Family man's weekend wheels - 2 seats or 4?
Discussion
The fact your title says family man's weekend wheels seems to me that you're not looking for a 2-seater that you can take out on your own, rather that you'd like something special you can take the family out in.
This puts you in 4-seater territory.
I'd avoid the GTR option. They're a right hoot but the party piece is their potential for simply terrifying acceleration and speed, which isn't something you want to do with the family on board. Other than that, they're actually nothing special to drive or own. I'd arguably say the same about a Cerb, with less reliability and bigger bills.
What you want is something you love just being in, looking at and can enjoy just as much at 30mph as well as 130.
I've heard some good and bad things about 3200GT's but I'd see if you can fit for a start.
Personally, I'd be looking down the route of classic car ownership. Something which you can enjoy at well below the speed limit. Admittedly you don't get the benefit of modern safety setups, but everything else weighs in their favour.
As has been said, see if you fit in an air cooled 911. Otherwise, I'd be checking out the older Alfa scene.
If the safety thing is a concern, then as has been said, I think you're hard pressed to go past one of the M-division offerings.
ETA: Being 6'5 is going to give you problems as it is.
Also, these sometimes pop into budget.
http://pistonheads.com/sales/2342621.htm
This puts you in 4-seater territory.
I'd avoid the GTR option. They're a right hoot but the party piece is their potential for simply terrifying acceleration and speed, which isn't something you want to do with the family on board. Other than that, they're actually nothing special to drive or own. I'd arguably say the same about a Cerb, with less reliability and bigger bills.
What you want is something you love just being in, looking at and can enjoy just as much at 30mph as well as 130.
I've heard some good and bad things about 3200GT's but I'd see if you can fit for a start.
Personally, I'd be looking down the route of classic car ownership. Something which you can enjoy at well below the speed limit. Admittedly you don't get the benefit of modern safety setups, but everything else weighs in their favour.
As has been said, see if you fit in an air cooled 911. Otherwise, I'd be checking out the older Alfa scene.
If the safety thing is a concern, then as has been said, I think you're hard pressed to go past one of the M-division offerings.
ETA: Being 6'5 is going to give you problems as it is.
Also, these sometimes pop into budget.
http://pistonheads.com/sales/2342621.htm
I've been trying to sort this out myself for a couple of years now.
My wife runs the family car as her daily as the kids are generally with her.
I run a supercharged MX5 as my daily (I keep trying to "upgrade" but can't find anything more fun that is also as practical)
I looked at a special 2 seater but came to the same conclusion as most others, at weekends I rarely go anywhere by myself.
I looked at:
996 - didn't like them
968 - seem over priced, feel dated, too slow
Cerbera - too fragile and I'm not really happy putting my kids in a car with zero crash safety.
M3 / M5 - not really special enough but good cars.
XK8 / R - Automatic only - rules it out for me
XJS - haven't driven one but I'm tempted to give one a try
Monaro - bought one - it sounds stupid but 385bhp in one really isn't very fast, nor is it a sportcar it's a tourer and the electric tilt seats are annoyingly slow.
RX7 - bought one - too small for you and I'm guessing an RX8 isn't special enough.
4200GT - I think this is my answer but really it's a bit more than I want to pay and it's running costs a bit high too and doesn't seem to do very well in reviews against the XKR / 996. I really ought to test drive one to see for myself.
My wife runs the family car as her daily as the kids are generally with her.
I run a supercharged MX5 as my daily (I keep trying to "upgrade" but can't find anything more fun that is also as practical)
I looked at a special 2 seater but came to the same conclusion as most others, at weekends I rarely go anywhere by myself.
I looked at:
996 - didn't like them
968 - seem over priced, feel dated, too slow
Cerbera - too fragile and I'm not really happy putting my kids in a car with zero crash safety.
M3 / M5 - not really special enough but good cars.
XK8 / R - Automatic only - rules it out for me
XJS - haven't driven one but I'm tempted to give one a try
Monaro - bought one - it sounds stupid but 385bhp in one really isn't very fast, nor is it a sportcar it's a tourer and the electric tilt seats are annoyingly slow.
RX7 - bought one - too small for you and I'm guessing an RX8 isn't special enough.
