Hypothetical 2in1 replacement

Original Poster

12,170 posts

174 months

Sunday 28th May 2017

I say hypothetical as I intend to keep both cars for the foreseeable future (987 Boxster and a Clio 182 Trophy) but having just been informed the shifts at work will be stopping, I'll be around £450 worse off each month soon.

With that in mind, if I was to replace both with one car at some point, what sort of suggestions do folk have?

I'm aware there is the obvious option of keeping one of the cars but the Clio would soon wear thin doing a 50 mile round trip Monday to Friday and maintenance costs on a 12 year old Porsche with limited expendable income could soon see me struggling if a couple of decent bills were to coincide.

Requirements would be the following-

£15k absolute top whack but the closer to £10k the better
Fun
Tolerable for the commute. I'm not talking S-class levels of comfort but to put it simply, I could tolerate the Boxster every day but not the Clio (in 182 guise at least).
Manual
Around 30mpg at worst
Petrol
Not horrific parts prices (some Porsche prices are obviously rather expensive, limited pattern parts availability doesn't help)
Nothing typically rusty

A few cars I could throw into the mix myself would be along the lines of- RS Megane 250 or newer, Clio 200 (for a lot cheaper), Z4 Coupé

I'm all ears though.

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Sunday 28th May 21:13

steve-5snwi

8,644 posts

93 months

Sunday 28th May 2017

keep them both and spend £1000 on a Saab 9-5 Aero

Original Poster

12,170 posts

174 months

Sunday 28th May 2017

Monthly outgoings while running 2 cars will be stretched, 3 is out of the question.

As a rough idea, after absolutely all guaranteed monthly outgoings I'll have around £400-450 left to play with.

27,560 posts

125 months

Sunday 28th May 2017

Original Poster

12,170 posts

174 months

Sunday 28th May 2017

I get the impression with a lot of the Meganes, unless you're talking about the likes of the Cup-S with Ohlins etc. you're as well sticking with the 250 and getting a remap as they're all broadly the same otherwise.

27,560 posts

125 months

Monday 29th May 2017

With the Meganes the Cup Chassis is the one most go for, but you can get a Lux fitted with the Cup Chassis (you can tell if it has a Cup Chassis by the Red Calipers) the big difference is the Diff you get with the Cup cars, the Ohlins came on the 275 cars.

The Trophy is another step on from the Cup a proper limited edition car but it might be a bit stiff for your needs.

Original Poster

12,170 posts

174 months

Monday 29th May 2017

What's different about the suspension on a standard Trophy and a regular Cup?

27,560 posts

125 months

Monday 29th May 2017

Dampers Spring rate etc basically lots of little things, but in essence not a lot between it & the Cup.

Here are some reviews:

Cup

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=...

Trophy

https://youtu.be/xsPS3cVcRiI

https://youtu.be/c8UE2s6VlXA

vtecyo

2,122 posts

129 months

Monday 29th May 2017

I have to say that I'm getting very tempted by a 265 Cup. They're supposed to be mega. The only thing putting me off is the interior which is quite a long way off it's rivals. Granted that's not why you buy one but it's quite a nice thing to have.

27,560 posts

125 months

Monday 29th May 2017

As I said earlier you can get the nicer Lux Model with the Cup Chassis I will say their interiors are a bit off the Focus/Golf but they're off handling wise you just need to workout which is more important.

Lux with the Cup Chassis Recaros & some nice upgrades by K Tec Racing

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

As above minus the KTR upgrades

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Lux with Cup Chassis

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

vtecyo

2,122 posts

129 months

Tuesday 30th May 2017

K TEC are about 10 minutes from my parents place where I will be this weekend. I may pop in for a visit as my mate is a mech there anyway.

stuart_83

1,009 posts

101 months

Tuesday 30th May 2017

vtecyo said:

Go and have a sit in one - I didn't think it was all that bad. Looks better in the flesh than in photos.

Felt incredibly solid to me too.

Original Poster

12,170 posts

174 months

Tuesday 30th May 2017

Sounds like a Lux with the Cup Pack would be the one to get for a daily driver. I'll certainly keep it in mind if it comes to making a change.

27,560 posts

125 months

Wednesday 31st May 2017

Take a look in at KTR as you'll be around that way, it'll help make up your mind one way or the other.

GrumpyTwig

3,354 posts

157 months

Sunday 4th June 2017

Patrick Bateman said:

Sounds like a Lux with the Cup Pack would be the one to get for a daily driver. I'll certainly keep it in mind if it comes to making a change.

A word of warning.

When you the come to want to swap away from the Megane it's really... really difficult to find something that blends it's qualities as well or is as poised and fun to drive at 9/10ths. They're kind of annoyingly good.

Original Poster

12,170 posts

174 months

Monday 5th June 2017

Having had an e39 M5, I know exactly how hard it is to replace a well rounded car, unfortunately.

Original Poster

12,170 posts

174 months

Friday 11th May 2018

Revisiting this.

Replaced the Boxster with a 7 series which has been a PITA so it'll hopefully be getting sold this summer.

Got the cruise control finally working in the Clio Trophy which makes it much better for dull drives. Still not what I'd call an ideal daily though, a much better car for now and again.

The trouble is, it's rare, great fun when going for it and going up in value. My instincts tell me to just run it on its own for a while and tolerate the mundane journeys that the 7 series was the ideal antidote to. Feels like it would be one of those 'I wish I never sold X car all those years ago' type things.

keo

2,043 posts

170 months

Friday 11th May 2018

I sold my Trophy about 4/5 years ago. Still regret it now.

Original Poster

12,170 posts

174 months