£15k car options - fast daily

[georgefreeman]

Say you had a budget of £15k to buy a car to meet the following;

2005 onwards
Any no. of seats
sub 5 seconds to 60
Less than 50k miles
As depreciation free as possible

But it has to be driven every day around 20 miles.

What would it be?

[PanzerCommander]

2005+ Mustang GT. The Depreciation is fairly slow on these cars, 5.0 Seconds to 60 (depends on whether you get the 3.55 or 3.31 rear end). Can be picked up for less than £15k. I drive mine around 22 miles a day to work and back, in over 5 1/2 years it hasn't put a foot out of line despite being mercilessly thrashed on the drag strip (150 passes) since mid 2012. No the LHD isn't a problem, no they do not average 5mpg (nearer 20 on my drive to and from work).

Edit: The general running costs are in-line with a hot hatch.

If I wrote mine off tomorrow I'd buy another without considering an alternative.

[Crusoe]

Z4MC might suit, going up in value too

[Codswallop]

Mustang GT is nice, but the engine is a bit small at just 5.0l

I'd personally get a Monaro 6.0 or a VXR8 6.2.

Monaro in particular is likely to be depreciation free.

[MattHall91]

+1 for the Z4MC

[PanzerCommander]

Codswallop said:

Mustang GT is nice, but the engine is a bit small at just 5.0l

I'd personally get a Monaro 6.0 or a VXR8 6.2.

Monaro in particular is likely to be depreciation free.

ehem, its a 4.6 actually, they didn't get the 5.0 until 2011

[AyBee]

Lotus Elise

[georgefreeman]

MattHall91 said:

+1 for the Z4MC

I've heard stories about massive bills though!

[Crusoe]

SLK55 also in budget but might struggle to get one under 50k miles.

Z4MC bills less than the E46 M3 as they are a bit newer and don't seem to suffer from the boot floor issue. None of the sub 5sec to 60 and 300+ bhp cars are going to be cheap to run with expensive brakes and tyres. Cheapest to run would probably be a vx220 turbo or lotus elise.

Edited by Crusoe on Thursday 19th March 19:00

[NWMark]

BMW 135i Coupe.
Audi S4

newer option but not as exciting as some options

Edited by NWMark on Thursday 19th March 19:05

[Axionknight]

An Evo Eight or Nine, IMO

[MattHall91]

georgefreeman said:

MattHall91 said:

+1 for the Z4MC

I've heard stories about massive bills though!

Having never owned one I can't really comment. I think it's all about picking the right car though, usual checks, condition etc. I'd consider an independent inspection of any pokey motor over a few years old.

[itcaptainslow]

AyBee said:

Lotus Elise

Ticks every box apart from the "Daily" one...

[mr_tony]

A mint e46 m3 is easily achievable for that cost. Not a bad place to put <15k - as long as it's a manual.

[Crusoe]

mr_tony said:

A mint e46 m3 is easily achievable for that cost. Not a bad place to put <15k - as long as it's a manual.

Won't get sub 5 sec to 60 though :P

[DanielSan]

itcaptainslow said:

Ticks every box apart from the "Daily" one...

It's a car, it has a roof, seats and a boot. That ticks all the daily driver boxes.

[greggy50]

You can get a B8 S4 for about £16k now loads of specification decent drive and few bits will see you at 450hp and RS4 beating performance.

[billywhizzzzzz]

georgefreeman said:

MattHall91 said:

+1 for the Z4MC

I've heard stories about massive bills though!

What big bills? Pretty much bomb proof. Would heartily recommend one in any case.

[ZX10R NIN]

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[Pulse]

billywhizzzzzz said:

georgefreeman said:

MattHall91 said:

+1 for the Z4MC

I've heard stories about massive bills though!

What big bills? Pretty much bomb proof. Would heartily recommend one in any case.

Absolutely. Having been into the Z4 scene for a very long time, big problems are very few and far between. I once spoke to a BMW Master Tech about his experience with them (and the S54 engine in general) over the last 10 years+, and he was extremely confident in their reliability; stating he rarely saw an E46 M3 or a Z4M in the shop.