What drivers car ~£130k

[Shabs]

I am hoping you guys can suggest some potential cars that I could research.

I am quite disappointed with myself in that after owning my new R8 V10 plus for a year, I am already mentally shopping around.

Strangely enough, the unsettling urge to get something else what triggered by my pensioner spec, light blue with cream cloth interior, 90,000 mile, 1.8ltr Volvo V50. bd thing is a manual and while the 0-60 takes 2.8 minutes instead of seconds with the R8, I can thrash the crap out of it and still hold up traffic. It also has the added benefit that, being pensioner spec, other road users and even cyclists see me coming and get out of my way in fear of being careered off the road in a senior moment.

So back to the R8. I love it for everything it does, which is pretty much anything you could expect from a road car. It has “drive like golf mode”, “race car spit fire mode” and everything in-between. It sounds awesome, or not, depending on mode. It rides hard, or not. You can park it because it has all sorts of cameras and even drive over speed bumps without stuff falling off. The electronics are amazing - you can draw the postcode with your finger into the satnav cockpit thing and it understands!

But it is quite digital and synthetic. I don’t think it is possible to be so good at everything without being a bit synthetic in the process. This is a long way of saying I want a real driver’s car.

So far I think my choices look like:
- GT3 (997.2 or 991.1)
- GT4
- Boxter Spyder 3.8
- V12Vs manual
- Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera
- Gallardo LP550-2
- Exige 380 Sport

I really would like to keep this for more than a year, so I think I need a car that no only scratches an itch, but is really special. I have a friend who had a CSL for several years until it was stolen and stripped for parts. He still mourns it and has a model version on his desk that he gazes longingly at. I want this sort of car (but not a CSL)

My budget is up to 130k.

Ideal cars are always somehow out of reach, my hero cars that I would keep forever and probably move my bed into the garage for are 997.1 GT3 RS in Viper Green, Gallardo 550-2 Singapore Edition, 458 Speciale. None of these would be remotely in budget.

The other info I can think of giving is some kind of history:

- TVR: sold because it caught fire, three times
- Lotus Elise 111R: sold because too slow to effectively overtake
- Lotus Europa S: sold because kids came along and wife wouldn’t let me take my son in it as it was heavily modified
- 997.1 Turbo: sold because maintenance became scary, but I did keep it for 4 years and still love them
- R8 V10 plus: synthetic but awesome

What I loved about my old cars that I would love to somehow replicate in this new car:

- TVR: community is top notch, I love TVR people
- Lotus: chuckable, handling feel and communication, small, genuinely hoonable, fun at low speed, buzzed in a fun kind of way like a little race car
- 997 Turbo: Boooost, the way it launched, small, felt indestructible
- R8: noise, speed, attention it gets

Are there other options besides the ones listed above?

It is a weekend fun car, I have my mighty V50 for station car, shopping and getting Xmas trees

[Yipper]

Gallardo SL2 is the fastest, prettiest and best-sounding car on that list, with the best badge, acres of carbon, and sublime downshifts that whipsaw like no other. One of the best supercars ever made. Like driving a violin.

It's a no-brainer.

[ZX10R NIN]

Dodge Viper ACR

Corvette Z06

Mustang GT350R

All are great drivers cars & will come on or just under budget.

[FWIW]

Evora?

[akirk]

Elise 111R too slow to effectively overtake?!

mmm...
I understand your desire for a more analogue car, but if you are having problems overtaking in an Elise, there may be other issues worth tackling...

[Ructions]

Ferrari 458

/thread

[gigglebug]

Evora GT Sport? Maybe not quite as hardcore as the Exige but counters with back seat practicality, depending how old/big your child is. Good looking too, well in my opinion anyway.

Ferrari 355? If you afford to run it of course! Still one of the best sounds and looks to me. Analogue and exciting.

130k is an awful lot to play with to be honest, I expect there are many, many options open to you up to that price range.

Good luck with the search, hope you find something you take to.

Edited by gigglebug on Friday 23 February 22:45

[h0b0]

I’m surprised I’m saying this but......

laborghini Huracan


Wasn’t a fan when they came out but they have grown on me massively. In performance terms, they should be the benchmark for mid priced super cars. And, they don’t have a turbo.

[anonymous-user]

akirk said:

Elise 111R too slow to effectively overtake?!

mmm...
I understand your desire for a more analogue car, but if you are having problems overtaking in an Elise, there may be other issues worth tackling...

that was my thought too. never had any problem overtaking in mine.

[Shiv_P]

h0b0 said:

I’m surprised I’m saying this but......

laborghini Huracan
]

Wasn’t a fan when they came out but they have grown on me massively. In performance terms, they should be the benchmark for mid priced super cars. And, they don’t have a turbo.

The OP already has an R8 with the same engine and reviewed as a much better drivers car so I assume not enough of a change for the OP

[Shabs]

Thank you for the comments

I didn’t mean offence regarding the 111R. It is a great little car and one that I really enjoyed owning. Sure, it is a quick and fun car for the money, however I don’t think you could call it fast?

