£15K fun commuter - Page 1 - Car Buying

Shappers24

Original Poster

971 posts

113 months

[report]

[news]

Sunday 9th June 2024

I need the PH collective wisdom again.

£15K budget for a fun commuter which isn’t rock solid and uncomfortable. LED lights a bonus, and would quite like heated seats.

Commute is 2 days a week and 110 round trip, mainly motorway. My car history recently is a wreck, and I’ve had a string of bad/wrong purchases which is costing a fortune.

First off had an A90 Supra, and a 2012 diesel Ibiza. Didn’t like commuting in the Ibiza (too small, too noisy, too cheap feeling) so bought an E85 Z4 2.5si to replace it.

This created an issue as I preferred driving the Z4 to the Supra… no point having £45K tied up in a Supra if the £4K Z4 does all I need it to. Supra got sold.

Decide that the Ibiza needs an upgrade, flog it and buy a 2018 JCW mini. 220bhp, loud exhaust, entertaining handling, I’ve had a string of minis and really like them. Sadly, this one is so uncomfortable it’s starting to annoy me, to the extent I don’t want to commute in it. So now I’m looking at selling this for a new daily, £15K budget, needs to be special/fun/nice to look at, so no 320D’s or golf’s.

M235i might be within budget, or a FWD Audi TT mk3, but beyond that I’m stumped. The 235 all seem to have dreadful specs, in a bid to keep the original purchase price below £40K I suspect. Quattro TT would be preference but pickings slim at this price point, and for a motorway slog FWD would be fine (still have the Z4 for fun!)

I don’t want to use the Z4 daily as the fuel consumption isn’t great, and in winter being so low I have issues being blinded by oncoming vehicle (and the headlights are like candles…)

Am I missing something obvious?

CG2020UK

2,929 posts

67 months

[report]

[news]

Sunday 9th June 2024

I’d go the nicest MK7 Golf GTI you can find

ZX10R NIN

30,358 posts

152 months

[report]

[news]

Sunday 9th June 2024

Shappers24 said:

I need the PH collective wisdom again.

£15K budget for a fun commuter which isn’t rock solid and uncomfortable. LED lights a bonus, and would quite like heated seats.

Commute is 2 days a week and 110 round trip, mainly motorway. My car history recently is a wreck, and I’ve had a string of bad/wrong purchases which is costing a fortune.

First off had an A90 Supra, and a 2012 diesel Ibiza. Didn’t like commuting in the Ibiza (too small, too noisy, too cheap feeling) so bought an E85 Z4 2.5si to replace it.

This created an issue as I preferred driving the Z4 to the Supra… no point having £45K tied up in a Supra if the £4K Z4 does all I need it to. Supra got sold.

Decide that the Ibiza needs an upgrade, flog it and buy a 2018 JCW mini. 220bhp, loud exhaust, entertaining handling, I’ve had a string of minis and really like them. Sadly, this one is so uncomfortable it’s starting to annoy me, to the extent I don’t want to commute in it. So now I’m looking at selling this for a new daily, £15K budget, needs to be special/fun/nice to look at, so no 320D’s or golf’s.

M235i might be within budget, or a FWD Audi TT mk3, but beyond that I’m stumped. The 235 all seem to have dreadful specs, in a bid to keep the original purchase price below £40K I suspect. Quattro TT would be preference but pickings slim at this price point, and for a motorway slog FWD would be fine (still have the Z4 for fun!)

I don’t want to use the Z4 daily as the fuel consumption isn’t great, and in winter being so low I have issues being blinded by oncoming vehicle (and the headlights are like candles…)

Am I missing something obvious?

NAAHD

196 posts

52 months

[report]

[news]

Sunday 9th June 2024

I wouldn’t recommend a fwd Audi after having both Quattro and fwd…