(Another) What car to go on a road trip around Europe?

[Jeffmaniac]

Just completed the Crumball Rally in a 15 year old Toyota Carina E and had a great time driving around Europe especially the Alps.

Was planning to do it again next year but probably just me and Mrs Jeffmaniac and was thinking what car to take. Stipulations are

Maximum £5,000 budget
Insurance must be less than £800 a year for a 29 year old with 7 years NCB and no points
Not bothered between RWD, FWD or 4WD
Comfy and must have a reasonable size boot for a weeks worth of camping gear. Please note that I am a big guy as well so no Caterham type cars.
Ideally not going much under 30 mpg on the motorway

My first thoughts were
C36 AMG
E30 325 Convertible
S3
Lotus Elan M100 (boot space might be tight?)
Mini Cooper S (can use rear seats for storage)

Any other ideas?

Edited by Jeffmaniac on Friday 6th August 16:46

[(steven)]

Depends what part of Europe your planning on going to really. Nearly anything will cope with the motorways, its the roads that you use when your off that’s important.

Alps, central France, northern Spain as a rule are fairly empty and decent enough roads so sports cars are the order of the day, probably require a bit more power than you would use in Britain just because there is the space (and the hills) to test the performance out.

Northern Italy around the lakes and towns tends to be more crowded so I would go for something which is comfortable, nippy in traffic and given the driving standards, something with some crash protection.

If your going extremely East might want to get something with a bit more ground clearance and softer suspension.

You will be surprised how little boot space you really need, both me and a mate use Z4 coupe's as the weapon of choice for two-week camping trips across europe and that’s fine.

A General £5K list

- Porsche 944
- Nissan 200/300
- BMW E36 M3 (or some of the smaller engined ones will deliver pretty good mpg for the performance)
- If your really concerned about mpg, clio 172 although not sure how much space there is

[Jeffmaniac]

Thinking more of a Monaco to Italy type of Alps trip. Maybe later will go for a Spain, Pyranees and France trip

Not particularly keen with French cars so will strike the 172 off the list

[maurauth]

Could get a low mileage mk2.5 mx5 with all the toys for that price; insurance will be much cheaper than your budget so the savings will probably pay for the fuel you'll use as well!

[Mars]

I did a round Europe event over 2 weeks in a Caterham but halfway through caught sight of a family in a Subaru Forester Turbo, in black with blacked out rear windows, and I thought what a wonderful counterpoint to my tour car. If I did another tour like that, I'd want a powerful SUV.

In fact we're going to France in my wife's black ML soon and I'm quite looking forward to that.