£45k burning a hole in the pocket....

[Mario149]

....is the unfortunate(!) problem my mate has. He wants a car for the summer i.e. buy in early spring, sell in the autumn, with the total running costs including depreciation, fuel etc to be of the order of £12k (he said £10k but I've added an extra £2k for fuel and insurance etc)

He wants it to be fast, beautiful, exotic and reasonably reliable/modern (although that's all relative at the exotic end of the market).

I've told him to go down the Fcar route (355/360/456/550) as he's still mid-20s and if you can get an Fcar at that age you should IMHO. He's inclining more towards a V8 Vantage which I've dismissed as lardy and slow, albeit beautiful.

What are people's thoughts? I appreciate that I'm biased and probably just as blinkered as he is, so I thought I'd throw it open to everyone for suggestions

[al1991]

360.

He's in his mid twenties.

You only live once, plenty of time for Astons.

[vixen1700]

BMW E46 CSL & a Jensen Interceptor.

[justin220]

997 Turbo?

R8?

Evora S?

Exige V6?

[Rawwr]

KTM X-Bow

[sday12]

justin220 said:

997 Turbo?

R8?

Evora S?

Exige V6?

R8 and 997T would be cheapest on market

[Mario149]

I'll add that hopefully he's shortly to be getting his arse in gear and joining PH to get further advice etc

[JayTee94]

I would get an Aston Martin DB9 if I were him.

I would have said Ferrari 360, but he wants to be quite new, so although it is a great car IMO, it does not fit the criteria.

[10 Pence Short]

Caterham R500 and a summer full of UK and EU trackdays.

[ajprice]

10 MX5's

[Benny Saltstein]

If it were me I'd do the Caterham Academy for a season.

[SAGRIFF]

[Mario149]

10 Pence Short said:

Caterham R500 and a summer full of UK and EU trackdays.

Ooo, left field, I like it

[C2james]

If he wants it to be modern than I'd look at an early v8 R8, although I would buy a Ferrari 355.

[Regiment]

See if he can find a convertible Camaro SS2?

[scottswald]

SAGRIFF said:

fantastic car but hardly exotic

[Boydie88]

Although I have no experience in them, if I had that money, I'd be looking at every Sagaris going.

Him suggesting he wants a vantage doesn't scream summer car?

[0a]

500 miles £35,655

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3441763.htm

[EdC86]

Hey!

Wow! Thanks for all the suggestions already! I am "the friend" in question here.

So a few more rules I'd like to add.

1) I am a shallow creature, and I want girls to like me so "hardcore" track cars are out of picture. Female friendly cars are a big bonus (hence my leaning towards a vantage).

2)Porsche just doesn't do it for me.

3)I really like the idea of getting a big supercar brand so I can say I've done it rather than a top of the line BMW / Mercedes.

R8 is a great suggestion, but it's squeezing the top of the budget, I'd rather be at the 40k side rather than 50k side. But Marco is accusing me of being cheap

Thanks again everybody! Great responses so far.

[Chicane-UK]

Maserati GranTurismo?