4200GT - I think this is my answer but really it's a bit more than I want to pay and it's running costs a bit high too and doesn't seem to do very well in reviews against the XKR / 996. I really ought to test drive one to see for myself.
OP: You have a few a few years yet where you can be selfish. It's just too easy to throw everything in to the family wagon so unless your other half shares your enthusiasm for cars be selfish and use the next few years to try 2 or 3 different sports cars.
2+2s won't meet your "family" needs due to child seats and few 4 seaters will offer the speed, drama and special-on-the- drive criteria you want, so until your children are 5+ I suggest a two seat option which you can enjoy how you want to. For the last three years my garage toy has been a Carrera 3.2. Despite us all fitting in (kids are now 6 & 9) it is used most i) on my own or ii) for collecting/ dropping off children and rarely when Mrs BeeGT and I get a weekend away on our own. It goes to Le Mans, Goodwood etc but never with all 4 of us. We don't manage many miles and every bill is resented but necessary to maintain condition and value.
When the time comes for a change i'll go for an RS4 Avant and combine two cars into one.
Having said all that and returning to your original post for family four seat fun you can cherish and is rare then I'd look for a good example of an E30 M3.
2+2s won't meet your "family" needs due to child seats and few 4 seaters will offer the speed, drama and special-on-the- drive criteria you want, so until your children are 5+ I suggest a two seat option which you can enjoy how you want to. For the last three years my garage toy has been a Carrera 3.2. Despite us all fitting in (kids are now 6 & 9) it is used most i) on my own or ii) for collecting/ dropping off children and rarely when Mrs BeeGT and I get a weekend away on our own. It goes to Le Mans, Goodwood etc but never with all 4 of us. We don't manage many miles and every bill is resented but necessary to maintain condition and value.
When the time comes for a change i'll go for an RS4 Avant and combine two cars into one.
Having said all that and returning to your original post for family four seat fun you can cherish and is rare then I'd look for a good example of an E30 M3.
6fire said:
Richie Howard said:
at 6'5"? the man's a giant.
i was cramped in the passenger seat of an xk8 at 6'3".
Are they that small inside? I'm 6'2" - never been in an XK, but always thought of them as a possible future car. Should I strike them off my list of possibles?i was cramped in the passenger seat of an xk8 at 6'3".
Some more good debate and suggestions, thanks all.
Can't remember if I previously mentioned this in the thread, but when I had the 944 Turbo (rear seats removed) which was until 6 months ago, so with the 1 child, in some respects I came to resent it, because there were times when I felt almost forced to take it out a) because if I didn't there was just £7k sitting there doing nothing and b) because I felt it was good for the car.
So I've come to the conclusion that I really should go for a car that I can at least fit the kids in to for relatively short journeys, not neccessarily with all the clobber - long journeys will always be in the company car with the fuel card.
My parents, and both sets of my wife's parents all live within half an hour of us, and we see them quite regularly, so these are the typical journeys I want to use the car for. And then when we've been there for a while and I fancy a break, I can nip out for some hooning! Plus the occasional Sunday morning blast, late summer nights thrash, Le Mans, track day etc...
I think I have to agree with the above comment about the Cerbera - just don't want to subject the family to the potential risk in an accident.
The comment about child ages and car seat requirements is also very valid - it's going to be tough to get 2 decent car seats in the back of a typical coupe.
I also agree to some extent about the appeal of a classic car, but I have to admit to not being so handy with the spanners (and it's not the bit of car ownership I enjoy), and I don't really want to have to 'worry' about the car (like I did with the 944 to some extent), so a classic isn't ideal.
So what does that leave me with? E39 M5 is probably the favourite, I wouldn't class an Impreza P1 as a coupe, despite it only having 2 doors, so that is still in with a shout, and then there is the Lotus Carlton, which after the write up in EVO magazine this month I am finding hard to ignore - what a beast and a full 4 seater with a decent boot! Don't think they are especially fragile but finding parts is tricky I hear.
Will still try a 996 and E46 M3 though, at least to prove to myself that they are not possibilities!
Can't remember if I previously mentioned this in the thread, but when I had the 944 Turbo (rear seats removed) which was until 6 months ago, so with the 1 child, in some respects I came to resent it, because there were times when I felt almost forced to take it out a) because if I didn't there was just £7k sitting there doing nothing and b) because I felt it was good for the car.
