GT Convertible for Road Trips, Which One? - Page 1 - Car Buying

Alan16ac

Original Poster

149 posts

178 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Looking for a convertible that will be mainly used for a couple of holidays in Europe each year, probably around 3-4k miles each trip. And then the occasional holiday up to Scotland. Have a Skoda Superb for my daily, so this won't be a daily.

I'm at a loss though, first dilemma is petrol or diesel? Diesel might save me money on fuel, but long term I'm thinking a petrol such as an RS5 or C43 AMG will depreciate much less. I am in love with the Mercedes interior, where as the Audi is less exciting inside, but well made.

Current options I'm looking at are;

B8.5 Audi RS5
B8.5 Audi S5
B8.5 Audi 3.0 TDI 245 Quattro
Mercedes C43 AMG
Mercedes C300D
BMW 640D

Any options I'm missing? Any personal experiences?

Roboticarm

1,666 posts

90 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Ford Mustang has to be worth a look

av185

20,464 posts

156 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Budget?

cerb4.5lee

44,217 posts

209 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Had a 640d Coupe and I thought that it was a lovely cruiser, so a 640i or 650i Convertible could be worth a look, and they will be more enjoyable to listen to roof down I reckon.

Krikkit

27,933 posts

210 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

You're thinking of buying a car specifically to use on holiday twice a year, and fuel is a problem? Wot.

If you really love the Merc buy one, but there's lots more interesting cars to spend £30-40k+ on that only get used for touring.

Osinjak

5,453 posts

150 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Continental GT. I don't care much for the colour but what a thing to waft around Yerp in:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bentley-Continental-6-0...

Saw a UK reg burgundy/beige model in Lake Garda once, very nice and an epic way to travel around Italy in the summer no doubt.

Edited by Osinjak on Monday 27th July 20:20

mike-v2tmf

887 posts

108 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Corvette C6 convertable , will be left hand drive, reliable, and economical for the performance available, only a 2 seater though

Edited by mike-v2tmf on Monday 27th July 20:24

WJNB

2,637 posts

190 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Nice decision to have to make but I too am confused by your fuel consumption concerns given you seem to need such powerful & premium brand cars.
I assume you have spent time driving a convertible & that you will not be carrying passengers in the back seats. An efficient wind-breaker (& not all ARE efficient so check first ) installed across the backs of the front seats is essential which of course renders the back seats unusable & believe me nobody can tolerate sitting in the back seat of a four-seater convertible unless posing at 30kmr in San Tropez or the likes.
Personally diesel is a BIG no no, an even bigger NO NO for any sort of convertible, in any case the future is electric not Derv.
Beware AMG badged Mercedes for while their engines may not be hand-built ( how awful is that?) their suspensions are very hard exacerbated by oversized wheels which may look good & impress but are just an added worry when the car is being used for practical purposes.

stevemcs

10,263 posts

122 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Porsche Boxster PDK or Jaguar F Type, both very good road trip cars.

Alan16ac

Original Poster

149 posts

178 months

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[news]

Monday 27th July 2020

Roboticarm said:

Ford Mustang has to be worth a look

Good shout. I've read reviews, they seem to indicate it doesn't have the quality to rival the germans. Might have to actually go sit in one though, as I never have.

av185 said:

Budget?

Depends on the car, be nice to get something I'd love for 20k, but could spend 30k. I know that only just gets me into C43 territory. But I figure a 30k C43 would hold its value better than a 20k diesel A5 or 6 Series.

Krikkit said:

You're thinking of buying a car specifically to use on holiday twice a year, and fuel is a problem? Wot.

If you really love the Merc buy one, but there's lots more interesting cars to spend £30-40k+ on that only get used for touring.

Haha I see your point. I'm used to diesels and 40-50mpg, so I guess fuel economy is drilled into me. It's always been a concern, I've never been in a postion to own a car like this before and don't want a massive shock. 40k is beyond what I want to spend tbh. I'm looking at 30k max.

cerb4.5lee said:

Had a 640d Coupe and I thought that it was a lovely cruiser, so a 640i or 650i Convertible could be worth a look, and they will be more enjoyable to listen to roof down I reckon.

Exactly this, the sound is exactly what's missing with a diesel convertible. it would be nice to have something with a lovely exhaust note!

Osinjak said:

Continental GT. I don't care much for the colour but what a thing to waft around Yerp in:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bentley-Continental-6-0...

Saw a UK reg burgundy/beige model in Lake Garda once, very nice and an epic way to travel around Italy in the summer no doubt.

Edited by Osinjak on Monday 27th July 20:20

I'd be terrified of the maintenance costs of that though, the other cars would be significantly newer, as nice as a Bentley would be. Would be a lovely way to travel through the Alps though!

mike-v2tmf said:

Corvette C6 convertable , will be left hand drive, reliable, and economical for the performance available, only a 2 seater though

Edited by mike-v2tmf on Monday 27th July 20:24

Never even considered one of these, LHD is a little off-putting, although could be handy with european toll roads. How much do they go for over here then? I'll have to take a look.

Edited by Alan16ac on Monday 27th July 21:09

ZX10R NIN

30,514 posts

154 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Alan16ac

Original Poster

149 posts

178 months

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[news]

Monday 27th July 2020

WJNB said:

Nice decision to have to make but I too am confused by your fuel consumption concerns given you seem to need such powerful & premium brand cars.
I assume you have spent time driving a convertible & that you will not be carrying passengers in the back seats. An efficient wind-breaker (& not all ARE efficient so check first ) installed across the backs of the front seats is essential which of course renders the back seats unusable & believe me nobody can tolerate sitting in the back seat of a four-seater convertible unless posing at 30kmr in San Tropez or the likes.
Personally diesel is a BIG no no, an even bigger NO NO for any sort of convertible, in any case the future is electric not Derv.
Beware AMG badged Mercedes for while their engines may not be hand-built ( how awful is that?) their suspensions are very hard exacerbated by oversized wheels which may look good & impress but are just an added worry when the car is being used for practical purposes.

