What to buy before I take life seriously?!
Discussion
Hi, I need your coveted advice once more!
Basically, I am at a point in my life where I have few commitments and a bit of spare cash per month. I am therefore keen to purchase a car (probably on finance) whilst I have the chance.
So, bearing in mind the following specs, which cars or options would you suggest I consider? I currently drive a Nissan Primera 2.0 SRi. It sucks.
Budget of £200-350/month
1 year NCB (12 years driving experience)
The car -
Must be reasonably economical (current car does about 30mpg)
Must have plenty of acceleration - 0-60 in between 4-8sec
Must be fun to drive - stick to the road
Practicality isn't an issue - enough room for me, a passenger and some golf clubs is fine!
Must be reliable and reasonably inexpensive to maintain
At the moment I would dearly love to be able to own either a Vauxhall VX220, BMW Z3 2.8, Audi TT 225 or a Honda S2000 but they all seem to be out of reach sadly...
Other cars I have considered include the Peugeot 106 GTi, Mini Cooper, Mercedes SLK, Mazda MX-5 or the Racing Puma.
Any suggestions are much appreciated!
Basically, I am at a point in my life where I have few commitments and a bit of spare cash per month. I am therefore keen to purchase a car (probably on finance) whilst I have the chance.
So, bearing in mind the following specs, which cars or options would you suggest I consider? I currently drive a Nissan Primera 2.0 SRi. It sucks.
Budget of £200-350/month
1 year NCB (12 years driving experience)
The car -
Must be reasonably economical (current car does about 30mpg)
Must have plenty of acceleration - 0-60 in between 4-8sec
Must be fun to drive - stick to the road
Practicality isn't an issue - enough room for me, a passenger and some golf clubs is fine!
Must be reliable and reasonably inexpensive to maintain
At the moment I would dearly love to be able to own either a Vauxhall VX220, BMW Z3 2.8, Audi TT 225 or a Honda S2000 but they all seem to be out of reach sadly...
Other cars I have considered include the Peugeot 106 GTi, Mini Cooper, Mercedes SLK, Mazda MX-5 or the Racing Puma.
Any suggestions are much appreciated!
Biccaroo said:
I don't think I could afford a VX220 on that budget though could I? Or could I?!
You should be able to find one, I would have thought.Going by what you've written, a VX220 or Elise is the car to get - the others all give a nod to comfort and practicality.
You can buy a comfy 2 seater later on in life if you still want one, but you're unlikely to get away with a VX!Edited to add: you'll never get golf clubs and a passenger in one tho - it'll be one or the other.
Edited by DanL on Wednesday 7th April 08:25
Can you get a bank loan instead of finance and then buy second hand with cash?
If so what about something like a GTM Libra?
If so what about something like a GTM Libra?
Biccaroo said:
Hi, I need your coveted advice once more!
Basically, I am at a point in my life where I have few commitments and a bit of spare cash per month. I am therefore keen to purchase a car (probably on finance) whilst I have the chance.
So, bearing in mind the following specs, which cars or options would you suggest I consider? I currently drive a Nissan Primera 2.0 SRi. It sucks.
Budget of £200-350/month
1 year NCB (12 years driving experience)
The car -
Must be reasonably economical (current car does about 30mpg)
Must have plenty of acceleration - 0-60 in between 4-8sec
Must be fun to drive - stick to the road
Practicality isn't an issue - enough room for me, a passenger and some golf clubs is fine!
Must be reliable and reasonably inexpensive to maintain
At the moment I would dearly love to be able to own either a Vauxhall VX220, BMW Z3 2.8, Audi TT 225 or a Honda S2000 but they all seem to be out of reach sadly...
Other cars I have considered include the Peugeot 106 GTi, Mini Cooper, Mercedes SLK, Mazda MX-5 or the Racing Puma.
Any suggestions are much appreciated!
My only real comment is nearly all of the cars you list seem to be fairly normal sensible cars that you'd buy when you are taking life seriously. VX220 is pretty much your only exception. Basically, I am at a point in my life where I have few commitments and a bit of spare cash per month. I am therefore keen to purchase a car (probably on finance) whilst I have the chance.
So, bearing in mind the following specs, which cars or options would you suggest I consider? I currently drive a Nissan Primera 2.0 SRi. It sucks.
Budget of £200-350/month
1 year NCB (12 years driving experience)
The car -
Must be reasonably economical (current car does about 30mpg)
Must have plenty of acceleration - 0-60 in between 4-8sec
Must be fun to drive - stick to the road
Practicality isn't an issue - enough room for me, a passenger and some golf clubs is fine!
Must be reliable and reasonably inexpensive to maintain
At the moment I would dearly love to be able to own either a Vauxhall VX220, BMW Z3 2.8, Audi TT 225 or a Honda S2000 but they all seem to be out of reach sadly...
Other cars I have considered include the Peugeot 106 GTi, Mini Cooper, Mercedes SLK, Mazda MX-5 or the Racing Puma.
Any suggestions are much appreciated!
If you really want a laugh before becoming serious I'd say look at things more like a V8 Corvette, TVR, classic like a TR6 or maybe some mental kit car like a Caterham or V8 powered Dax.
I do admit, getting finance on some of these won't be as easy though, so may well force you to get somthing more sensible.
i was in the same boat about 3 years ago...
i went the hot hatch route... but wanted to stay away from the hot hatch image so i plumped for an Phase 1 210hp S3.
The car was £9000 and with a loan of 7 that cost me £200 per month. 0-60 in 6.8 plenty of go, lots of tracion in ALL weather. Looked lovely and always got comments about how nice it was. Interior was such a nice place to be, leather/electric/heated Recaros were supremely comfortable!
It was quick enough to be fun when the time came but the other 80% of the time commuting it blended into the traffic and became an awesome daily driver. Returned 28 mpg av. run on super which is the only bad point!
Well woth looking at. You can also remap them to a reliable 250-260hp for about £300!! i never bothered, apparently it also improves the mpg, but eats the AFM's!
Having said all that... i wish i'd gone for the 2.7 bi-turbo S4.. however the running costs double!
i went the hot hatch route... but wanted to stay away from the hot hatch image so i plumped for an Phase 1 210hp S3.
The car was £9000 and with a loan of 7 that cost me £200 per month. 0-60 in 6.8 plenty of go, lots of tracion in ALL weather. Looked lovely and always got comments about how nice it was. Interior was such a nice place to be, leather/electric/heated Recaros were supremely comfortable!
It was quick enough to be fun when the time came but the other 80% of the time commuting it blended into the traffic and became an awesome daily driver. Returned 28 mpg av. run on super which is the only bad point!
Well woth looking at. You can also remap them to a reliable 250-260hp for about £300!! i never bothered, apparently it also improves the mpg, but eats the AFM's!
Having said all that... i wish i'd gone for the 2.7 bi-turbo S4.. however the running costs double!
Edited by S3_Graham on Wednesday 7th April 08:51
as has been mentioned, work out the repayments on a personal loan and buy used. work out the rough depreciation of chosen car(s) per year and balance that with what you would owe on your loan at the end of each year so you wouldnt be stumped if you had to sell suddenly
based on a budget of say £9-11k you could get something quite tasty, most mentioed above, but my choices would be:
S2000
bmw m coupe
clio v6
vx220
mk 1 elise
based on a budget of say £9-11k you could get something quite tasty, most mentioed above, but my choices would be:
S2000
bmw m coupe
clio v6
vx220
mk 1 elise
Mannginger said:
Can you get a bank loan instead of finance and then buy second hand with cash?
If so what about something like a GTM Libra?
Because it look like him:If so what about something like a GTM Libra?
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