What's the "perfect" sub-10k classic car?

[Starsky80]

Growing up in the 80s, a "classic car" to me was always something from the 1960s/1970s like an E-Type, MGB or Triumph Stag perhaps but now many "modern" cars from the 80s, 90s and even early 2000s could be considered as classics. This is the era of cars that I remember most fondly and I would love to have an 80s hot hatch or something like a Cosworth/Integrale/quattro/E30 M3/Impreza P1 in the garage. They offer a more "analogue"/visceral experience than something more modern but still modern enough to be usable and relatively reliable. Sadly the price of an average example of even the most average 80s hot hatch (XR2/XR3i) for example is hovering around the 15k mark, significantly higher for the best examples of the best of the breed, which for a 35+ year hatchback is too hard to justify. And if you want any of the others now then forget it.

So if you have a more modest budget (let's say 10k) what is the "perfect" classic car? By "perfect" it should be usable, relatively practical (but doesn't have to have rear seats), reliable and should have good parts availability and not be too ruinous to run. You don't want it to be a "dog" but it shouldn't be so pristine and/or low mileage that you don't want to use it. It doesn't have to be fast but it does need to be enjoyable to drive and involving and offer a more analogue/visceral experience than a modern car.

Cars typically reach their lowest value between 10-20 years old and the desirable ones then start to go back up in value as the number of nice examples on the market decrease. I think there are 3 groups of "classic" cars that look to offer quite good value at the moment.

1990s roadsters/sports cars

MGF VVC
6 cylinder BMW Z3
Original Mercedes-Benz SLK
mk3 Toyota MR2 etc

Weirdly the car that started this roadster revival (NA MX5) is not looking like such good value any more, as nice ones have gone up significantly in price.

Early 2000s hot hatches

This was really the 2nd wave of the hot hatch, as they died off a bit in the 1990s. Stuff like the

Supercharged MINI Cooper S
5 cylinder Ford Focus ST
EP3 Civic Type R

still appear to offer fairly good value and a bit more simplicity/involvement than a modern car whilst still offering strong performance.

Ageing luxury cars

Stuff like the R230 Mercedes-Benz SL350 and Jaguar XK (XK150) appear to offer a lot of car for the money but will be more expensive to run and potentially more complicated/expensive to fix. I say R230 SL350, as it would be nice to have the V8 but the 350 does without the complex and problematic ABC suspension of the V8 cars. In the not so distant past, you could have just had the simplicity and the V8 with the R129 SL500 but a nice one of those appears to be 15-20k now.

One to watch potentially is the mk7 Fiesta ST? They are still plentiful enough to be relatively inexpensive (a bit like 205 GTis were in the 2000s) but they're actually very good cars and as the ICE hot hatch is dying out it will be remembered as one of the last of the greats? When you would pay more for a worse fast Ford (XR2/XR3i/RS Turbo) from the 80s then it looks like a bit of a no-brainer but...it's not really a "classic" yet is it? ie even the oldest ones are only 12 years old and my daily driver is 11 years old, so you're not really getting the classic car experience (but I think that it will become a "classic" one day).

Or do you just spend a bit more (15k?) and go and get yourself an ND2 MX5? It's probably as close to a classic car as any modern car this side of a Caterham gets. NA with no hybrid, manual, RWD, light, small, not overtyred whilst being very reliable and cheap to run. Sure, it'll have all the ADAS crap on it but you can turn that off fairly easily.

So what in your opinion is the "perfect" sub 10k classic car?

Edited by Starsky80 on Sunday 28th June 17:58

Edited by Starsky80 on Sunday 28th June 17:59

Edited by Starsky80 on Sunday 28th June 18:02

[911Spanker]

BMW E36

[williamp]

The 90s had so many decent looking Coups to choose from:

E36 coupe
fiat coupe
alfa coupe
rover coups
406 coupe
Volvo coupe
200zx
300zx
celica
supra

I could go on and on...

but the perfect answer is the Boxster. Cheap, plentiful, no problem whatsoever with spares, plenty of specalists, support.

Great to drive, look good, holding their value (they surnly cant get any cheaper???), reliable, fast, safe, good handling and ride.

[spoodler]

Something from the old MG Rover group.... Lots to choose, from old man hatchbacks to rear drive V8s. Plenty of parts. Everybody will ask you "why?" No one will steal it. And with all the change you'll have left over, you may even be able to afford to go places...

[stevemcs]

I keep looking at 80’s stuff, I find myself drawn to the more basic stuff, so a Fiesta 1.1 L over an XR2,

Being a Ford man I fancy a mk1 Mondeo, Granada Scorpio etc although I do like the look of the TR7 or maybe anXJS

[AndySheff]

You said it yourself ! Bought this recently.

