£20K, Fast, Tuneable, Ideally Practical

[Albigularis]

So, £20k cash budget, perhaps £22K if the car was also practical enough that I could sell my current ecobox. Looking for something fast, practical would be ideal but I can skip it for the right car. The car will be doing a big 5,000 mile tour of europe with a trackday thrown in next summer. Looking for something that can be awoken with some light tuning too - so I'd prefer boosted as standard. Currently been looking at E63 AMGs (5.5 twin turbo variant - 850+ftlb with downpipes and a good map!) RS6 C6s and F10 M5s. I'm avoiding the M5 for now though, there just looks to be far too many issues waiting to happen. I don't mind mental running costs but I want the car to be on the road more than off it.

What else should be on my radar?

[ZX10R NIN]

Those cars won't be great for track days I'd have said one of these with some fettling would tick the boxes:

Megane Trophy

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

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

Cup S

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

Also you're ruling out an F10 M5 but are keeping the C6 RS6 in?

That car is the most ruinous of the three you listed.

[Albigularis]

ZX10R NIN said:

Those cars won't be great for track days I'd have said one of these with some fettling would tick the boxes:

Megane Trophy

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

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

Cup S

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

Also you're ruling out an F10 M5 but are keeping the C6 RS6 in?

That car is the most ruinous of the three you listed.

I'm looking at RWD and 4WD cars with capability of over 700bhp, a Megane isn't quite in the same league. My mention of trackdays was purely to remove suggestions Continental GTs and such. I do quite like the A45 AMG though, light bit of tuning gets them close to 500bhp. If I were considering the track days a priority, I'd buy an E92 M3 today.

The C6 RS6 is (or rather, can be) more costly in total. But it's issues are generally simple, the engines internally are bulletproof and once the issues have been sorted with them every few years (various pipes and oil pump seals), they run mostly reliable, best thought of as very expensive servicing IMO. Whereas the M5 F10 is bending rods on standard power, and the phantom oil issues causing engine seizures which warranty companies are not paying out on... I simply don't have the time or patience to worry about that.

A FWD hatch isn't big enough to cover the practicality angle, nor powerful enough to be fun for myself. I prefer the muscle car vibe, which would lead me to the E63, but they don't seem quite "special" enough. I'm not really one for having a car on the edge round corners, the track days are just for a laugh and to see them.

Edited by Albigularis on Tuesday 30th July 11:26

[zippy3x]

Audi B8 S4 and a tune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KfMY96v_Gc&t=...

[ZX10R NIN]

Albigularis said:

I'm looking at RWD and 4WD cars with capability of over 700bhp, a Megane isn't quite in the same league. My mention of trackdays was purely to remove suggestions Continental GTs and such. I do quite like the A45 AMG though, light bit of tuning gets them close to 500bhp. If I were considering the track days a priority, I'd buy an E92 M3 today.

The C6 RS6 is (or rather, can be) more costly in total. But it's issues are generally simple, the engines internally are bulletproof and once the issues have been sorted with them every few years (various pipes and oil pump seals), they run mostly reliable, best thought of as very expensive servicing IMO. Whereas the M5 F10 is bending rods on standard power, and the phantom oil issues causing engine seizures which warranty companies are not paying out on... I simply don't have the time or patience to worry about that.

A FWD hatch isn't big enough to cover the practicality angle, nor powerful enough to be fun for myself. I prefer the muscle car vibe, which would lead me to the E63, but they don't seem quite "special" enough. I'm not really one for having a car on the edge round corners, the track days are just for a laugh and to see them.

Edited by Albigularis on Tuesday 30th July 11:26

I'd say the E63 will tick your boxes or maybe the CLS.

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