themselves) then the performance of their cars won't be the limiting factor, you could keep up in pretty much anything. Personally I wouldn't borrow huge amounts of money to buy a fast-depreciating car, I would either spend much less or buy something which isn't really depreciating and focus on fun rather than pointless numbers.

A few suggestions:
Cheap options:

• Toyota MR2 Roadster
• 2.0 MX5

They might not win a game of Top Trumps but believe me you won't get down a twisty road quicker if you value your license and safety. You'll also have more fun than you'd ever have in a modern German hatchback and not have £10k of debt to repay.

I can vouch for that, I've never had any problems keeping up on hoons / meets with MX5s and similar low powered cars on anything except a long straight, and if you have too many of those, you're on the wrong roads! It also happens to be tremendously rewarding keeping up with something powerful in something "slow".

[LasseV]

What about turbo Supra? It delivers all the power what you need/want. I don't know about insurance tho.

Only downside is that if you drive like an idiot you can get killed. So maybe insurance is higher side of spectrum....