Time to get rid of my MY2013 Fiesta ST, what next?

[motorsportbeng]

Hi all,

I'm a youngish petrol-head (22) currently driving a Mk7.5 Fiesta ST and have been for the past 20 months. I love the car (I'm biased, I was an engineer at Ford!), it's great fun to drive on the B roads and I can get 40+ mpg when I need to sit on the motorway when travelling for work. However, I get bored easily and fancy something different.

My circumstances are now slightly different and I have access to a works car for the long journeys so those sorts of practicalities have reduced however I still need to use it everyday.
New one needs to be quicker than the ST and ideally either rear or four wheel drive.

I'm on the Ford options scheme with my current car where I placed a small deposit (£1500) and making £200 a month payments before a final fixed fee at the end of circa £9K.
I should have about £4000 worth of equity left in the car when I buy it back off of Ford and sell it at the end of the contract. I don't want my car to really cost me much more a month so therefore my man maths leads me to believe I have a budget of around £11K if i get a 3 year finance package if I want to buy a second hand car. I haven't checked yet but I guess with the higher deposit I could put down I could get a new car on a similar scheme to the one I'm on at Ford at around a value of £25K max. I presume you can only get those type schemes on new cars?!

Whilst I'm young with no responsibilities a 2 seater sports coupe could be ideal, would love a TVR T350, but something like an M3 is also being considered.

Anyone have any suggestions on what to look at? Or any knowledge on these part lease schemes on second hand cars i.e could I get an E90 M3?
My insurance is just over £400 on the Fiesta so hopefully most things should be under £1K which is stomachable.

[kathyp]

Depends how old you're willing to go and whether you can live without your toys, but an older Elise would fit what you describe and the budget. Rwd, sportster, ticks the boxes.Even the older S is comfortably faster than the ST, and if you can find an Elise R you're looking at a sub 5 seconds car. Bit basic inside though, and that's being euphemistic!

Edited by kathyp on Tuesday 26th August 20:30

[ThunderSpook]

See if Ford will trade you up for a Stang next year?

[J4CKO]

kathyp said:

Depends how old you're willing to go and whether you can live without your toys, but an older Elise would fit what you describe and the budget. Rwd, sportster, ticks the boxes.Even the older ones are comfortably faster than the ST.

Dont think there is that much in it with a standard MK1, the ST is very capable.

[kathyp]

J4CKO said:

Dont think there is that much in it with a standard MK1, the ST is very capable.

Yeah I edited my post to reflect that I was considering the newer S and R mk2's...early ones should be close to OPs budget. 189bhp R flies interior and reliability worries though?

[Pit Pony]

You need to get a mk1 fiesta 1300 sport (pre xr2) to understand where the mk7.5 ST started out. And then see which is more fun.

Then buy a mk1 Mx5 and a transit connect.

[Samjeev]

J4CKO said:

kathyp said:

Depends how old you're willing to go and whether you can live without your toys, but an older Elise would fit what you describe and the budget. Rwd, sportster, ticks the boxes.Even the older ones are comfortably faster than the ST.

Dont think there is that much in it with a standard MK1, the ST is very capable.

or a Vx220 - cheaper and slightly more powerful
Any light, RWD car will feel faster than a heavy FWD hatchback even more so with the roof down
There are loads of options

Edited by Samjeev on Wednesday 27th August 10:21