£1000 - £1500 On ANYTHING interesting

[captain ash]

At the moment I'm driving a 2001 1.2 Fiat Punto (Times were hard a few months ago). Probably worth about a grand at the moment. I'll be starting a new full time job within the next month or so and simply cannot wait to get out of this shopping trolley and into something fun. I'm 22 and I've had about 15 cars in 4 years of driving (most powerful was an E36 323 last year) so I'm not an inexperienced driver in my opinion.

Requirements
Fuel - Not massively important as my new job is 2 miles from my house but would prefer something that does at least 30MPG on a run.

Performance - I'm not a massively spirited driver but I do like to make decent progress so anything with a 0-60 of more than 10 seconds is a no-no.

Insurance - Funnily enough until April I was getting quotes on stuff like E39 M5's for £1500, now it's more like 3 grand since the insurers totted up their winter crash payouts! I'm paying £500 a year for the Punto and would prefer to not be paying more than the car is worth on insurance lol

Body style - I'm honestly game for anything barring a Van or MPV, so 2 seaters, hatchbacks, Saloons, estates and coupes are all in the pipeline. Not fussed whether its FWD or RWD.

I've so far thought of Mk2 MR2's, BMW's (E36 3ers and E34 5ers), sporty Mondeos or Vectras and the usual hot hatch culprits (Saxo, Golf, Ibiza, 106, 306 etc)

Just wondering if anyone else knew of any spanners to throw in the works, I know its a very limited budget but I'm not massively choosy.

Overall the car must be interesting or fun whether that be in the way it drives or the way it looks.

Thanks

[Tonberry]

M

[Elskeggso]

X

[Idiot Gimp Boy]

3

[captain ash]

Damn you all I knew that was coming! Go on then, I don't know a great deal about MX5's, whats the low-down? Can a half decent one be found on my budget?

[jonnydm]

http://pistonheads.com/sales/1633320.htm

HTH

[Agrilla]

Certainly a Mk1 MX5 should be within budget, but not sure how much your insurers would hit you.

Almost certainly stick to a UK model rather than an imported Miata as the insurance will likely be lower.

[Matt UK]

captain ash said:

Can a half decent one be found on my budget?

You can get a half decent one for £1k.
£1.5k gets you looking at some fairly tidy Mk1s.

[richardxjr]

Fiat Coupe 20v non-turbo

[S3_Graham]

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1677974.htm

my car fits your bill! drop me an email if your interested...

[tamore]

xj6

[captain ash]

S3_Graham said:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1677974.htm

my car fits your bill! drop me an email if your interested...

I'll tell you what mate, that is a beautiful car and just the sort of "odd ball" suggestion I'm looking for! If I had the money right now I would probably snap your hand off but this "in theory" purchase won't be happening for about 2 months yet. Although I will definitely have a look at it if you still have it by then

[davidjpowell]

Saab 9-5?

[NiceCupOfTea]

Pug 106 GTi?

[5charlie46]

if it was my money i'd go for a polo 6n 16v or fiesta zetec s (i did and went for the fiesta), both around 105bhp and can easily be taken up to 150bhp with remap, decat and cams...

[richardxjr]

S3_Graham said:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1677974.htm

my car fits your bill! drop me an email if your interested...

Lovely car, great ad

[balders118]

S3_Graham said:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1677974.htm

my car fits your bill! drop me an email if your interested...

I fancied a peice of that, but got an insurance quote which rather dampened my enthusiasm... nearly £2K with a £900 excess. I've been driving 5 years, but I also have a few point for a motorbike crash (not my fault of course, but thats another storey) that saw me paying nearly 2k TPFT for a 1988 1.6 golf driver the same year as the accident. Thankfully, 3 years later its got a bit better. Still, they don't want me driving an alfa.

EDIT TO ADD: I should probably contribute to the OP.. If it was my money, i'd get a mark 2 golf GTi 8v, but i'm bias because I love them.

Edited by balders118 on Thursday 29th April 20:22

[pilchardthecat]

captain ash said:

S3_Graham said:

Alfa

odd ball

[poo at Paul's]

Rover 200 BRM LE! Get a decent one for 1-1.5k and are a fun rare car.

[S3_Graham]

balders118 said:

S3_Graham said:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1677974.htm

my car fits your bill! drop me an email if your interested...

I fancied a peice of that, but got an insurance quote which rather dampened my enthusiasm... nearly £2K with a £900 excess. I've been driving 5 years, but I also have a few point for a motorbike crash (not my fault of course, but thats another storey) that saw me paying nearly 2k TPFT for a 1988 1.6 golf driver the same year as the accident. Thankfully, 3 years later its got a bit better. Still, they don't want me driving an alfa.

EDIT TO ADD: I should probably contribute to the OP.. If it was my money, i'd get a mark 2 golf GTi 8v, but i'm bias because I love them.

Edited by balders118 on Thursday 29th April 20:22

it really is strange how expensive they are to insure..
They are group 16 IIRC. They arent particularly fast, lairy handling or the focus of chavs. I pay the same on this as i did for insurance on the S3 and that was group 18! The 328 im looking to replace it with is nearly £200 a year cheaper to insure.. madness!

ETA: mine (hopefully) wont be available in 2 months... but its the going rate for the early GTV's so there will be plenty out there in 2months...

Edited by S3_Graham on Thursday 29th April 20:33