Best car for £12k???

[connor-a8orc]

So a bit of a background about me:
Always preferred bikes to cars. Only ever driven cars for the sake of it, up until I bought an EP3 a year ago. Since then I have found a love for cars I haven’t had since I was a child.

I’m now looking to sell my EP3 to buy something even more enjoyable. I’m currently looking at a cayman or 350z/370z but have never driven any of them.

I’ll have a budget of around £12k to spend. The car is a weekend toy so doesn’t need 4 seats or be decent on fuel. It just needs to be an absolute joy to drive.

What would you buy if you had £12k to spend on a weekend toy?

[SidewaysSi]

Elise or Caterham.

Think this thread needs to be moved...

[M.F.D]

You'd get a nice fettled Megane RS250 Cup for that. Nice step up from the EP3.

[cerb4.5lee]

Slightly above that budget, but I paid £13.5k for a 370Z Roadster over 3 years ago now and I'm still really happy with it. It has an upgraded exhaust/intakes on it which definitely adds to the enjoyment. It is a lovely thing to take out for a drive on nice sunny days like today.

I've just had a quick look on AutoTrader and there are 4 cars for sale(manual 370Z Roadster) in your budget.

Something like a Boxster/Z4 could fit the bill too I reckon.

[cerb4.5lee]

SidewaysSi said:

Elise or Caterham.

They are the ultimate weekend drivers cars I reckon, but it is difficult to get hold of them without upping the budget though.

[cerb4.5lee]

A TVR Chimaera could hit the spot, and they make a lovely noise too.

[rotaryjam]

Honda S2000 is a good shout and should be pretty depreciation proof.

Or Cayman 987?

A curve ball which is 1/2 your budget is a Alfa GTV 3.0, amazing cars and highly underrated. I've had quite a few nice cars and this is still the one that was been most fun to drive and with a decat pipe, it sounds like a bike!

I'll happily buy he Elise that's selling for £12k! Not going to happen. But a VX220 might just be possible

Edited by rotaryjam on Friday 8th July 12:53

[connor-a8orc]

M.F.D said:

You'd get a nice fettled Megane RS250 Cup for that. Nice step up from the EP3.

I have an unexplained hate for french cars for some reason

[connor-a8orc]

rotaryjam said:

Honda S2000 is a good shout and should be pretty depreciation proof.

Or Cayman 987?

A curve ball which is 1/2 your budget is a Alfa GTV 3.0, amazing cars and highly underrated. I've had quite a few nice cars and this is still the one that was been most fun to drive and with a decat pipe, it sounds like a bike!

I'll happily buy he Elise that's selling for £12k! Not going to happen. But a VX220 might just be possible

Edited by rotaryjam on Friday 8th July 12:53

s2000 is a good one. I do like the caymans. My only thought behind it is that the EP3 is constantly rising in value as they keep getting broken and stripped but the cayman is only going to devalue over time

[deebs]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275375656850

Borrowed from another thread*

[M.F.D]

connor-a8orc said:

I have an unexplained hate for french cars for some reason

That's ashame mate, they really are unbelievable cars for the money. So, so competent and pretty robust too.

[Jamescrs]

connor-a8orc said:

s2000 is a good one. I do like the caymans. My only thought behind it is that the EP3 is constantly rising in value as they keep getting broken and stripped but the cayman is only going to devalue over time

If you buy a nice Cayman and maintain it properly I doubt you will lose that much come resale time, I don't think they are that far off bottoming out personally, May not rise in value in the short term but if that's your goal probably best keeping the Type R, the Cayman will do better long term than a Nissan 350/370Z

[rotaryjam]

Yeah I agree, I think Caymans are right at the bottom and have appreciated since I had mine 3 years ago.

Amazing cars for £12k, perhaps a bit too refined depending on what you're looking for

[deebs]

rotaryjam said:

Yeah I agree, I think Caymans are right at the bottom and have appreciated since I had mine 3 years ago.

Amazing cars for £12k, perhaps a bit too refined depending on what you're looking for

Are there many Caymans around for £12k?

[ZX10R NIN]

The 370Z would be my pick out of the two seater options:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205205...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202206307...

Hot Hatch wise it would be the Astra GTC VXR:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202206307...

[tomwilliams0326]

I was in your situation exactly and bought a gt86. never fails to put a smile on my face and with a playful back end (only when you want to kick it out) is the perfect car for me. although power is less than lets say a megane, having driven one i would rather have my 86

[georgeyboy12345]

For £12,000 I'd go for a good 986 Boxster S. You are kind of at the bottom of the budget for a Cayman. Here's a good Boxster
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205185...


I'm sure you'll also enjoy a Honda S2000 - this one comes with a great private reg
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205135...


You CAN get a Lotus Elise for under £12k, but it'll have over 200k on the clock and be on its second engine! That said, I don't think it'd bother me too much - if it's a weekend car you won't be putting many miles on it anyway and if something does break on it, well at least you can not relying on it as your only car. I'd go for it, this one looks not bad, given the price
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202206106...


Hatches

Renaultsport Megane
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202206257...


Mini JCW
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108176...


Peugeot 308 GTi
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205055...

Edited by georgeyboy12345 on Saturday 9th July 22:08

[Mirinjawbro]

rotaryjam said:

Yeah I agree, I think Caymans are right at the bottom and have appreciated since I had mine 3 years ago.

Amazing cars for £12k, perhaps a bit too refined depending on what you're looking for

i have a 987 boxster that needs trading in.

its lost 3k in 7 months. so be careful as i thought id be almost breaking even aswell.

[ChrisH72]

Mirinjawbro said:

i have a 987 boxster that needs trading in.

its lost 3k in 7 months. so be careful as i thought id be almost breaking even aswell.

I look at these quite often and haven't noticed any drop in price.

Depending on where you buy and sell most cars lose thousands the minute you drive off the forecourt. Short term ownership is always going to be expensive in anything other than a shed.

What don't you like about your Boxster?

[Belle427]

I’d probably go S2000 for that budget, not crazy money to maintain and seem to be holding value.
Seven type replicas are huge fun but very hard to live with as your never sure of the weather.
Porsche scare me a little, running costs are not huge but still in the back of my mind.
A cracking all round car though and I’m looking at Caymans myself for a purchase next year but I must admit i do struggle to get that excited by them.
As a previous Tvr Chimaera owner I can guarantee every drive will be an event if you did fancy a left field choice, they get under your skin quite like no other car but you do need to buy something that has had all the problem areas sorted.

Edited by Belle427 on Sunday 10th July 08:05

Edited by Belle427 on Sunday 10th July 08:06