Affordable and close to perfection...

[hunt_the_fox]

Following on from the 'worst most popular car' thread, I was wondering what the best affordable car is. Now I realise that best is a subjective term as is affordable as it depends on what you are looking for and your budget.

So I was thinking- setting affordable at an ambitious sub £35k and defining best as purely the car which offers the most enjoyable driving experience on a mixture of our country's roads in a mixture of British weather- in other words something that can be enjoyed anywhere any time.

Just having a quick look at the classifieds to start things rolling...

[H]

M3.

[anonymous-user]

Audi RS4 Avant

[Turbodiesel1690]

V8 Range Rover Vogue

[tamore]

Turbodiesel1690 said:

V8 Range Rover Vogue

yep.

[H]

tamore said:

Turbodiesel1690 said:

V8 Range Rover Vogue

yep.

Nope. Range Rovers are lovely cars but they hardly deliver 'an enjoyable driving experience' do they?

[Leicesterdave]

Merc SLK 55 AMG!!

[Turbodiesel1690]

H said:

tamore said:

Turbodiesel1690 said:

V8 Range Rover Vogue

yep.

Nope. Range Rovers are lovely cars but they hardly deliver 'an enjoyable driving experience' do they?

They certainly don't deliver an unenjoyable driving experience

[blueg33]

Leicesterdave said:

Merc SLK 55 AMG!!

You beat me to it.

Or Porsche 996 Turbo - current used bargain of the year IMO

[itz_baseline]

Clio V6 ticks all the boxes for me. Fun to drive, semi-exotic, cheap(ish) to run, looks great, can be used as a daily drive.

I can't bring myself to sell it and buy something else - I don't see what else could give me such a mixture of fun\crazyness\everyday usability for the money (maybe a VXR8-Bathurst S?)

[GKP]

H said:

tamore said:

Turbodiesel1690 said:

V8 Range Rover Vogue

yep.

Nope. Range Rovers are lovely cars but they hardly deliver 'an enjoyable driving experience' do they?

I enjoy driving mine.

[Whitean3]

blueg33 said:

Porsche 996 Turbo - current used bargain of the year IMO

+1.

I don't think anything can touch it, performance and driving wise, at this price.

[tamore]

H said:

tamore said:

Turbodiesel1690 said:

V8 Range Rover Vogue

yep.

Nope. Range Rovers are lovely cars but they hardly deliver 'an enjoyable driving experience' do they?

all depends what your referrence points are. i have a tamora, and it's pretty much 2nd to none as an experience on open roads. get into towns though, and it can be pretty miserable. hot, crap turning circle, heavy(ish) clutch.

i love wafting round open roads in big engined behemoths. the rr has to be king of them. they are the most comfortable vehicle possible in town congestion too.

not everyone's 'enjoyable driving experience' is redlining everywhere on 2/3 wheels!

[Pooh]

A Maserati Gransport would be my choice, http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1631838.htm, just as quick as an M3 but far more special, for me it has most of the appeal of a Ferrari at a far more affordable price.

[900T-R]

Must say I can't find anything as wide as most lanes, in which you're sitting three feet above the tarmac particularly confidence-inspiring or relaxing. I can see the attraction of wafting around but I'd much rather take a Jag XJ, Citroën C6 or new Mercedes E-class for that.

[cymtriks]

hunt_the_fox said:

setting affordable at an ambitious sub £35k .

Affordable?

Most PHers won't have a third of that budget.

[Liam554]

Skyline R33 GTS-T?

Spend the 30K left over on the fuel bills.

[Deerfoot]

cymtriks said:

Most PHers won't have a third of that budget.

Same here. Affordable for me is sub £10,000.

[ewenm]

Caterfield of some sort.

Fun and fast in the dry, fun and sideways in the wet.

Available from £5k, low running costs, low servicing costs...

Edited by ewenm on Wednesday 28th April 09:36

[900T-R]

Deerfoot said:

cymtriks said:

Most PHers won't have a third of that budget.

Same here. Affordable for me is sub £10,000.

Plus halfway sensible running costs.