£50k fun car, advice needed!

[Porkupine]

Call it a mid-life cris but I am looking to buy a fun, weekend / evening car for the ocassional hoon. (When I say fun, I am talking road driving, really doubt I will track it).

Was set on a 911 (have owned a couple a few years ago), but as I started looking, budget creep comes in and I end up looking at a GT3 for £75k. Have decided I want to spend max of £50k and must stick to that!

I will probably keep for 12-18 months, so unfortunately depreciation is important to consider.

Happy to accept that whatever I buy, I will need to budget for tyres, brakes, service, etc.

If I can get something with a warranty that would be nice piece of mind.

So at the moment, I am thining about 911 of some sort or AMG Merc (although depreciation worries me with this choice).

Any advice from those who have been through similar or advice that may help broaden my options.

Thanks in advance.

[WCZ]

R8 V10

Skyline

I'd personally save up and wait for the mclaren 570 to drop into the 60k range

[toasty]

My money would go on an Alpine A110.

[RobM77]

This totally depends how you get your fun:

• Do you want a car that's fun on track days and short B road blasts? A 2-Eleven, such as I used to own, is the fast and delicate choice, and a Caterham (which I've also owned) is the more raw slippy-slidey experience. Most people prefer these sorts of car to something like a 911 GT3 on track and on a twisty road, but it's very much down to personal taste.

• Do you want a car that'll do the journeys a normal car will do, just with more involvement? There's a whole spectrum out there depending what compromises you want to make for driving fun. A standard 911 like a C2S or an Aston Vantage V8 is probably at one end of the scale, then we move through cars like the Evora S right down to something like an Exige V6, or an Elise if you want open top. These cars are best surmised by Evo Car of the Year type tests, but personal taste comes into it very heavily.

• Do you want something with bags of character and don't mind tinkering? A classic might be up your street - take your pick at £50k.

• Do you want something for longer distances with luggage space? A GT might be your thing. Ferrari 456 with some bravery, or a DB9, 911, Maserati Gran Turismo, M6 coupé...

• Do you want to go racing? Racing's more about running costs than purchase costs, but if you can afford £50k on a toy I suspect you could afford to run a slicks and wings single seater in something like Monoposto. F3 Cup may be out of your reach. In either type of car though, be prepared to have your senses re-arranged - they will make any road car seem slow and heavy (and I really do mean any road car). Having said that, I raced single seaters for ten years, so I'm in the odd position of finding road cars slow and heavy, but if anything it's focused my mind on the sensations and feelings of driving and I would still love to own any of the roads cars I've mentioned here, particularly the Lotuses.

Edited by RobM77 on Wednesday 30th October 16:08

[Matt W]

If you want fun £50k car that will barely depreciate you need a Caterham 620R.

[saaapnin]

Going to throw the Morgan Three Wheeler out as a left-field choice. Can get a brand new top spec one for a shade over £40k iirc, then you have the rest of the money to spend on some leathers & goggles for the full Morgan experience

[Baldchap]

I went Elise Cup when I had the same dilemma earlier this year. Tiny whisker more from memory, but you'd get one for £50 I bet.

[indapendentlee]

Depreciation proof £50k fun - all signs point to Audi R8 V10. Think you'd end up with a pretty ordinary 911 for that £ unless you could stretch to a 996 GT3.

There's an Aston V12 Vantage going through Silvertstone Auctions at the NEC next weekend that's guided a little but not much higher than your budget, if you got lucky you never know!

I'm in a not too dissimilar place at the moment, keep creeping upwards on price like you then come to my senses and start looking at diesel Audis.

I have been pining after the S63 AMG lately for around the 50k mark - can't think of much more car for the money, check out the YT reviews, it might be food for thought!

[vexed]

Caterham 620 (R or S) would seem to fit the bill. Minimal depreciation and you would get an almost new one.

[JJ55]

Lotus or a caterham.

If you want a more refined one an Evora, more hardcore an Exige or Elise.

[Zoobeef]

Noble M12 or M400

[Pvapour]

indapendentlee said:

Depreciation proof £50k fun - all signs point to Audi R8 V10. Think you'd end up with a pretty ordinary 911 for that £ unless you could stretch to a 996 GT3.

There's an Aston V12 Vantage going through Silvertstone Auctions at the NEC next weekend that's guided a little but not much higher than your budget, if you got lucky you never know!

I'm in a not too dissimilar place at the moment, keep creeping upwards on price like you then come to my senses and start looking at diesel Audis.

I have been pining after the S63 AMG lately for around the 50k mark - can't think of much more car for the money, check out the YT reviews, it might be food for thought!

Two good offerings there (if the coupe s63) but id go r8 v10 manual i think as itd allow a track day or two, v12v would do this as well but not as well as the r8, that v10 at full wail is hard to beat and think a manual would be more bullet proof than the other two for depreciation.

Im shopping for one to

[gred]

Surely this meets your criteria?

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Unlikely to lose much on this in a couple of years and presumably a warranty.

[_Hoppers]

BMW 320D and spend the change on hookers and coke

[Deerfoot]

As above, Alpine 110 or an Alfa 4C (and change..).

That Boxster Spyder above looks like a good shout as well...

[colinrob]

I bought a R8 V10 manual spyder in April 2018 has depreciated quite badly as have all cars of that type in the last 18 months even classics are dropping in value nothing out there is depreciation proof with all the uncertainty in this country at the moment and with an election looming, I am not a betting man on the result but if it goes one way I can only see things plummeting in value, but what do I know

[T1547]

Deerfoot said:

As above, Alpine 110 or an Alfa 4C (and change..).

That Boxster Spyder above looks like a good shout as well...

Yep. Cayman/Boxster gts (981) worth a look in too.

[DoubleD]

JJ55 said:

Lotus or a caterham.

If you want a more refined one an Evora, more hardcore an Exige or Elise.

Yep this

[Aluxo]

indapendentlee said:

There's an Aston V12 Vantage going through Silvertstone Auctions at the NEC next weekend that's guided a little but not much higher than your budget, if you got lucky you never know!

Don’t buy from Silverstone Auctions. Highly unlikely to be lucky, but very likely to get unlucky.

As for the choice, no need to spend the full £50, find a sorted 987/981S or GTS and you have everything you’ll ever need. You can track it if you want and then drive home without problem

[Pvapour]

Trouble is, a 50k fun car that’s depreciation proof will depend heavily on getting it at a bargain price to start with..

I had the same criteria and ended up sourcing a LHD low mileage car in germany, then you’re watching the miles a bit which takes away from the usage freedom.

I’ll just about achieve a years free Motoring inc: insurance, a service, pads, depreciation and petrol, which isnt bad imo.

As has been said, in the UKs current market you’ll struggle as the next year is going to hit cars hard.

One you might like to look at is RHD cars in expat areas of europe, loads of people returning to uk and but reregistered their rhd cars, they cant sell to the natives of the respective countries as they can insure them and generaly dont want them in rhd anyway, look at the local fb groups to certain areas, rhd generally go for 2/3 the uk price, re-registering in uk is pretty simple,