1 really nice car or 2 cars??

[Too Late]

Moved house which means I don't need my station wagon anymore..

Currently the wife has the only car, a Q3.

I'm looking at a budget of Max £30,000. Looking at the Audi's at the moment because I get a good deal down there as a school friend works there. But the dilemma I have is do I blow 30k on one car, or do I have a nice looking car and then a weekend car like a track prepared tigar Avon? I was looking at splashing all the money on an S5 or M3... I won't need to drive to the station so won't have massive miles to add to it

[wemorgan]

Over the next few years try both variations - that way you'll know for sure which you prefer.

[Jasandjules]

2 cars.

Next.

[Monkeylegend]

Caterham as a weekend/track car, virtually depreciation proof and a leased C63 if you are only doing lowish miles. They are doing good deals on these at the moment.

[Rotaree]

Some thoughts Here from a couple of years ago.

[CubanPete]

Do you have a garage? A nice classic that may even appreciate maybe.

[kambites]

Definitely two if it's practical for you. In my experience, one "nice" car designed to do everything will never been as good at anything as two cars designed with a specific purpose in mind.

[clarkmagpie]

For just under the 30k...
I went for a Griff 500
C5 Rs6
Great combo

[RobM77]

Definitely two, but make both decent. If your budget's £30k then you've got loads of choice: for example £15k on a 3/4 year old 3 series and £15k on a Caterham or Elise.

[Patrick Bateman]

I like to think 2 cars but in reality what would happen is the daily gets plenty of use and the second car gets left on the drive, barely getting any use and rotting its brakes away.

[V8RX7]

clarkmagpie said:

I went for a Griff 500

That's my old Griff !

It's the reason I joined PH many years ago - IIRC I owned it 13yrs ago when it had around 37k on it

Glad to see it's still going.


Edit - looking at my join date I must have owned it 137 months ago... which is wierd as I could have sworn I bought it on my 30th B'day - maybe I'm younger than I thought.

Edited by V8RX7 on Sunday 20th October 12:00

[popegregory]

Give or take the same amount got me an E61 touring, an S1 Elise and a Cerbera. Every base covered :-)

[Kong]

I know this isn't exactly the same situation as the OP but it's similar.

For the last 4-5 years I've ran a Z4 and later a Z4 Coupe as a daily (to me I consider them to be 'really nice cars'). Earlier this year I switched to a Lotus and a cheap VW Golf diesel as weekend/weekday cars respectively.

Personally speaking I think I prefered the one car option. Obviously the Lotus is more fun on a weekend and the golf more practical. But I liked the idea of doing the boring stuff like driving to work on a monday morning or shopping etc in a 'nice' car - it's a nice feeling. I can't justify taking the Lotus everywhere but I take zero sollace from knowing I own a Lotus while I'm smoking around in my daily!

I'd go back to my old setup if it wasn't for the fact I need a hatchback these days.

[rb5er]

2 cars for sure.

[The Moose]

What about M3 CSL - circa £30k. Practical for day-to-day duties and great fun when needed?

[EskimoArapaho]

Two cars, and neither new.

(says someone who hates depreciation)

[magpie215]

I just went the one snotter route....works for me :-)

[MattyB_]

I'm having the same 'conundrum' but with a lower budget of £15k.

Its either a Banger + Elise or an IS-F. The problem is that I bought an S1 Exige and £750 Audi a few years back, but found I I had 95% of my car budget tied up in a car I was only using 5% of the time, and the Audi was seriously dull so it was a point of frustration.

Swapped to a VXR8 that I found a better prospect; not as fun as the Exige at weekends, but felt I was making better use of my money. So I'm leaning toward the 1-car option.

[james_gt3rs]

I'd get 1 nice car, but one that you can use everyday. E.g Honda NSX, 911 Turbo?

[clarkmagpie]

V8RX7 said:

That's my old Griff !

It's the reason I joined PH many years ago - IIRC I owned it 13yrs ago when it had around 37k on it

Glad to see it's still going.


Edit - looking at my join date I must have owned it 137 months ago... which is wierd as I could have sworn I bought it on my 30th B'day - maybe I'm younger than I thought.

Edited by V8RX7 on Sunday 20th October 12:00

I've owned it for around 5 years, don't use it anywhere near enough!
The sound is just intoxicating and it goes rather well too