£10k budget - family workhorse + weekend car

[Legend83]

Hypothetical.

Criteria is:

Family Workhorse
- peanuts to own and run
- practical
- decent MPG
- low servicing costs
- safe-ish (think of the children!)
- could not give a crap about what it looks like because look at what I drive on the weekend...

Weekend Car
- Whatever you want!

BUT, the total outlay for both cars is max £10k.

For me, it would be some sort of Nissan Primera jobbie:



http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1957082.htm

Complemented by:



http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1946298.htm

This is partly just a bit of fun, partly where I see myself in 1-2 years time

[chrisispringles]

Sensible family car would have to be an E39 BMW 528i or a Volvo 850/V70 T5, both a laugh and both less than £2k. Fun car would be an M3 Evo or a Monaro.

[Daveyraveygravey]

I don't want to hi-jack this thread, but what is the best single car for this? Personally I want BMW 3 series rear drive dynamics (and more than 4 cyls) Alfa looks inside and out, the size of a Focus but the interior space of a Mondeo, the reliability and running costs of a Mazda/Honda...all for 10k. There is nothing, is there?

[GravelBen]

chrisispringles said:

Sensible family car would have to be an E39 BMW 528i or a Volvo 850/V70 T5, both a laugh and both less than £2k. Fun car would be an M3 Evo or a Monaro.

You just listed 4 sensible family cars.

[H_Kan]

Zafira for family car. Drive isn't great but reliable and massively practical, can take large amounts of luggage with seats down.

VX220 or S2000 for fun car.

[GravelBen]

My similar combination:

Sensible car - Legacy GTB wagon.

Toy car - MX5 (turbo in this case).

[Steameh]

Sensible car would be a Vectra of some kind, maybe a super touring.

Weekend car, well something like a well setup RX7 would be a nice choice.