Sub-£4k Porsche 944 or alternatives

[arej]

I'm planning my next car purchase which will be in July/August.
Whenever I'm thinking about what I want, I keep coming back to the Porsche 944. I know they are generally well recommended here but wanted opinions on sub-£4k examples? There are often a number below this price around and not sure my budget would stretch much further than £4000ish. It'd be nice to hear some success stories of sub-£4k purchases.

What alternatives are recommended in this kind of price range too? I've thought about MX5s and recently perhaps a 3 series (e.g. E46). I've previously looked into Imprezas (1st gen) and RX8s but they seem to have pretty terrible fuel consumption (~20 or less I believe).

Advice or opinions appreciated, thanks.

[billzeebub]

Porker 944 a a great option, with your budget should be able to get a good un. Other similar ethos cars to consider for me BMW E36 M3 Coupe, Corrado VR6

[SuperVM]

I've been living in the sub-£4k market for approaching three years now. In that time I've had:

2 x E36 M3 Evo coupes
Impreza Bugeye WRX PPP wagon
Pulsar GTI-R
RD RX-7

and my current Evo IV. The RX-7 was the most exciting drive of the bunch, but the M3s were my favourites and I'd have another if I could be bothered to sell the Evo. I've also looked at 944s, but every time I end up with a smaller toy car, I realise I don't use it enough unless I can fit the girls' car seats in the back. None of the cars have particularly bitten me financially, even the Pulsar which ended up being scrapped and built into a new shell, as the original car wasn't much over £1k to start with.

The Impreza would have stung me fairly badly, as I found the tyres which were supposedly nearly new and appeared new on 80% of the tyre, were actually through to the canvas on the inner inch or so. The lesson from that was to check the tyre from edge to edge when buying a car. I replaced all four tyres and then ended up selling the car to a mate shortly after, who ended up having the clutch slip within two days of buying the car (a brand new clutch and refurbished gearbox had been fitted by API 10k/12 months before I bought the car and I only used the car for 2k and six months), though we split the cost of the replacement. Then about a month after that he found a calliper had been sticking and so he had to rebuild that and replace pads and discs on both sides. Again, when I bought the car all four callipers had been rebuilt and all friction materials were relatively new. I had receipts for absolutely all of the previous owner's claims, so either the previous owner wasn't very good at rebuilding callipers, drove with his foot constantly on the clutch and came up with completely skewed suspension settings or there was a defect with the calliper rebuild kit, those Exedy Impreza clutches are as bad as people seem to claim and Prodrive settings really do use tyres quickly. I think it was a bit of both in most cases.

[bencollins]

If you want something rust free and ok to drive, 35mpg+, fiat barchetta has lowish insurance and wont lose any value.
Had mine ten years, never gave any problems except rear suspension (due to me lowering it probably).
Or a louts elan M100 turbo for better handling and much faster.

[Wheelrepairit]

What about this one, not mine I add

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251243023817?ssPageName=...

If only you knew what colour it is, age, mileage , any tax.

Buyers get a bad name on eBay, in this case it's the seller who's the knob.

[arej]

Thanks for the tips so far, just been trawling through the classifieds and one more potentially interesting alternative is the Alfa GT. Didn't realise this would be in budget and although it is FWD, which wouldn't be my preference, I'd be interested to hear what it's like to drive + reliability experiences.

[anonymous-user]

I have a mint low milage Porsche 944, just turned down an offer of 12,000 pound for it (not UK) and it has proven to be a great car, I have just bought a holiday home in the UK and I'm thinking about another 944 to have there, in the 4K bracket, but when I search the web the altenative I keep looking at is a Audi TT, be intereted in what people think about 944 compared toTT.

[TameRacingDriver]

You won't get an Elan M100 for £4K (I know, I looked).

I'm in a similar position myself, will have £4K to spend soon. There are lots of great cars.

Boxster 2.5
BMW Z4 Roadster
BMW 330i E46
BMW M3 E36
Nissan 200SX S14a
Nissan 350Z
Honda S2000
Honda Integra Type-R DC2
Honda Civic Type-R
Toyota Celica GT4
Toyota Celica T-Sport 190
Toyota MR2 Turbo
Toyota MR2 Mk3 (Facelift)
Renault Sport Clio Trophy
Renault Sport Megane 225
Seat Leon Cupra R
Mazda MX5

And more....

