Best Commuting / trackday car
Discussion
Currently own a 320d Sport for the daily 90 mile commute and a Clio 182 Trophy for the weekend/trackday fun.
BUT.
Im finding that the clio is getting used twice a month, & 99% of the time, im in the 320d, wishing i was in something quicker/more fun.
Is there something that will combine the two, not be completely obscene to run, & be fairly depreciation friendly? I maintain my own cars, so parts prices are fairly important.
Have about £6-£9k to spend, & currently thinking of the following:
e46 M3 - expensive if it breaks
S2000 - impractical (i move quite a lot of car parts around)
DC5 ITR - expensive for a 2001 Jap can
Megane R26 - value will continue to drop like a stone. Look minging
130i - ticks all the boxes, but maybe a little too sensible?
Any car needs to be capable of getting 30-35mpg on a run, which i know all of the above are capable of.
Not interested in anything VAG. Had a Edition30 for a while & i nearly died of boredom. GF also has a TT.
Any more thoughts?
BUT.
Im finding that the clio is getting used twice a month, & 99% of the time, im in the 320d, wishing i was in something quicker/more fun.
Is there something that will combine the two, not be completely obscene to run, & be fairly depreciation friendly? I maintain my own cars, so parts prices are fairly important.
Have about £6-£9k to spend, & currently thinking of the following:
e46 M3 - expensive if it breaks
S2000 - impractical (i move quite a lot of car parts around)
DC5 ITR - expensive for a 2001 Jap can
Megane R26 - value will continue to drop like a stone. Look minging
130i - ticks all the boxes, but maybe a little too sensible?
Any car needs to be capable of getting 30-35mpg on a run, which i know all of the above are capable of.
Not interested in anything VAG. Had a Edition30 for a while & i nearly died of boredom. GF also has a TT.
Any more thoughts?
Edited by Sir_Dave on Monday 20th June 14:33
DC5. I'm loving every second of owning mine. Yes on face value for expensive for the age BUT they're also going to hold their money better than anything else in that price range. Never a bad bonus. 30mpg is easy to achieve, handling is brilliant. quick enough to be entertaining and not get boring.
Sir_Dave said:
Currently own a 320d Sport for the daily 90 mile commute and a Clio 182 Trophy for the weekend/trackday fun.
BUT.
Im finding that the clio is getting used twice a month, & 99% of the time, im in the 320d, wishing i was in something quicker/more fun.
Is there something that will combine the two, not be completely obscene to run, & be fairly depreciation friendly? I maintain my own cars, so parts prices are fairly important.
Have about £6-£9k to spend, & currently thinking of the following:
e46 M3 - expensive if it breaks
e36 M3 Evo - rust. rust & more rust
S2000 - impractical (i move quite a lot of car parts around)
DC5 ITR - expensive for a 2001 Jap can
Megane R26 - value will continue to drop like a stone. Look minging
130i - ticks all the boxes, but maybe a little too sensible?
Any car needs to be capable of getting 30-35mpg on a run, which i know all of the above are capable of.
Not interested in anything VAG. Had a Edition30 for a while & i nearly died of boredom. GF also has a TT.
Any more thoughts?
You do 90 miles a day, yet you want to use the same car as a track day special!!! BUT.
Im finding that the clio is getting used twice a month, & 99% of the time, im in the 320d, wishing i was in something quicker/more fun.
Is there something that will combine the two, not be completely obscene to run, & be fairly depreciation friendly? I maintain my own cars, so parts prices are fairly important.
Have about £6-£9k to spend, & currently thinking of the following:
e46 M3 - expensive if it breaks
e36 M3 Evo - rust. rust & more rust
S2000 - impractical (i move quite a lot of car parts around)
DC5 ITR - expensive for a 2001 Jap can
Megane R26 - value will continue to drop like a stone. Look minging
130i - ticks all the boxes, but maybe a little too sensible?
Any car needs to be capable of getting 30-35mpg on a run, which i know all of the above are capable of.
Not interested in anything VAG. Had a Edition30 for a while & i nearly died of boredom. GF also has a TT.
Any more thoughts?
Are you mental
or do you have access to another car should you break/stack yours on track?BTW - 35mpg average from an M3, while possible I suspect is highly unlikely and I think you'd be deluding yourself to think you could easily and regularly average that in it.
How about a trailer and a non road legal track car?
Sir_Dave said:
thinfourth2 said:
Bin the clio and replace it with a proper trackcar
Coming from the Land Rover owner. Ok.Trailer doesnt make much sense, id use the clio even less then lol. Tax/Insurance is only £700 a year, so doesnt really break the bank either really.
A caterfield is a far better trackcar then a clio and will cost less to run. My 7 cost me £130 to insure me last year and it is very very light on consumables round a track is it weighs half of what a clio does.
What makes a decent roadcar (toys soft suspension and lard) makes a crap trackcar
Oh caterham parts prices
A new set of front discs 30 pounds
A full set of sticky tyres under 300 pounds
a new nosecone 150 pounds
a new rear wing 120 pounds
a new chassis is about 3 grand if you properly stuff it into a barrier
A k series engine can be replaced for 500 pounds from a scrapper if it goes pop as all you need do is swap over cams if you have the supersport. Other engines might need more bits swapped.
And depreciation is pretty much sod all
Edited by thinfourth2 on Monday 20th June 14:00
Sir_Dave said:
Coming from the Land Rover owner. Ok.
Trailer doesnt make much sense, id use the clio even less then lol. Tax/Insurance is only £700 a year, so doesnt really break the bank either really.
In that case then, would it not make sense to get a better track day car that doubles up as a more fun weekend/sunny day car too? That way you'd likely use it more and still have a vehicle to do 90 miles a day.Trailer doesnt make much sense, id use the clio even less then lol. Tax/Insurance is only £700 a year, so doesnt really break the bank either really.
I'm in the same boat Dave albeit I do my miles at the weekends. I've come to the conclusion that there isn't really a proper do it all car.
If it's seriously track oriented car then it'll be hard work doing distance. If it's comfy, it'll be average on track.
I've given up and am going to suck it up and buy a VX220.
It's Rhodesy btw
If it's seriously track oriented car then it'll be hard work doing distance. If it's comfy, it'll be average on track.
I've given up and am going to suck it up and buy a VX220.
It's Rhodesy btw
thinfourth2 said:
Before you start jumping to conclusions it might be worth your effort looking at what i used to own.
A caterfield is a far better trackcar then a clio and will cost less to run. My 7 cost me £130 to insure me last year and it is very very light on consumables round a track is it weighs half of what a clio does.
What makes a decent roadcar (toys soft suspension and lard) makes a crap trackcar
^ this.A caterfield is a far better trackcar then a clio and will cost less to run. My 7 cost me £130 to insure me last year and it is very very light on consumables round a track is it weighs half of what a clio does.
What makes a decent roadcar (toys soft suspension and lard) makes a crap trackcar
Get a westfield/caterham and a trailer/towbar for the 320d to take it to the track and back.
Isn't that the whole point of the 182?thinfourth2 said:
Before you start jumping to conclusions it might be worth your effort looking at what i currently own.
EFA. Clio isnt standard, & setup for track use, ie cage, R888's, suspension altered, etc.Also, cant remember the last time you could build/buy a Caterham for 3 grand ...
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