What car for £10k

M

Mowflow

Senior member
 Glasgow
Due to a change in circumstances I've binned my 125d. I went from doing 300+ miles a week to doing less than 300 miles a month so it just didn't make sense as it's not a car that fits the "toy" bracket.

The dealer did offer me a swap into a brand new MLite but the frankly bollox steering and nervous skippy ride on uneven roads put me off. So I've decided to go used again.

I've got roughly £10k to spend. Requirements are a drivers car preferably with a nice soundtrack but also needs to be suitable for driving 2 miles to the station each day. So nothing too temperamental. No 2 seaters as I still have the MX5 and would like to take both kids out in it.

I do have an "itch" list. These are cars I feel I need to own at some point or have passed up before an regret. Some of them are 2 seaters but hey ho. Anyone got any good suggestions?

My list.
E46 M3 this is the obvious one. Passed it up when I bought my z4 and regretted it. Prices seem to be going up and I worry that all the good ones will be killed or mega expensive if I don't do it soon.
DC5 Integra type R. Have always loved them, they are kind of the same "getting old" situation as the e46 but with the additional issue of is it too chavvy?
S2000. Passed up before and regretted
Elise. Passed up before and regretted. Always wanted one of these but it's just so impractical for my life.

Suggestions and experiences appreciated. You guys are usually good at this game.
 
Oh, forgot about these. I've always really wanted one.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201309238921263/sort/locasc/usedcars/fuel-type/petrol/page/1/postcode/pa191hy/radius/1501/make/lancia/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew?logcode=p

What could possibly go wrong :rofl:
 
I would love one ,but I have a feeling this would become more costly than all the others put together :roll:
 
Yeah, I don't think you would regret buying an M3. Also some other things to think about:

Impreza P1 - Future classic - http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/subaru/impreza/subaru-impreza-turbo-p1-----------------2001/2444184

Or Audi S4 conv (V8 engine :evil: ) http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/audi/s4/2004-54-audi-s4-quattro-convertible-only-60000-miles-fsh-6-speed-manual-black-electric-heated-leather-piped-white-bluetooth/2439007
 
My first answer would be my 3.0si Coupe!

I would go with the M3 for an all rounder. But I agree that if you get a bad 'un you could be in for mega bills. But having said that it is the same as any BMW. My Coupe has just had new lollipops, F Discs, F Pads, and R Pads, new starter and today a new condenser and compressor on the Air Con. If I didn't have a change in job situation (need a diesel for long haul :( )I'd be keeping her just due to the expense incurred. I'd imagine that an M3 could be more just by the virtue of being ///M??

The S2000 is a great drive, but pretty heavy for a peaky motor. I enjoyed it, but found it hard work to get it going in the VTEC zone. Also they drink fuel when above 2k and now I think they look a bit dated.

The DC5 is as above but a FWD.

The Elise is great, and holds it's value well, but for £10k you are looking a fairly long in the tooth K series engined car. Either it will be sorted or will be on it's way to needing to be. I sold my S2 for £11k about 5 years ago and it's still worth about £10k. It was great, but impractical for every day and I did have it in pieces a fair few times (I also had a very friendly specialist). I lost the thermostat and HG after 2 weeks of ownership.
 
Wildfire. We should just have swapped cars :D

Z4 coupe is actually one of my nearly boughts and still regret not. Main reason being that we are talking over 2 years ago and I'd haggled it down to under £9k for a car with 50k miles. I decided I wanted a roadster as had never had one myself. I would most definitely have profited out of the Z4C. Who knows, maybe I will just end up with one. It fits every requirement apart from the back seats.

Xiaxio. We get Japanese imports of those G35 things. They are normally badged as Nissan g35s or advertised as skylines. Don't know much about them as they are a rare site but isn't it more or less a bigger 350z?

Subarus, evo's etc are just too chavvy for me. Even the p1. I always expect turbo cars to be temperamental for lots of short journeys as well.
 
If your looking at m3s just be aware of the occasional rear sub frame problems with cracking , a bit like z3m coupes , check it very carefully to avoid any unwanted expense .
Paul
 
Been looking at Elise's

I think for £10k it would have to be an S1 or a pretty ropey S2.

