Best bang for buck car?

[Metz_86]

Hi All,

Say you had a £5,000 budget for a used car and any modifications…

Which car would you get and what modifications would you do to get the most for you money?
(In terms of BHP and good road handling setup)

[nikaiyo2]

Mr2 Turbo

[gotoPzero]

Leon Cupra
Focus ST
WRX
TT 1.8T
Etc

All of those are c.200bhp stock and can be tuned to around 300 ish without much effort.

If you want handling then the WRX is probably the best.

You could also get something like a 330i coupe and put a slippy diff in it. But would not be that fast.

MX5 another option, but going to be considerably slower.

[300bhp/ton]

Metz_86 said:

Hi All,

Say you had a £5,000 budget for a used car and any modifications…

Which car would you get and what modifications would you do to get the most for you money?
(In terms of BHP and good road handling setup)

Depends what you want from the car. Is fun and longer term modding part of the appeal?

Lots of pretty quick cars these days. But man, some of them are dull as fk!

I'd rather slower and more fun tbh.

[Bennet]

nikaiyo2 said:

Mr2 Turbo

I'd say you're about three or four thousand pounds short, for something in decent condition with reasonable mileage.

[Mr Tidy]

gotoPzero said:

Leon Cupra
Focus ST
WRX
TT 1.8T
Etc

All of those are c.200bhp stock and can be tuned to around 300 ish without much effort.

If you want handling then the WRX is probably the best.

You could also get something like a 330i coupe and put a slippy diff in it. But would not be that fast.

MX5 another option, but going to be considerably slower.

I bought a 2000 Leon Cupra in 2003 and the chassis struggled to cope with 180 bhp - it would be hopeless with more power!

My current daily is a 2005 facelift 330i with 258bhp and it is a much better car in every way - but a WRX has to be tempting!

[Scootersp]

Metz_86 said:

Hi All,

Say you had a £5,000 budget for a used car and any modifications…

Which car would you get and what modifications would you do to get the most for you money?
(In terms of BHP and good road handling setup)

Haggle hard or borrow a few hundred quid, then keep everything crossed (tbh a decent second/weekend car buy, not a sensible daily?)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334401131557?hash=item4...

[ZX10R NIN]

No mods as I've used the whole budget but a facelift CLK500 is where my money would go but if I managed to haggle £500 off I'd lower it & fit an Xpipe to add some volume.

[Jenny Tailor]

Metz_86 said:

Hi All,

Say you had a £5,000 budget for a used car and any modifications…

Which car would you get and what modifications would you do to get the most for you money?
(In terms of BHP and good road handling setup)

On that criteria.....
Got to be some knock off Caterham type kit car.
eg - chassis, running engine, wheels. no roof, no windscreen, no unneccessary weight

BHP per ton, performance, handling - very doable methinks..
Liveable daily drive for the office commute...... it'll be a heart over head.
And when it chunders down with rain.... it'll be a miserable cold liquid hell.

[Frankthered]

RX8

£5k should get you a decent one with enough left over for an engine rebuild!

Enjoy!!

[Jenny Tailor]

I think more clarity on the rules needed. As I had set the £5K budget as a top line including fixing what was needed.

The RX8 is a great shout.
Took a test drive in a new one in 2007.
If you have never driven a wankel ( still a bit of a titter saying that ) engine - it is unbelievably smooth.

Ended up in a soft top though.

[jaydeeuk1]

Frankthered said:

RX8

£5k should get you a decent one with enough left over for an engine rebuild!

Enjoy!!

I'd go for this, I think they're awesome cars. Just bear in mind tax on post 2006? Models is over £600, and I'd expect this to increase.

[fflump]

Other than the ones already mentioned (apologies if some have) there a few interesting cars that should be obtainable in budget without 6 figure mileages, albeit with varying size brave pills needed..

Pug RCZ
Volvo C30 T5
MINI JCW
Boxster 986
Jag X100
Alfa GTV
Fiat Coupe
Chrysler Crossfire
MB SLK, CLK, CL
A5 3.2 TFSI
Z4 3.0i SE

[300bhp/ton]

Jenny Tailor said:

On that criteria.....
Got to be some knock off Caterham type kit car.
eg - chassis, running engine, wheels. no roof, no windscreen, no unneccessary weight

Not sure you'd get much for £5k these days, even the Locosts seem to be more money than this.

[SWoll]

As above £5k doesnlt go very far these days but I'd expect something like a MK1 1.8T TT or Megane Renaultsport for £2.5 with the rest thrown at tuning/suspension would be the answer?