Fast, cheap and reliable - pick any 2
Discussion
Hello,
As motoring cliches go "Fast, cheap and reliable - pick any 2" makes a lot of sense.
But there must be something that combines all three, without cheating.
My £1500 MX5 with it's home installed £500 turbo was looking like a winner until the fire*. And also if you ignore the cost of the labour, Wheeler Dealer style.
Surely the might of PH can find something** fast, cheap and reliabile?
Fastest, cheapest reliable car wins***.
* Don't worry, it's fine, it put itself out. If anything that makes it more reliable than cars that don't have a proven record of self-extinguishing, but still not as good as cars that don't catch fire.
** It must be a car, also I'm using small print so the sort of people who whine about small print can ignore it, do something wrong, then complain it's not fair somehow.
*** although I suspect we'll never agree on definitions of "fast", "cheap" or even "reliable".
As motoring cliches go "Fast, cheap and reliable - pick any 2" makes a lot of sense.
But there must be something that combines all three, without cheating.
My £1500 MX5 with it's home installed £500 turbo was looking like a winner until the fire*. And also if you ignore the cost of the labour, Wheeler Dealer style.
Surely the might of PH can find something** fast, cheap and reliabile?
Fastest, cheapest reliable car wins***.
* Don't worry, it's fine, it put itself out. If anything that makes it more reliable than cars that don't have a proven record of self-extinguishing, but still not as good as cars that don't catch fire.
** It must be a car, also I'm using small print so the sort of people who whine about small print can ignore it, do something wrong, then complain it's not fair somehow.
*** although I suspect we'll never agree on definitions of "fast", "cheap" or even "reliable".
Disco You said:
You need to define your terms to be honest.
What's fast? 200bhp? 300? 1000?
What's reliable? Never breaks down? Once a year a turbo gives out? Once a year it needs a new engine? Once a week?
What's cheap? 1k? 10k?
Fast would be a speed, rather than a power output. Let's say faster than 140mph. Arbitary, but it lets you play a solid game of "double all the limits" on any road in the UK.What's fast? 200bhp? 300? 1000?
What's reliable? Never breaks down? Once a year a turbo gives out? Once a year it needs a new engine? Once a week?
What's cheap? 1k? 10k?
Reliable as in always starts and completes any journey under it's own power, and need no attention between journeys.
Cheap is a tricky one. I bought cars I liked for £50. But lets say £4k.
Disco You said:
You need to define your terms to be honest.
What's fast? 200bhp? 300? 1000?
What's reliable? Never breaks down? Once a year a turbo gives out? Once a year it needs a new engine? Once a week?
What's cheap? 1k? 10k?
Indeed, although I took it to mean the most speed, with the most reliability from as little outlay as possible.What's fast? 200bhp? 300? 1000?
What's reliable? Never breaks down? Once a year a turbo gives out? Once a year it needs a new engine? Once a week?
What's cheap? 1k? 10k?
I'd say unmodified Impreza classics are cheap, quick and reliable.
gofasterrosssco said:
A Toyota MR2 is one of the very few cars I can think of (well, I have had a few - slight bias) that comes closest to combining all 3 requirements..
Which MR2? My mk2 had a £800 bill for a new steering rack, a head gasket, several cases of no electricity and got through 4 alternators. My mk1s were ace, apart from disolving in rain.SuperchargedVR6 said:
Disco You said:
You need to define your terms to be honest.
What's fast? 200bhp? 300? 1000?
What's reliable? Never breaks down? Once a year a turbo gives out? Once a year it needs a new engine? Once a week?
What's cheap? 1k? 10k?
Indeed, although I took it to mean the most speed, with the most reliability from as little outlay as possible.What's fast? 200bhp? 300? 1000?
What's reliable? Never breaks down? Once a year a turbo gives out? Once a year it needs a new engine? Once a week?
What's cheap? 1k? 10k?
I'd say unmodified Impreza classics are cheap, quick and reliable.
Although is top speed the best/only way to quantify "fast"? Most Caterhams, even huge power to weight ones are pretty naff at high speed, but you'd not exactly define them as slow.
300bhp/ton said:
;)
What?I know it reads a bit like a poorly diguised what car thread, but it isn't, as my next car is going to be an E36 328i, or a 944, or an E34 535i, or a DC2 or definitely a mk1 CRX 16i16.
Also I don't need a new car, and I definitely don't have space for one, or I would have bought a DC2 already.
So keep your winky faces to yourself.
Does that seem paranoid? No. Well, maybe a bit. Stop judging me.
300bhp/ton said:
Although is top speed the best/only way to quantify "fast"? Most Caterhams, even huge power to weight ones are pretty naff at high speed, but you'd not exactly define them as slow.
Good point, lets say 140mph+ or less than 7 seconds to 60mph?An S13 200SX will do both of those, but won't have any big end bearings by the time to stop from 140mph (and possibly not by the time you'd got to 60mph)
Captain Muppet said:
gofasterrosssco said:
A Toyota MR2 is one of the very few cars I can think of (well, I have had a few - slight bias) that comes closest to combining all 3 requirements..
Which MR2? My mk2 had a £800 bill for a new steering rack, a head gasket, several cases of no electricity and got through 4 alternators. My mk1s were ace, apart from disolving in rain.I've had a few of both Mk's, and never had any major problems despite decent mileage and use. £800 to replace a steering rack is excessive, and not indicative of the sort of costs most will encounter (IME).
Captain Muppet said:
or definitely a mk1 CRX 16i16.
I did a weekend highland hoon once in a Mk1 1.5 12V. Was there with the Mr2 owners club (my Mk1Mr2 chucked a clutch days before we left).The crx was such a hoot, so light and revvy. Easily kept up with the Mk1/Mk2 NA's and dare i say it, was more fun.
Absolutely fine, fine cars.
As for the thread, Mr2 with a V6. Less than £4k, cheap, reliable (more so than the turbo) and plenty quick enough.
gofasterrosssco said:
Well if you've been there / done that, then you know that option. The mk2 turbo would be the obvious choice, but as I'm sure you'll be aware, picking the right car in the first place, and subsequently how its used will have the greatest effect on whether it maintains its 3 star rating...
My mk2 was a cheap one... 
As someone else has said a classic Impreza would seem to fit the bill - you'd need to buy carefully but both of mine were certainly reliable enough to use as a daily driver (which I did with both) and that was even up to (relatively) high mileage with both of them hitting 125k+ before meeting non-mechanical deaths.
I'm sure I've seen this thread before 
Impreza.. maybe an old Evo
300ZX TT 300hp for 3-5k, limited to 155mph, supposedly 5-6s to 60.
Or an E46 330i or Ci. I think they're around 6s to 60 and 155mph too.
Stay away from the slick top manual SWB Zs though.
Impreza.. maybe an old Evo
300ZX TT 300hp for 3-5k, limited to 155mph, supposedly 5-6s to 60.
Or an E46 330i or Ci. I think they're around 6s to 60 and 155mph too.
Stay away from the slick top manual SWB Zs though.
Edited by scarble on Wednesday 5th December 15:26
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff