What sports car would you buy for around £12k?
- Thread starter GSDog
- Start date
Soldato
OK.. OK.. enough of the ford loving.. Sierra/Escort Cossie, I'll give you but that's it..
MX5, no way..
MX5, no way..
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Caporegime
E34 M5 estate, LHD? £10,950
Or, ALPINA B3 3.2 COUPE £10,995
Two very different choices, neither cheap, both "sports" I'd have thought.
Or, ALPINA B3 3.2 COUPE £10,995
Two very different choices, neither cheap, both "sports" I'd have thought.
[TW]Fox said:Yea, we don't see them over here as people only import the good ones but there are 4 door Skylines which, in standard form, are even more boring than Mondeos in Japan
They made the 4-door R33 to celebrate 40 years of skylines, and its still got the RB26DETT and ATTESA-ETS. Its just a r33-gtr with more space. Admittedly, pretty much anything other than the gtr (ish the gts-t) they are underpowered, boats, but to say they're as boring as the standard mondeo is blasphemy.
Chris1712 said:
No, there is a whole range of lesser Skylines in Japan, with no RB26DETT and no ATTESA-ETS. The Skyline is the JDM equivilent of something like a Mondeo or a Vectra - a mainstream car for mainstream people.
But we rarely ever hear of the regular versions, so everyone over here thinks every Skyline is a firereathing monster of a performance car.
1970 FORD CORTINA 1.6 Lotus,
2 Doors, Manual, Saloon, Petrol, 52,903 miles, Green (Aquatic Jade), ManualA beautifully restored example originally a Ford Directors car. it still features rare factory options such as; Metallic Paint ( The MK 11 was available in any Cortina colour. unlike the MK 1 ) LSD. Heated Rear Window & Individual Rear seats. £11,995.
2 Doors, Manual, Saloon, Petrol, 52,903 miles, Green (Aquatic Jade), ManualA beautifully restored example originally a Ford Directors car. it still features rare factory options such as; Metallic Paint ( The MK 11 was available in any Cortina colour. unlike the MK 1 ) LSD. Heated Rear Window & Individual Rear seats. £11,995.
Underboss
Im thinking import RX-7 with cash to spend on getting upto say 300-400HP
For 10 - 12K:
Elise if I had a garage and had a partner who had a hatch car or could borrow one easily for when you need practicality.
Caterfield if I didnt mind running a cheap duffer car day to day for shopping etc and wanted most of my 10K on a pure track car.
Nissan Silvia S15 if I wanted a car to do most things, and could borrow a hatch for trips to B&Q.
Seat Leon if I had to have just 1 car to do absolutely everything... yeah, I know its wrong wheel drive. I fancy my chances of maintianing the seat myself. Wouldnt feel confident with a more complex beemer, and wouldnt want to wring one round a track.
This is where I think common preconceptions on what makes a sports car are wrong. When was the last time you saw an MX5 used in a 'sporting' way? And mind just how many you see - there are a lot about, so you should see more being used in anger... but you dont.
I see them on track days, but I see as many skylines. I see them driven relatively fast on the public roads... but I've never seen one driven that I would call fast.
You could call a caterfield a sports car as its not a fat lot of good for anything else, and you cant deny that its good at what it does. However there are too many top down 'sports cars' that you will never see near a race track for me to put any worth on the term as its curently used. Pretty meaningless. If the guy buys a skyline and uses it on track then its no more and no less a sports car to him than if he chose to buy an mx5 and use if for the same purpose. Buy a car for what you want it to do and forget the preconceptions.
Elise if I had a garage and had a partner who had a hatch car or could borrow one easily for when you need practicality.
Caterfield if I didnt mind running a cheap duffer car day to day for shopping etc and wanted most of my 10K on a pure track car.
Nissan Silvia S15 if I wanted a car to do most things, and could borrow a hatch for trips to B&Q.
Seat Leon if I had to have just 1 car to do absolutely everything... yeah, I know its wrong wheel drive. I fancy my chances of maintianing the seat myself. Wouldnt feel confident with a more complex beemer, and wouldnt want to wring one round a track.
[TW]Fox said:
This is where I think common preconceptions on what makes a sports car are wrong. When was the last time you saw an MX5 used in a 'sporting' way? And mind just how many you see - there are a lot about, so you should see more being used in anger... but you dont.
I see them on track days, but I see as many skylines. I see them driven relatively fast on the public roads... but I've never seen one driven that I would call fast.
You could call a caterfield a sports car as its not a fat lot of good for anything else, and you cant deny that its good at what it does. However there are too many top down 'sports cars' that you will never see near a race track for me to put any worth on the term as its curently used. Pretty meaningless. If the guy buys a skyline and uses it on track then its no more and no less a sports car to him than if he chose to buy an mx5 and use if for the same purpose. Buy a car for what you want it to do and forget the preconceptions.
Caporegime
Nazbit said:
quite true.
sports car for this budget - elise / vx220 or a caterham.
anything else is a sporty car imo
Dead Dog said:
Only going by autotrader there are a few imports at the cheap end but it quickly jumps. Probably want to avoid a import.
RX7 I dont see practical enough as I understand they need a rebuild every 30k miles? Or has that been solved now? (water seals etc...)
I think a spanky MX5/S2000 is right on the money. S2000 with give more grunt but a older model (Y reg).
Noxis said:
RX8 - 2003/03's in 190bhp trim should be from around £12.5k
231 trim is around £1k higher - but tbh - the 190 is still great fun and imho has the better gearbox.
RX7:
Turbo's need a rebuild every 60k or so - the pressure from the turbo's wears the rotor tips a lot.
N/A's should be cool to 100K iirc.
Simon/~Flibster
Permabanned
I'd go for a 325Ci as suggested by a few people. 