Not an owner.....yet

[Jerakeen]

Hi,

I'm Colin and I'm fairly certain we're going to be buying an E85 fairly soon.

I currently have a 28 year old Mazda Eunos Roadster (MX5) which I love dearly but my wife doesn't like driving. She has trouble seeing over the pop up headlights.

I hadn't considered ever replacing it but we want to replace our other car, a Jaguar S Type 3 litre, and we've decided that a sports car that we'll both like will be the right way to go so both the Mazda and the Jag are going to go and we think we're also going to get an EP3 Civic Type R as a nod towards practicality.

To that end we've been looking at various options.

I like the RX8, an absolutely gorgeous car that will fit into our budget, but the reliability of the rotary engine worries me so I've ruled that out.

The TT convertible is just too common and to be honest to my eyes looks very bland.

We've also considered the 350Z, we've always liked those but they look best as a coupe and we both want a convertible.

The other contender was the Porsche Boxter 3.2S but our budget (about 5 grand for the sports car) would necessitate a high mileage one and the cost of spares for a Porker frightens me. Apparently a replacement engine costs about 13 grand.

Finally we've pretty much settled on the 3 litre E85 so I'm here to do my due diligence and find out as much as possible about the ownership experience, running costs, reliability, fun factor etc. We're going to try and find one to test drive next weekend. We obviously need to know if we're going to like driving it but I don't expect to be disappointed.

[srhutch]

Hi and welcome.

Plenty of MX5 converts on here. You can’t go wrong with a pre facelift 3.0 M54 engined Z4.

[wonkydonkey]

Welcome! I too considered Boxsters and 350Zs before settling on my 3.0 Z4 and I'm really happy with it. I found the 350Z felt big and heavy on the road whereas the Z4 is a petite little thing and really well-proportioned. Happy hunting!

[Marlon]

Welcome along Colin, sounds like you've got the balance between heart and head just right - E85 3.0, excellent choice, good luck with your search

[buzyg]

Can't argue with your reasoning. Welcome to the forum.

[metal licker]

Hi and welcome aboard

[firebobby]

Welcome to the forum, don't forget photos when you have made your choice

[Z4 COUPSTER]

Welcome. Go for it

[BeeEmm]

Welcome to the forum. I had a 350Z GT4 at one stage, but the Z4 is a car you sit in whereas the Nissan Z felt a bit high for a true sports car feel.

[Mr Tidy]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

If you are buying a Z4 you might as well go for a 3.0 litre to start with, then you won't regret getting a smaller-engine one a few months on!

This may be helpful while you are searching:- viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21281

Good luck finding the right one.