[Starsky80]

stevemcs said:

I keep looking at 80 s stuff, I find myself drawn to the more basic stuff, so a Fiesta 1.1 L over an XR2,

Being a Ford man I fancy a mk1 Mondeo, Granada Scorpio etc although I do like the look of the TR7 or maybe anXJS

Funnily enough I really disliked the mk1/2 Fiesta apart from the XR2! I get the appeal of a fairly humdrum mk1 Mondeo/Focus though. Proper FOTU stuff.

[Starsky80]

AndySheff said:

You said it yourself ! Bought this recently.

Sub 10k?

[AndySheff]

Starsky80 said:

AndySheff said:

You said it yourself ! Bought this recently.

Sub 10k?

Right on the mark.

[ZX10R NIN]

Rover 220 Coupe:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/188570935654?_skw=rover...

CLK 55 AMG, less complicated than the SL's & in my bias opinion every bit as special feeling:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/227394520333?_skw=clk+5...

3.0 Alfa GTV:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/137447038643?_skw=alfa+...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/307016359033?_skw=alfa+...

Calibra, I think these still look good:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/227240206848?_skw=vauxh...

Monaro:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603220...

[Starsky80]

AndySheff said:

Starsky80 said:

AndySheff said:

You said it yourself ! Bought this recently.

Sub 10k?

Right on the mark.

Nice! Didn't realise you could get a chrome bumper car for that.

[Huff]

A good e39 BMW.

Yes, I am a fan.

[uk66fastback]

You can get a lot of chrome bumper MG BGTs for less than 10k. How good they are is another matter!

Perfect sub-10k classic? I drive one every day - Porsche 944.

[sixor8]

Starsky80 said:

AndySheff said:

Starsky80 said:

AndySheff said:

You said it yourself ! Bought this recently.

Sub 10k?

Right on the mark.

Nice! Didn't realise you could get a chrome bumper car for that.

You certainly can, and for quite a bit less than £10k too, condition depending. It's the MGB Roadsters than go for a lot more.

£6048 last ACA last week with fees:



https://angliacarauctions.co.uk/auctions/2763-20-J...

[uk66fastback]

sixor8 said:

It's the MGB Roadsters than go for a lot more.

I beg to differ





Again, condition dependant but they are out there

[drgoatboy]

People will think I am mad but nissan Figaro ticks a lot of boxes. Really nice one for under £10k. Reliable, convertible, pretty, comfortable and a real occasion to drive. Fast no, handling no, fun in a different sort of way yes.

Prices have failed to go up over recent years and ulez has hit them hard as they are town cars really, but in 5 years time they will be 40 and tax / ulez exempt....

[macron]

drgoatboy said:

People will think I am mad but nissan Figaro ticks a lot of boxes. Really nice one for under £10k. Reliable, convertible, pretty, comfortable and a real occasion to drive. Fast no, handling no, fun in a different sort of way yes.

Prices have failed to go up over recent years and ulez has hit them hard as they are town cars really, but in 5 years time they will be 40 and tax / ulez exempt....

They rust for a pastime! Dun if you wish to learn to weld!

[Heaveho]

There's a few.

Corrado if you go in with your eyes open. They're great to drive, but the VR6 I had was far from reliable.

I've had a Mk1 MR2 for a decade now, very reliable, but it's rust that's your biggest concern on these. Again, great to drive.

I've also had a 2005 3.2S Boxster 987 for a decade. Mine's been very reliable,and has wanted very little other than routine maintenance, it doesn't suffer from corrosion, but they are prone to needing the suspension refreshing etc, to be at their best. I like and admire it, but I always feel like I have to concentrate very hard to get the best from it on roads that some of the other things I own feel more instinctive on.

Lotus Elan M100. Never owned one. Tried very hard to, but couldn't find or secure the right car back when I was having a good look at them. I might revisit that at some point.

MR2 Roadster. Had one a couple of years ago for a few months, and thought it was superb, way better to drive than I expected, and I was sorry to see it go. I may well have another, they seem like an absolute bargain to me.

I'd like a Fiat Coupe 20VT at some point, but only because I had my arse handed to me on the M3 many moons ago when I was alone in my VR6 and one with 4 occupants just drove away from me in a straight line. It was impressively quick. They seem like cheap speed these days, but I imagine them to be a headache to own in some respects.

There'll be others.

[Good Plan Ted]

[drgoatboy]

macron said:

They rust for a pastime! Dun if you wish to learn to weld!

They do rust, but so do most cars from the early 90s.
Certainly no worse than say a similar vintage mx5 or ford