[SuperVM]

TameRacingDriver said:

You won't get an Elan M100 for £4K (I know, I looked).

I'm in a similar position myself, will have £4K to spend soon. There are lots of great cars.

Boxster 2.5
BMW Z4 Roadster
BMW 330i E46
BMW M3 E36
Nissan 200SX S14a
Nissan 350Z
Honda S2000
Honda Integra Type-R DC2
Honda Civic Type-R
Toyota Celica GT4
Toyota Celica T-Sport 190
Toyota MR2 Turbo
Toyota MR2 Mk3 (Facelift)
Renault Sport Clio Trophy
Renault Sport Megane 225
Seat Leon Cupra R
Mazda MX5

And more....

Some really good suggestions here. I love that the 350z and S2000 are hitting the £4k mark.

[s p a c e m a n]

I've been window shopping since December for things a little above your budget, but I can tell you that I have seen quite a few decent boxters pass through in your price bracket. I've almost been tempted to buy a couple as they have looked like such a bargain.

[thewildblue]

This any good ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LOTUS-ELAN-SE-TURBO-1-8-...

I bought a nice 944 S2 for £3400 back in January and I love it. Ive had the belts, water pump done etc. Then done a decat, promax chip, new leads K&N etc. Owes me about 5k now. Its on 166k but pulls really strongly. Just changed the o2 sensor as it was averaging 28 then dropped to 25 then down to 22....

[SimonV8ster]

Wheelrepairit said:

What about this one, not mine I add

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251243023817?ssPageName=...

If only you knew what colour it is, age, mileage , any tax.

Buyers get a bad name on eBay, in this case it's the seller who's the knob.

How can you suggest a car when you have no idea what its like ?!

[arej]

Nice to hear a couple of good 944 stories.
Some good suggestions mentioned; I've looked at Z4s which are currently a bit expensive as are 350Zs, both of which I think would be good fun cars to own though. Don't think I'm too keen on the Elan, if only Elises and Esprits were cheaper!

[kayzee]

SuperVM said:

TameRacingDriver said:

You won't get an Elan M100 for £4K (I know, I looked).

I'm in a similar position myself, will have £4K to spend soon. There are lots of great cars.

Boxster 2.5
BMW Z4 Roadster
BMW 330i E46
BMW M3 E36
Nissan 200SX S14a
Nissan 350Z
Honda S2000
Honda Integra Type-R DC2
Honda Civic Type-R
Toyota Celica GT4
Toyota Celica T-Sport 190
Toyota MR2 Turbo
Toyota MR2 Mk3 (Facelift)
Renault Sport Clio Trophy
Renault Sport Megane 225
Seat Leon Cupra R
Mazda MX5

And more....

Some really good suggestions here. I love that the 350z and S2000 are hitting the £4k mark.

So would I, if they were. Cheapest 350Z that isn't boy'd up or an import is £6k. If you don't mind either of the aforementioned things, there's a few around £5-5.5k.

[TameRacingDriver]

So what if it's an import? It's still a 350Z for £4k, they are out there, you just have to look. Even if they're just over, a bit of haggling, bobs ya sister.

[Chris71]

arej said:

I know they are generally well recommended here but wanted opinions on sub-£4k examples? There are often a number below this price around and not sure my budget would stretch much further than £4000ish. It'd be nice to hear some success stories of sub-£4k purchases.

Not owned a 944 yet, but I've driven several and I currently own my second 924. I'd say go for it.

Like all things in life, you get what you pay for. Four grand is top dollar for a basic 944 and should get you a pristine example. However, you're far less likely to find a decent S2 or Turbo at that price.

My suggestion would be to keep it simple with a standard 2.5 or 2.7 Lux. Your money will go further and they tend to be somewhat cheaper to fix than the 16-valve models. Obviously they're not quite as quick, but that's a relative term in an era when even the Turbo can be outpaced by a top spec diesel 3-Series. They still handle well by modern standards, though, and they're deceptively practical.

Or ... you could save yourself a bundle of cash and get a 924S. As you may know, that's basically the 944 mechanicals (including the 'real Porsche engine') in the lighter, slipperier and arguably prettier 924 shell.