The corvette z06 is an amazing thing but I don’t want LHD. I seriously wish they made them in RHD though.

Regarding the Huracan, far too similar to my R8. It’s a bit of a strange prospect, the good bits are no different to the R8, just they made it more inconvenient and difficult to use in an attempt to engineer in character. I don’t get it. What I get even less is people will to pay such a premium for it over the R8 just because it is a Lambo.

The Gallardo SL2 on the other hand, I need to drive one of these. Likewise the 458, although I am scared I will love it and then it will ruin me dead through falling apart :-)

[Shabs]

I really should add the Evora to the list. I have always liked them but driving the non S version was a bit dull. I think the newer versions could be vastly improved though.

One thing I love about Lotus is how kind they are on consumables vs heavier more powerful cars. I would never take my R8 on a track because discs, pads and tyres would cost circa £15-16k to replace. With a Lotus, it really isn’t a problem.

[ZX10R NIN]

Shabs said:

Thank you for the comments

I didn’t mean offence regarding the 111R. It is a great little car and one that I really enjoyed owning. Sure, it is a quick and fun car for the money, however I don’t think you could call it fast?

The corvette z06 is an amazing thing but I don’t want LHD. I seriously wish they made them in RHD though.

Regarding the Huracan, far too similar to my R8. It’s a bit of a strange prospect, the good bits are no different to the R8, just they made it more inconvenient and difficult to use in an attempt to engineer in character. I don’t get it. What I get even less is people will to pay such a premium for it over the R8 just because it is a Lambo.

The Gallardo SL2 on the other hand, I need to drive one of these. Likewise the 458, although I am scared I will love it and then it will ruin me dead through falling apart :-)

There's a solution due to any car being sold in Australia having to be RHD there are companies that sell RHD kits, once completed you'll add value to your chosen ride.

Alternatively you could talk to Clive Sutton who'll carry out the conversion for you & if you want to have a great drivers car that's different from the norm then these are worth further investigation & they have the added bonus of being cheaper to maintain.

Gran Sport Corvette (this is the N/A version of the Z06)



Z06



GT350R (one of the best cars I've ever driven, anytime I'm in the states I always make a point of driving my uncles) this car shines on road & track.



Viper ACR (this is an absolute weapon just look at what customer cars managed at the ring but maybe to hardcore)



Camaro ZL1 LE (I think you'd have to get ZL1 bumper as well so you can bring the car UK Registered) or just go for the ZL1 the 1LE's ride maybe to stiff for UK roads.



All will get major attention in the UK as they're a very rare sight & with the RHD conversion they'll be super rare.

[Watchman]

Build something unique. Take a Cerbera and stick an LS engine and 6-speed in it, or a supercharged Caterham (or bike derived V8), or see what you could do with a Noble M400.

All of the above have active communities which make ownership more fun.

[akirk]

Shabs said:

Thank you for the comments

I didn’t mean offence regarding the 111R. It is a great little car and one that I really enjoyed owning. Sure, it is a quick and fun car for the money, however I don’t think you could call it fast?

The corvette z06 is an amazing thing but I don’t want LHD. I seriously wish they made them in RHD though.

Regarding the Huracan, far too similar to my R8. It’s a bit of a strange prospect, the good bits are no different to the R8, just they made it more inconvenient and difficult to use in an attempt to engineer in character. I don’t get it. What I get even less is people will to pay such a premium for it over the R8 just because it is a Lambo.

The Gallardo SL2 on the other hand, I need to drive one of these. Likewise the 458, although I am scared I will love it and then it will ruin me dead through falling apart :-)

I think it was more the comment that you couldn't overtake effectively... they are fast cars, just not superfast, so I get what you are looking for, the speed of the other cars is on a different level, power delivery and feel especially... however, there is a point at which extra power and speed gives no extra overtaking ability and the elise is already in that category - if more power than that is needed then the overtake is dangerous - and I drive cars in both categories...

if you are after the power feel that a supercar brings, then I think it is quite personal, the delivery of emotion / lack of seems subjective, and you can only really tell what speaks to you by getting out there and driving the cars... if the overtake / driving is a part of the buzz then in parallel, do some training...

[Shabs]

So if I had to rephrase, overtakes had to be well timed and at times, were very frustrating. Sitting just off second cam behind some pensioner on a twisty B road waiting for a chance wasn’t fun. In more powerful cars, it is easier and takes a lot less planning / frustration

[h0b0]

Not sure if it’s considered a drivers car but you could have this

McLaren


If it was me though, I’d probably go for 2 cars.

[Shabs]

I just don’t think the 570 would be that special, keep forever type of car.

[Dapster]

Shabs said:

It is a weekend fun car, I have my mighty V50 for station car, shopping and getting Xmas trees

For a weekend fun car, you can get one of these and save £100k for hookers and coke. In fact, you don't even need anything as extreme as a 620R. A lowly £30k Seven 310 will be held up by everything other than a superbike on a public road.



If you want some thing a bit more civilised, for pure visceral thrills, how about an MC Stradale...?

[FWIW]

Will you ever take this car on track?