So I've come to the conclusion that I really should go for a car that I can at least fit the kids in to for relatively short journeys, not neccessarily with all the clobber - long journeys will always be in the company car with the fuel card.
My parents, and both sets of my wife's parents all live within half an hour of us, and we see them quite regularly, so these are the typical journeys I want to use the car for. And then when we've been there for a while and I fancy a break, I can nip out for some hooning! Plus the occasional Sunday morning blast, late summer nights thrash, Le Mans, track day etc...
I think I have to agree with the above comment about the Cerbera - just don't want to subject the family to the potential risk in an accident.
The comment about child ages and car seat requirements is also very valid - it's going to be tough to get 2 decent car seats in the back of a typical coupe.
I also agree to some extent about the appeal of a classic car, but I have to admit to not being so handy with the spanners (and it's not the bit of car ownership I enjoy), and I don't really want to have to 'worry' about the car (like I did with the 944 to some extent), so a classic isn't ideal.
So what does that leave me with? E39 M5 is probably the favourite, I wouldn't class an Impreza P1 as a coupe, despite it only having 2 doors, so that is still in with a shout, and then there is the Lotus Carlton, which after the write up in EVO magazine this month I am finding hard to ignore - what a beast and a full 4 seater with a decent boot! Don't think they are especially fragile but finding parts is tricky I hear.
Will still try a 996 and E46 M3 though, at least to prove to myself that they are not possibilities!
Can get a very nice Alpina of some sort for the money.
B3.3 cab or coupe, B10 V8 or something like this - http://www.munichlegends.co.uk/component/option,co...
B3.3 cab or coupe, B10 V8 or something like this - http://www.munichlegends.co.uk/component/option,co...
otolith said:
If your weekend car is going to be a family saloon, I take it you don't have the option of taking an allowance and just having a more exciting daily driver?
No I don't. I work for a car manufacturer so get a nice car pretty much FOC, but unfortunatly they don't less us trade up anymore. If they did, I wouldn't be having this dilemma because I would trade up 1 grade (used to cost £100/month) and my daily driver would have a 6.2 litre V8!Anybody near Essex mind casting an eye over this for me?!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/K-reg-VAUXHALL-LOTUS-CAR...
Seems too cheap to be true/any good!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/K-reg-VAUXHALL-LOTUS-CAR...
Seems too cheap to be true/any good!
rainmasterb said:
No I don't. I work for a car manufacturer so get a nice car pretty much FOC, but unfortunatly they don't less us trade up anymore. If they did, I wouldn't be having this dilemma because I would trade up 1 grade (used to cost £100/month) and my daily driver would have a 6.2 litre V8!
That must be gutting!Zyp said:
Can get a very nice Alpina of some sort for the money.
B3.3 cab or coupe, B10 V8 or something like this - http://www.munichlegends.co.uk/component/option,co...
For the money, I'd get an M5.B3.3 cab or coupe, B10 V8 or something like this - http://www.munichlegends.co.uk/component/option,co...
I love my B10 V8 but make no mistake, its no sports car. It's a big wafty barge with a very handy turn of speed but if you want a fun drivers car, M3 or M5 is the better option IMHO.
Similar situation. Family of 4 Inc two kids of 4 and 2. I am a shortie at 5' 6". Went for a 1981 911. We fit in nicely but if you want to be comfortable at a foot taller you really need to go and see if it works. Luggage wise for weekends I think you would be fine, holdalls and flat packing in the front works quite nicely.
In all honesty I think the advice of an m5 is a longer term more realistic prospect that will give a lot of the driving pleasure.
In all honesty I think the advice of an m5 is a longer term more realistic prospect that will give a lot of the driving pleasure.
His and Hers? 
I understand the problem 2 kids one hurtling towards 6' thought about changing in the griff but all the family love it and argue about whos turn it is. so the only ansewer seems to flog ther other halfs Puma and get her an s / chim ? and go in convoy.
2 tivs I may be going slightly mad !
Cheers
Andy
I understand the problem 2 kids one hurtling towards 6' thought about changing in the griff but all the family love it and argue about whos turn it is. so the only ansewer seems to flog ther other halfs Puma and get her an s / chim ? and go in convoy.
2 tivs I may be going slightly mad !
Cheers
Andy
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