Id go for the M3 just for the engine.
 
I love the direction this thread has taken; OP "must have back seats as I have the MX5 and want to take the kids out", followed by z4 and s2k discussion :rofl:
And "must be reliable" followed by the suggestion of a Delta Integrale; that's even better :lol:

Personally I think the DC5 is a bit compromised. The image isn't great, the performance isn't wild and they're still pretty expensive for what they are. If you are keen on an integra, I would personally look for an immaculate DC2; they're far more of a drivers car than the dc5, and really are very capable. The fact that they're significantly cheaper will go some way to offset the equally terrible image they have too!!

Also, I was under the impression that the subframe issue on the E46s was still covered under warranty? Don't they fill the subframe with some kind of heavy glue to reduce the stress on the metal? It might have just been me reading an ancient post back when I was considering buying!

Have you considered the 159 Ti? 2007-alfa-romeo-159-ti_800x0w.jpg

I realise that's the estate, but I think in both estate and saloon they look bloody gorgeous, and the 3.2 v6 sounds amazing and doesn't give bad performance either... Might stretch the budget a bit though...
 
:lol: the OP wants more than two seats people!

159 is a good shout. E46 M3 sounds like an itch you need to scratch to perhaps get on the bus for that now while you still can and they're relatively affordable.

Others I'd consider with +2 seats and an upto £10k budget would include BMW 330 (E46/E9x), Audi TT MK2 and Alfa Brera (see Mr W's recent thread).
 
Hate to say the word... But an audi s3? Or Mk2 TT must be in that range now.... Both have back seats to some degree!


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inkey$ said:
:lol: the OP wants more than two seats people!

159 is a good shout. E46 M3 sounds like an itch you need to scratch to perhaps get on the bus for that now while you still can and they're relatively affordable.

Others I'd consider with +2 seats and an upto £10k budget would include BMW 330 (E46/E9x), Audi TT MK2 and Alfa Brera (see Mr W's recent thread).
Click to expand...

I did consider suggesting an e9x 330/335i but didn't find anything overly tempting (for me anyway).
 
Love how this is going. All suggestions welcome (even if they do have 2 seats, hell, I can work around that to some extent :evil: )

Lotus Esprit.
Love that, there's a guy that drops his kid off at my sons school some morning and he has a red one. The car makes him seem like some kind of super cool macho 70s porn star even though he's just a fat guy in a suit dropping his kid at school.

VX220
DO quite fancy one of those actually. An Elise without a shitty Rover engine. Just a shitty Vauxhall badge instead. Still very appealing.

330/335i
not sure it's special enough. I also had an e90 before and didn't like it much. Don't think I fancy the 335i issues either so 330i would be more likely.

Audi TT Mk2
Never really liked the idea of a TT much but I have been looking at them and rather oddly when I dropped the 125d off at the dealers this morning he got a driver to take me to work in one. It felt rather solid.

Audi S4
I do quite fancy that 4.2 V8. Would need to see how good/bad it drove. There's a cracking sprint blue one for sale locally. Might go test drive it.

Alfa 159
Just don't think it's special enough or quick enough. The idea of dropping £10k on an Alfa also terrifies more than the thought of dropping it on an 11 year old M3. If they were like £4k then maybe but even then I have no more feeling about that car than thinking it's nice looking. That's just not enough for me.

Inkey$. I'd love a ZMC like yours but they are out of budget now. It's really annoying because I keep reading old threads on ph where people are buying them for like £9k. DAMN MY POOR TIMING :headbang:
 
Wildfire said:
I am actually looking at a 125d!!
Click to expand...

That is annoying. You could have had mine a fair bit less than you will get one from a dealer. Unless you are buying new of course.

Cracking cars though. Did 19k miles in mine in just over a year and it didn't miss a beat. It's a car that doesn't feel that fast but in sport mode the engine is really responsive even at the top end, it's very undiesel like. It's car that can be enjoyed on a proper road and still return mid 40s. Over the duration mine returned 52mpg and I even ran a box on it for a while that gave it just shy of 280bhp and enough torque to spin the earth off it's axis. My only criticism of the car was the steering. And that's not a fault of that car, all the latest BMWs have terrible numb steering.
 
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