£8k to £10k to spend

[scooby_slippers]

Hi!

First post so here goes!

After years of driving round in family cars and dreaming of what I could be in I have finally reached the time of life (43) where I can purchase something a tad sporty.

Have £8 - £10k to spend and my expectations are:

Max grin per pound
Reliability
car parked on street so something that isnt gonna walk in 2 weeks!

Thoughts are are a mint Civic type R (pre 2006 as I dont fancy the new model), Megane R1 230, Masda 3 MPS or impreza STI.

Any views much appreciated

[Devil2575]

Focus ST. Fast, fun and reliable. Also running costs won't be crippling.

You could go mad and get an E39 M5. Very fast, well built but it will be expensive to run.

[russy01]

Mazda 3 is a great bargain now, will make mince meat of most hot hatches, plus looks less blingy.

[slomax]

Golf R32?

[Jasandjules]

How much of a risk are you willing to take? Because 7k is Chimaera range to my mind..

[lotusmad2001]

Depending on how far you would wanna go,

Lotus Elise good 170BHP/Tonne
Dare i say ahem VX220 Probably around 185BHP / Tonne

Both reasonable running costs 35mpg but world beating handling, but terribly impractical.

Hatchbacks, Focus ST 2.5t one of my favourites relatively soft suspensions but still good handling, astra VXR bit more lairy but faster, Clio trophy, Clio R27, Nearly a Clio 200 CUP. Megane R26 with LSD can be had for the 10k mark. Blob eyed subarus (04 onwards) can be had for this money although running costs may take over on this one especially fuel consumption.

Others

Someone already mentioned a chimera, or even a grifith 500, wouldnt count on good running costs on that one and the risk of killing yourself depending on experience

Hope this helps im just filling in abit of time

Jonny

[Key]

I had a similar mindset to you a few months back and bought a 2006 Focus ST-3.

I am still very glad i did.

[Emeye]

MK5 Golf Gtis are in this price range now - I know this cos I bought one recently!

[Jasandjules]

Key said:

I had a similar mindset to you a few months back and bought a 2006 Focus ST-3.

I am still very glad i did.

But I bet you would have been happier if you'd bought a TVR Chimaera or Lotus Elise!!

[paulw123]

When i was in a similar position i got a Lancer EVO 6 - 8k gets you a lovley example running 370bhp ish. Massive grin per £ factor

[Key]

Jasandjules said:

But I bet you would have been happier if you'd bought a TVR Chimaera or Lotus Elise!!

Nope I'd be forever cursing not having thne 2 back seats that get used regularly.

Oh u mean happier while driving it One day I'd like to have something along the lines of these 2 cars but I can't at the moment.

[Pommygranite]

Audi RS2
Skyline
Elise
Alfa GTA
Porsche 944 Turbo
Porsche 968

[Plotloss]

E39 M5

[F1GTRUeno]

Renaultsport Megane if you're interested in a hot hatch, especially the R26, one of my favourite cars.

But as someone posted, go for something 90's and get something like an RS2.

[scooby_slippers]

Hmmm - plenty of food 4 thought there thanks!

Couple of supplementary questions:

No-one plumped for my original choice the type R - any reasons?
RS2 is really attractive having had 3 AUDIS in the past but I am assuming the running costs are high?
Evo6 - very nice - any views on parking on a road tho - will I need to get a 'Nick me at your leisure' sign printed?
TVR - now that scares me

[Great Pretender]

Jasandjules said:

How much of a risk are you willing to take? Because 7k is Chimaera range to my mind..

It's not a "risk" though is it? A risk is taking a walk under stormy clouds without an umbrella or driving above the speed limit. Buying a £7k Chimera on the other hand is a sure-fire certainty of impending failure.

The question therefore, is whether the OP is willing to fix it when it breaks, or buy a car with some semblance of integrity.

[Variel]

Twin-Turbo Supra - just make sure you buy it from the right source.

320+ BHP depending on how modified it is.

Gets me grinning every time I go near the thing.

[jshell]

Pommygranite said:

Audi RS2

£8-10k???????

[GreigM]

Boxster would be my choice....

[Heathwood]

If you can live with 2 seats, my choice would be a BMW Z4 3.0.