Simply, I don't know what to expect from a V6 petrol or V8 petrol. I've never before had the chance to own one. I've almost always owned diesels as fuel economy always has been a concern, especially when in the past the vast majority of my motoring was driving to work. Now that's not the case and I'm lucky enough to be able to afford a car like this, I'm just wondering what to expect realistically. The worst car I had for fuel economy was an R53 Cooper S and would average about 26mpg which is pretty poor for a 1.6, was fun though!

Until Feb this year I owned an Audi A5 B8.5 (2.0 diesel), have also owned an NA MX5 and an R52 Cooper S convertible so I am used to them. Back seats are a no go, and a wind deflector is a must. The difference it makes is unreal. I'm not fussed on rear seats, I am fussed on luggage space though so something like a Boxter is a no go. The A5 as nice as it was was horrendously under powered. It was slower than your average hatchback. All show being S Line and absolutely no go.

stevemcs said:

Porsche Boxster PDK or Jaguar F Type, both very good road trip cars.

Boxter would be a little too small in terms of luggage I'd imagine. Have you driven one? Are they relatively comfy? Hadn't considered an F Type, definitely taking a look at what's available.

Edited by Alan16ac on Monday 27th July 21:17

stevemcs

10,263 posts

122 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

I bet you would get close to 40mpg in one of these on a run. ITs nimble enough, good gearbox, enough performance and comfortable

https://www.dovehousecars.com/car/1447-porsche-box...

You could spend less too and get most of your money back. Granted its not a pure GT but they are a very good car.

Alan16ac

Original Poster

149 posts

178 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

ZX10R NIN said:

The SLs are both really rather nice! Thinking boot space may be limited with the roof down being a hard top. Will have to go and have a look. Not a fan of the the Jag really, Clarkson's Top Gear review rings aloud in my head too. The Maserati is very pretty, didn't expect them to be in that price range either. Would have to read into how they fair with reliability. As gorgeous as the DB9 and the Vantage are, a friend had a Vantage and it certainly wasn't what you'd call a reliable car. That BMW is a lot of car and not very old for the money. That's a real contender! I love that colour too.

ZX10R NIN

30,514 posts

154 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Alan16ac said:

The SLs are both really rather nice! Thinking boot space may be limited with the roof down being a hard top. Will have to go and have a look. Not a fan of the the Jag really, Clarkson's Top Gear review rings aloud in my head too. The Maserati is very pretty, didn't expect them to be in that price range either. Would have to read into how they fair with reliability. As gorgeous as the DB9 and the Vantage are, a friend had a Vantage and it certainly wasn't what you'd call a reliable car. That BMW is a lot of car and not very old for the money. That's a real contender! I love that colour too.

You can get two good sized cases in the SL with the roof down.

Superleg48

1,525 posts

162 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Alan16ac said:

Never even considered one of these, LHD is a little off-putting, although could be handy with european toll roads. How much do they go for over here then? I'll have to take a look.

Edited by Alan16ac on Monday 27th July 21:09

You want a car to drive around Europe in and you are saying LHD is off putting? Makes complete and utter sense to me. You do know that they drive on the right over there and all their cars and infrastructure etc are set up for LHD? Corvette is a great shout.

Krikkit

27,933 posts

210 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Alan16ac said:

Krikkit said:

You're thinking of buying a car specifically to use on holiday twice a year, and fuel is a problem? Wot.

If you really love the Merc buy one, but there's lots more interesting cars to spend £30-40k+ on that only get used for touring.

Haha I see your point. I'm used to diesels and 40-50mpg, so I guess fuel economy is drilled into me. It's always been a concern, I've never been in a postion to own a car like this before and don't want a massive shock. 40k is beyond what I want to spend tbh. I'm looking at 30k max.

Fuel is pretty much no consideration for a fun car, unless it's single digits. biggrin

I'd be looking at the F-type, Boxster, 911, that kind of thing

Alan16ac

Original Poster

149 posts

178 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Superleg48 said:

You want a car to drive around Europe in and you are saying LHD is off putting? Makes complete and utter sense to me. You do know that they drive on the right over there and all their cars and infrastructure etc are set up for LHD? Corvette is a great shout.

Yes I find it off putting. I am entitled to find it off putting, after all it's a car I'm buying for myself. And yes I've driven around 17 of the 44 countries in Europe, and hope to explore more of them, so yes I'm aware they drive on the right.

Alan16ac

Original Poster

149 posts

178 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Krikkit said:

Fuel is pretty much no consideration for a fun car, unless it's single digits. biggrin

I'd be looking at the F-type, Boxster, 911, that kind of thing

I once managed single digits in my R53 Cooper S around the Evo Triangle many years back. Definitely not the kind of figures I want to see regularly though. A Boxster would be awesome, just concerned it'd be too small. I've never sat in or driven one though, so definitely worth a look I guess. Porsches hold their value well too.

ZX10R NIN

30,514 posts

154 months

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Monday 27th July 2020

Here's my slightly leftfield suggestion:

S500 Coupe (drop all the windows away & with the Pano roof you have all the joys of open top motoring without the compromises:

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

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

Or a last of the line CL500: Same as the above but you can open the roof too.

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

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