Most fun car under £1,500

[treeroy]

I am buying a car in a few months and do not have much money, £1500 maybe stretch to £2000, what's the most fun car you think?

Clio 182s seem to have shot up in value recently sadly.

[Olas]

A Jimny can be lots of fun in the mud.
A mk5 golf gti has bottomed out in price and can be a disposable means of entertainment.

[Agila b 6yr 6k]

Mr2 roadster or Mx 5.

[designforlife]

Suzuki Ignis sport

[p4cks]

Olas said:

A mk5 golf gti has bottomed out in price and can be a disposable means of entertainment.

Having owned two of these, they're not what I would call entertaining.

Clio 1*2 is the best shout

[Jamescrs]

MX-5 but check, check then check again for rust

[kurokawa]

NA MX-5 for sure, but could be bit hard to find a nice condition NA with under £1.5k

[Xcore]

Youl get a reasonable 182 for that if you look hard enough

[treeroy]

To the MX-5 comments - I am aware of the MX-5, I have had one already but it rusted to its death within a year of ownership and I'm not awfully keen to get another one.

MR2 I do like... quite impractical though (this my only car) but they are tempting. I do have some use of my parents Toyota rav4 so a 2-seat is not completely out of the question.

Olas said:

A Jimny can be lots of fun in the mud.
A mk5 golf gti has bottomed out in price and can be a disposable means of entertainment.

Hadn't thought of a 4x4 but yes Jimnys are extremely cool and would be fun. Don't imagine they are great on fuel though.

Golfs I think of as boring plus don't think GTIs are low enough to be in this price bracket. I know they review well though.

[designforlife]

A £1500 MR2 will be as rusty as an MX5 I would wager

[treeroy]

designforlife said:

A £1500 MR2 will be as rusty as an MX5 I would wager

The rust in itself does not completely put me off (it does mostly, just not entirely...)
I just don't want to buy a car i've already had, would like to try something new.

But point acknowledged.

Now I'm not familiar with MR2s that much but i have not heard of them being known for rust; whereas MX-5s are infamous for being rust wagons.
My local garage reckons all japanese cars rust badly but i'm not sure.

[avenger286]

Ford Puma or Twingo 133 Cup

[designforlife]

YMMV, you can find rusty and immaculate versions of most Jap cars...but at the £1500 end of the budget, there are going to be a lot of the former.

They don't ALL rust, but certain makes and models are worse than others for sure... in my experience for example, Hondas and Toyotas are no where near as bad as Mazdas, Mitsubishis and Nissans.

[ChrisH72]

Another vote for a ford puma here.

They are huge fun and easy to run as a daily. I had mine for a year and it was brilliant.

It will certainly be a bit rusty but most of the bad ones are long gone and 1500 will get you a very tidy, well looked after example.

[TameRacingDriver]

MR2 is the correct answer.

Rust is nowhere near as much of a problem as the MX5.

The engine, however, is. Luckily, replacements are about £400 IIRC. Or you can 2ZZ it for not much more and enjoy a 190 bhp, 8500 rpm screamer that weighs under a ton. However, the standard car is still plenty of fun until that need arises.

I loved mine, probably the most fun car I’ve ever owned.

[NNH]

Puma, if you can find one without terminal rust. Failing that, a petrol Focus. Older 2.0s are cheap, inconspicuous, and hilarious.

[OldGermanHeaps]

what kind of fun? power, speed, handling? for me a convertible is the most fun you can have in a shed.

[warch]

Expect rust on a 1500quid mk5 Golf Gti.

[Nickp82]

Swift Sport if you want some reliability , not fast but lots of fun

[Mr Tidy]

There was a BMW E46 325ti Compact on Auto Trader within budget recently, if you fancied a straight 6 and RWD.

In fact I loved the one I had for over 3 years, and sold it just within the budget 2 years ago.