What fun 3rd car would PH’ers buy for £13k?

[Honeywell]

I’ve got £13k burning a hole in my pocket. I have a Rangerover and a Mercedes E Class (both auto diesels). Insurance and garaging are no problem. I could go Classic. My era is early 1990’s as I passed my driving test in 1992.

2 requirements:

A) I have to be able to take two children under the age of 11 to school in it (so no two seaters).

B) It has to be fun. Speed is not necessarily a priory despite twenty years of always having fairly powerful cars.


Front runner at the moment is a GT86. Before I pull the trigger I’d like to canvass the wisdom of crowds and hopefully generate some left-field alternatives...

[Nickp82]

I would spend £12900 on an Elise and £100 on a bicycle for the kids to take turns in riding to school personally.

But ultimately given the guaranteed accusation of being 'cruel' from the OH, my money would go on a Racing Puma.

[Vitorio]

13K should get you a ~2003 911 from what the classifieds tell me. (disclaimer, i am not very knowledgeable on 911s, so no clue as to wether those cars are any good or have massive problems waiting to drain your wallet)

E46 M3 is also an option, perhaps some form of AMG merc?

Though not allowing 2 seaters kind of limits your options

[_Neal_]

I'd go for either a Porsche 944 (or 968 if you can find a decent one within budget) or a BMW M3, either E46 or E36 depending on what floats your boat - perhaps the E36 if you like your 90s cars.

[mrunderhill]

BMW i3

[Mr E]

Nickp82 said:

I would spend £12900 on an Elise and £100 on a bicycle for the kids to take turns in riding to school personally.

But ultimately given the guaranteed accusation of being 'cruel' from the OH, my money would go on a Racing Puma.

Is what I did.

[LasseV]

Well, it is hard to beat GT86 in fun factor/cost etc. It would be my pick. Leftfield choice: Toyota Supra n/a manual. Similarish to GT86 but older and more charismatic.

[hornmeister]

Autotrader has a couple of 90s Merc SLs for your budget.

[Heartworm]

LasseV said:

Well, it is hard to beat GT86 in fun factor/cost etc. It would be my pick. Leftfield choice: Toyota Supra n/a manual. Similarish to GT86 but older and more charismatic.

I've owned 3 MKIV supra, the n/a was terribly dull, for £13k a TT manual should be possible and is a fantastic car.

[Honeywell]

Thanks for the suggestions thus far.

Two high power, high weight, big tyre, auto gearboxes cars are already in the garage. I’m not interested in speed/grunt as much as fun. Can be utterly bonkers and impractical as long as it can take two kids 5 miles.

[LasseV]

Heartworm said:

I've owned 3 MKIV supra, the n/a was terribly dull, for £13k a TT manual should be possible and is a fantastic car.

Well, each of their own. He didn't want to have a high hp car. Besides, you can only dream manual MKIV TT for 13k.

[designforlife]

Mint DC5 and £3k to take the family ona nice holiday.

I've had one 18 months and couldn't recommend it highly enough as a drivers car, very practical too given it's basically a track car out of the box.

They are also appreciating, so no need to worry about losing money.

Edited by designforlife on Friday 29th June 13:26

[Rory J]

E46 M3. However I am slightly biased.

£13K should get you a really good one.
Also prices are on the way up so you shouldn't lose money on it.
Maintenance is not cheap though as there is the "M" tax to pay on parts but for me for there are not that many better cars in this price range.

[mackay45]

BMW 650i

[Kewy]

Civic FD2 Type R – should be able to pick one up for around £13k

Future classic for sure.

[designforlife]

the £13k ones are at the tatty end of the scale now too...more like £16k for a minter.

The mugen RR version goes for £40k!!

[Heartworm]

LasseV said:

Well, each of their own. He didn't want to have a high hp car. Besides, you can only dream manual MKIV TT for 13k.

I haven't had one in years but 225bhp on a car of it's size was lacklustre when I had mine, and the 5 speed box a bit rubbish too. They certainly have increased in price in the last few years since I've had mine though :O 7 or 8 years ago a ropey TT manual was selling for 5K, now the owners club is filled with wanted and very little for sale!

[ElectricSoup]

Alfa Brera 3.2 V6:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[_Neal_]

Why not spend a lot less than 13k on a Alfa GTV (V6, of course)? Ticks the "fun" and "90s" boxes, and they seem to be going up in value...

[Bumblebee7]

As you have two new cars and both auto diesels I would go for something that is manual and petrol. GT86 is of course a fantastic car, but still modern. If you want something fun, and reliable (kids to school and all that) as well as something a bit interesting (as in not seen everyday) and bonus points for something that isn't depreciating then I would go for a BMW E30 325i. Choice of rag top or saloon derived coupe. Really fun to drive, look great (IMO) and going up in value.