Ive been toying with idea of getting a coupe ,i know theres a couple of good one on here but unfortunately blues not the colour for me..,well more the wife lol .Ive been looking through auto trader ect & theres a few i like look of .Ive got a budget of 8k ,theres a couple just over that ive seen but as its a buyers market allegedly ,so they might be in reach.So just out of interest if you where looking for one what would you choose & why.I know youd to have to drive it ect & check history cheers marcus
Which coupe & why.
- Thread starter lavy1966
- Start date
As far as spec and colour goes that's entirely up to you of course . I wouldn't be too fussey though as there are not many around. When I was looking my criteria consisted of ; less than 100k - good service history - clean MOT history - Sport (not SE) and Manuel . I was fortunate to find one with rear parking sensors which is very useful on this vehicle . Don't get too hung up on things like heated seats and sat-nav , you will severely restrict your market. 
North West Surrey
Well mine is obviously off the radar as it's blue! I was really please when I found it as I wanted a colour rather than some shade of silver/grey/black, but that's purely personal preference.
Sport models had the sought after M-Sport seats, M-Sport steering wheel, M-Sport suspension that is 15mm lower and stiffer and an anthracite headlining - although all of these were options on the SE so some SEs have some of those bits.
Sport models don't all have the multi-function steering wheel - neither of mine did.
Happy hunting.
Sport models had the sought after M-Sport seats, M-Sport steering wheel, M-Sport suspension that is 15mm lower and stiffer and an anthracite headlining - although all of these were options on the SE so some SEs have some of those bits.
Sport models don't all have the multi-function steering wheel - neither of mine did.
Happy hunting.
Subscribe for a week to Parker's Valuation Guide...it's a fiver. This lets you put the spec and mileage in to get an accurate dealer value which helps with negotiation. There is a massive difference in prices with mileage. Also worth paying for an HPI check from hpicheck.com for a full report.
I bought a Grey 3.0Si Coupe before Christmas and absolutely love it. I was lucky to find one on here with only 25k miles which is perfect for me as I plan on keeping it for a very long time. There's a lovely very clean looking Space Grey SE on eBay being sold by Guy Funnel close to your budget. Check it out if you're not precious about the Si v Se thing but if you are and can stretch the budget there is also a Stratus Grey Si being sold by Craig Bell that I have seen in the flesh and would have bought if I'd not found mine immediately afterward. That one has a bunch of upgrades that make it feel like a fresher car than most. Everything I saw around £7k was a shed.
I bought a Grey 3.0Si Coupe before Christmas and absolutely love it. I was lucky to find one on here with only 25k miles which is perfect for me as I plan on keeping it for a very long time. There's a lovely very clean looking Space Grey SE on eBay being sold by Guy Funnel close to your budget. Check it out if you're not precious about the Si v Se thing but if you are and can stretch the budget there is also a Stratus Grey Si being sold by Craig Bell that I have seen in the flesh and would have bought if I'd not found mine immediately afterward. That one has a bunch of upgrades that make it feel like a fresher car than most. Everything I saw around £7k was a shed.
lavy1966 said:
Don’t rule out the SE. Mine has all the options I’d want for the car (I spec’d it when new) so only things it didn’t have were sport suspension and thick steering wheel (I prefer the thinner SE wheel). Suspect you may need to upgrade / refresh the suspension in which case you can just drop in some sport springs on B4 shocks. Go on condition....
I spent three months looking every day on AutoTrader and PistonHeads mainly.
I certainly wouldn't rush into buying a particular car. I would test drive the closest coupe you can to you. At a dealer, not a private sale as wouldn't want to mess some around. Get an idea of what the different specs are etc. I originally wanted a black car, the dark blue, then I saw a silver coupe at a car meet.
I ended up with a silver-grey metallic car but would have probably been Monaco blue if I could find one. Moral of the story is; you'll probably keep changing your mind until you find what works.
Then ones to filter/lookout for at the 8k budget would be:
Make sure it's an SI Sport
Has to be a manual IMO
Under 85,000 ideally.
Xenon headlights
Cruise control (can easily be fitted after)
Good service history, quality tyres (proof it's probably been looked after)
Clean bodywork etc
The list goes on, but I guess don't just get excited and buy the first one you see. Shop around and figure out exactly what you want, then wait until you find one!
I hope some of that nonsense was helpful to some degree!
Here's what I ended up with:
I certainly wouldn't rush into buying a particular car. I would test drive the closest coupe you can to you. At a dealer, not a private sale as wouldn't want to mess some around. Get an idea of what the different specs are etc. I originally wanted a black car, the dark blue, then I saw a silver coupe at a car meet.
I ended up with a silver-grey metallic car but would have probably been Monaco blue if I could find one. Moral of the story is; you'll probably keep changing your mind until you find what works.
Then ones to filter/lookout for at the 8k budget would be:
Make sure it's an SI Sport
Has to be a manual IMO
Under 85,000 ideally.
Xenon headlights
Cruise control (can easily be fitted after)
Good service history, quality tyres (proof it's probably been looked after)
Clean bodywork etc
The list goes on, but I guess don't just get excited and buy the first one you see. Shop around and figure out exactly what you want, then wait until you find one!
I hope some of that nonsense was helpful to some degree!
Here's what I ended up with: