What all round daily drivers car for 10k?

[solidlad84]

Hi all. Not long ago I sold my E46 M3 (which I absolutely adored - change in work circumstances meant running two cars, two sets of tax etc etc wasn't viable) and am now just pootling around in my snotter which is functional but hardly enjoyable. So I thought where better to get some advice from than PH! Basically the snotter is going and i'm trying to find a 'mid-way' car that will act as my only car but fulfill both roles of fun car to hoot around in and also a car I can rely on every day.

I know i'm going to be hard pushed to find a single car for up to 10k that can match everything the e46 does, but I don't actually need the practicality of 4 seats and a decent boot so that may open the options up slightly.

I guess my ultimate criteria is:

Ideally similar performance to the M3
Slightly cheaper maintanence and servicing costs compared to the M3 would be nice (MPG aside - I only do around 5-7k miles a year and ive become completely accustomed to 10-20 mpg)
Must be reliable and refined enough to be used as a daily driver, I have had several hot hatches before so i'm not expecting S class refinement however,
Most importantly I want it to be an involving drive that won't leave me wanting to look through the classifieds for an e46 after coming back from a long drive, i'm still in my mid 20s so i'm not quite ready to settle down with a uber barge just yet!

To give you an idea of the most suitable candidates i've found so far heres a few:

350z 313 model
WRX STI newage
CLK 55 AMG W209 (would be scratching the v8 itch - however I know its not a competent drivers car)
Evo 8 fq300 (not too sure about how comfortable / bearable one of these would be as a daily?)
E90 335i coupe - possibly the best car in terms of being the most natural second choice from the m3, however reliability stories do scare me off these so i'd want to run one with a BMW warranty and I don't think my budget would stretch to a sub 60k miler all that easily
Honda S2000

I know these cars all vary massively and thats probably due to my very indecisive nature, but if anyone has any other suggestions id massively appreciate them - as im sure there is a fair few obvious candidates ive left off the list!

Thanks in advance for any guidance all

[Martin350]

I know this is a bit of a potentially dangerous one, but I'm seriously considering swapping my 350Z (which I love and think is brilliant) for a sub £10k Porsche 911 (996)...

[solidlad84]

Hmm, as a daily driver? I'm no expert but my father has a 996 carrera, and unless hes been particularly unlucky with his I imagine running one daily could become very expensive!

[solidlad84]

Does anyone have any experieces of the C55 AMG? The newer 367 BHP unit. Very rare cars and it doesn't seem like there is an awful lot of information available about them.