12.5k Budget - Depreciation Free Performance Car

[SarlechS]

HI Guys

My daily driver is giving up the gusto E46 320CD (a remapped circa 210bhp returning 45+mpg on a run) and I'm looking to replace it what a car either 2 seater or 4 seater (ideally) with a budget in mind of around 10-12.5k - this can be higher for a special case

Most important things for me in order of priority:

Depreciation Free
Engaging / Fun to drive
Reliable
25MPG + on a run
ULEZ compliant
ideally below £1000-1500 maintenance a year (not including road tax)

Manual gearbox would be ideal but not required

Cars i've considered so far are:-

Z4 3.0Si
CLK55 AMG
Early C63 AMG (would have to be BCA or Collecting Car to get below market value)
SL500/55AMG
350/370Z
Jaguar XK 4.2
335i
Audi S4/S5


I've had a Cayman 3.4 so don't really want to get back into Porsche motoring just yet...

Any ideas would be much appreciated!

Edited by SarlechS on Friday 17th February 17:59

[FastEdd11e]

Impreza STI.

[vaud]

XFR?

Audi S4 and make it a project car? https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-spottedykywt/a...

[coldel]

Have a look in this forum, TameRacingDriver has a thread running with pretty much this identical discussion. He is looking at XFs 350/370z etc.

[Xcore]

Chimaera

[Koolkat969]

Honda S2000. Still very affordable and ticks the boxes on your list!

Edit to add - Just also made the top ten best sports cars list from the recent ph survey.

Edited by Koolkat969 on Saturday 18th February 17:23

[bennno]

Possibly the only option is a gt86

[Mr Tidy]

You've mentioned a Z4 3.0Si - you might just sneak into a Z4M Roadster at the top of your budget, although running costs will be considerably higher!