Next Car: £20k, Fun but usable

[JM2149]

Hi. I've been going round and round for months looking at new cars. I have a 2013 Fiesta ST and i'm looking for a replacement.

I have max £20k to spend and the car must be fairly reliable and have fairly good residuals whilst also being reasonable to run (I drive 20k miles a year). It must also be more fun that the ST so no Golf R suggestions!!

Hopefully some PH'ers will find some weird and wonderful cars to fit the bill!

(A 981 Boxster and M135i are currently high up the list)

[Driver101]

The M135i won't be more fun than the ST. It'll be miles faster and a better daily car.

[JM2149]

Do you reckon? I’ve not driven one yet but I can kind of see why. The ST is just so much fun and costs nothing which is making it so hard to find anything!

[Driver101]

Not unless you budget a fair amount of cash for better suspension and a LSD.

[edc]

Slim pickings for a 981 at £20k.

[NNH]

I've gone the opposite way: my 987 Cayman got old and unreliable, and I needed to stick to a budget so I bought a 2017 Fiesta ST. In raw "fun" terms, there's surprisingly little between them. If you don't need to change the ST, I'd stick with it.

[JM2149]

Funny you say that about a 987 because I’ve been put off them by the thought of big bills and bad fuel consumption. For the 981 I’m happy to flex the budget because it’s a Porsche and I feel I would be willing to stretch for it

[ChrisH72]

I don’t think I’d want to be doing 20k miles a year in a Porsche.

Obvious choice maybe but why not just a newer fiesta st?

Or perhaps split your cash and get a cheap diesel for the miles and a nice weekend car.

[T1547]

A good 2.9 987.2 Cayman/Boxster would be in budget and definitely a fun car to drive. Gen2 so not the reliability issues of the gen1.

[Gerradi]

Daughter boyfriend has a 2016 ST fiesta , I was surprisd that I liked it, he went out in my TTRS & came back gushing about that....
Out of the two, I prefer my 20yr old Alfa Spider Twinspark...;)

[ZX10R NIN]

i30N Performance

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

370Z Nismo A very underrated drivers car I'd recommend test driving one

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

308 GTI

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

A45 AMG

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Leftfield

Lotus Europa

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

[JM2149]

Wow! Thank you! They Europa is a really interesting option. I have ‘access’ to an elise for a good price but just worried about reliability and performance compared with the ST. I’ve never considered the 370z but I might go have a drive of one and the i30n is definitely food for thought.
For the comments further up its strictly 1 car, it would be too expensive to insure 2 cars in my circumstances

[NNH]

Porsches aren't necessarily unreliable, but they do get expensive to maintain. I took a 996 from 50k to 100k miles in 2 years, and although there were some hefty bills, it behaved well. Life changed, and I traded it for the Cayman which I took from new to 90k in 8 years. That was less robust than the 996, though better to drive.
If I get a Porsche again, it'll either be a bulletproof Turbo/GT3 with the Metzger engine, or an early 2000s Boxster S for peanuts.

[Petrolsmasher]

dude im in exactly the same position

i have a stage 2 st and it is ridiculous fun, ive had it 3 years and im looking for a replacement but the only one that piques my interest is a m140i, but it would mean me taking out a 10 grand loan on top of my part ex and i know i just wont be able to rag it about anywhere near as me as it would throw me in a ditch, the st i can give 10 10ths, im honestly struggling and i think ill end up fitting an LSD to the st and keeping it at this rate.

[culpz]

Not sure you can really beat a Fiesta ST for fun. If you're looking at the cars in the class above, I'd be looking at a Hyundai i30N or a Renault Sport Megane. Bigger and more comfy but still encourages you to take them out for a blast for the sake of it.

[JordanM200]

Honda Civic Type R (FK2)