What Car - £30k-£35k

[greggy50]

I am just about to turn 28 and have come to the point where I think if I don't treat myself to something silly I never will...

Background is I have had various company cars and have owned a couple of interesting cars (Z4 3.0, Classic Mini, Clio 182) etc. and most recently a E92 330D M-Sport, New Shape S60 T5 and currently a 2020 RRS 400e which is a temporary company car (got a free hire car upgrade...) before I commit to either a Tesla 3 Performance (£180 pm upgrade) or a BMW 330e M Sport.

I currently only drive circa. 10k p.a. and as such I am tempted to keep my allowance (£6.1k p.a.) and get something silly to use for daily use.

Ideally I will fund the car through Capital Car Finance (or similar) with £5k down and then the rest over 36 - 48 months.

With the above in mind by budget is around £25k - £35k range and I have come up with the following:

2008-2010 Audi R8 V8 Manual
2013 - 2016 Cayman S 3.4
2006 - 2009 Aston Martin V8 Vantage 4.3

How would the above deal with 10k? Currently I am leaning towards the Porsche Cayman S and have a test drive booked in for next week as it seems the least scary in terms of potential big bills and would deal quite nicely with the commute to work. The Audi R8 has always been a dream but the worrying costs worry me with the same applying to the Aston.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Any other ideas/suggestions are welcomed

[ZX10R NIN]

Rather than the Cayman I'd be looking in the Evora's direction it'll do 10 with ease & is a bit more imo special than the Cayman:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

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

When it comes to the Aston I'd go for a 4.7 it's a better car.

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

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

F Type R

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

R8 this may be a bit more expensive to run but it's depreciation will be lower

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

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Leftfield:

Corvette Z06

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

RC-F

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

[TNJ]

I am biased but Aston all day long - it will put a smile on your face every day even when you just walk past it rather than driving it. It is genuinely quick (especially if you can stretch to the 4.7) and everyone loves it - you get let out of junctions, thumbs up from kids and people come and ask you about it.

As I say, I am biased because I bought one - this is the car I have dreamt of for years and years and the experience of finally owning one is even better than the dream.

I have had Porsches/M3s etc and they are great cars - but they are also not Aston Martins!

[ollyh1988]

A few years ago I had a very similar list to you.

I went with the Aston Martin as it was a dream car, and never regretted that decision. Mine was not expensive to run (servicing costs were less than my Porsche) and nothing went wrong, other than the old satnav being slow and sometimes getting lost.

You will get as much enjoyment out of just looking at the Aston as you will driving it!

[greggy50]

Thanks for the tips so far 🙂

I really like the idea of the Aston just not sure if it's not only car whether it would be usable every day i.e. commute to work and leave it in the car park in Crewe...

I will certainly go and take a look at one however!

Other thoughts have been a 997 Carrera S and a Grandturismo but I suspect the Masserati would be ruinous to run...

[ZX10R NIN]

They're not ruinous to run as long as you have a good specialist near you, they're on par with the Aston in terms running costs.

The next thing you have to work out is your journey type if it's mainly around town then go for the full auto if it's open road then go for MC Shift.