£7.5k budget, 0-60 sub 7 sec, 2002 or newer car....

Abyss said:
Downsides:

sub 20 mpg
uses a lite of oil every 1k miles
Risk of flooding (and calling breakdown) if you do a short journey (e.g. <5 mins). I'd have to take it for a spin every time I moved it to let my gf off the drive.
Poorly built interior that has a tendancy to squeak/break
Nowhere near the quoted power figures and day-to-day a slow car to drive in comparison to similar cars for the money.

I really wanted one, but couldn't live with its flaws.

For the OPs budget I would be looking at the TT.
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I don't think the average is sub 20 unless you're flooring it all the time. Yes it does use oil, it's supposed to.

The risk of flooding isn't really a downside, it shouldn't happen if you know what you're doing. I've not heard any comments about the interior being shoddy.

The RX8 at this price tag offers much more than any of the others really. With the possible exception of an ST220 in terms of mileage, looks, speed etc.

I do like the LCR but most of them seem to have done quite a lot of miles now and the interior is horrible
 
Thanks for all the posts and suggestions guys.

Ideally id like to move away from hot hatches i think. Whilst they are great cars in terms of fun factor and poke you get for the money i think i want something thats hopefully a little better screwed together and ideally RWD or 4WD. Ok so the TT is more FWD drive than 4x4 i still think it will offer a better driving experience.

What are running costs like on the BMW 3.0 engines? Any typical examples? TBH i dont think costs will be much higher than the Clio as for starters i had to spend nearly £600 on a cambelt change for the Clio.

RX8's appeal although im not sure i could deal with having to wring its neck everywhere i go. I think i might go for a test drive when i get a spare hour and form a little more educated opinion.

Subaru's - Certainly quick cars, 4WD, but what are the running costs like? Are they dog slow of boost?

350z would prob be my ideal but theyre still out of budget unfortunately.
 
Abyss said:
Downsides:

sub 20 mpg
uses a lite of oil every 1k miles
Risk of flooding (and calling breakdown) if you do a short journey (e.g. <5 mins). I'd have to take it for a spin every time I moved it to let my gf off the drive.
Poorly built interior that has a tendancy to squeak/break
Nowhere near the quoted power figures and day-to-day a slow car to drive in comparison to similar cars for the money.

I really wanted one, but couldn't live with its flaws.

For the OPs budget I would be looking at the TT.
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1. Not really sub 20mpg actually
2. It doesn't use for every 1k miles like they say
3. If you warm the car first and when you turn the engine off at least when temp gauge reach around 4 should be ok
4. Mine seems fine and no squek or whatsoever
5. Probably slower than SUbaru or Evo but looks so good :D
 
Subaru's - Certainly quick cars, 4WD, but what are the running costs like? Are they dog slow of boost?
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In standard form, without thrashing it you can get a good 30mpg - when the boost kicks in its awesome! If you get one with the prodrive kit on too.... which many have, you get loads more bhp and torque (0-60 in sub 5ses :cool:)
 
£6.5k is on the high side, but ill start high and see how it goes.

The badge was tatty when i got the car so i removed it. I considered replacing it but imo the sport badge looks very halfords
 
russ9898 said:
What are running costs like on the BMW 3.0 engines? Any typical examples? TBH i dont think costs will be much higher than the Clio as for starters i had to spend nearly £600 on a cambelt change for the Clio.
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You'll never have to pay for a cambelt change on an M54 because it doesn't have one :p

Oil filter can be changed in minutes, same for air filter. Servicing, even at BMW, is pretty cheap and probably less than your Clio. It's a bit heavy on oil, taking 6.5 litres of the finest at service and about 1 litre every few thousand miles, but 8 litres of Mobil 1 can be had from Costco for under £50. Fuel economy is great for the size of car and engine. I'm currently averaging over 31 mpg. Around town it's 25 mpg easily. Fox has managed over 100 mpg from his 530 before now.

Most consumables are pretty good value e.g. set of front discs from BMW will be about £120.

Actual planned maintenance for the car is not expensive. The only risk is if something random and expensive breaks. My stability control has broken and BMW asked for £550 to fix it. It's one sensor that's over £300 for the part.

Only really expensive routine cost is tyres. My rears go after about 12-15k, and they are £150+ each (255/35 R18) for decent ones.

Add me to MSN if you have any other Qs.
 
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From what you've said there PMKeates the running costs sound comparable to the Clio.

Clio -

MPG - 30-35
Discs - Front: £90, Rear: £200 (yes that is the right way round lol)

Whats a 3 series like to live with day to day? i presume theyre very comfy and refined? I would also imagine the sense of speed is quite muted (?) what i mean is 100mph doesnt seem overly fast. Are they easy enough to park without too much myther?
 
Ermm, rear discs are about the same as the front. Pads are about £50 for a set of front or rears.

I've found the 3 Series pretty easy to live with day-to-day. Whatever you're, it's good at it. You can be flying along backroads, cruising along the motorway, sitting in traffic - doesn't matter. It's great at everything. Not "the best", but a lot better than most.

Sense of speed will be muted compared to a Clio. You can be going 150 and it isn't scary at all. 100 will be mundane in comparison. It's hard to stick to 70 because it doesn't feel like you're moving much. But, there's still something quite fun about it.

I've never had trouble parking it. The wheels can turn quite far being RWD, so add that to rear parking sensors and things are pretty easy. The E46 isn't massive... smaller than a Mk.2 Mondeo. It's narrower than a new shape Focus, but about 5" longer.

Edit: Something else is that gearing is long... like 40 in 1st, 65 in 2nd, 100 in 3rd etc. Combine that with a turbine-like engine and it's very linear acceleration.
 
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throw you something of a curveball here

late mk4 golf 4motion with change :)



or take the blinkers off and realise that 0-60 isnt a real figure to worry about and get a 530D just as quick as anything mentioned on the move remap would see it into the silly bugger fun stakes and certainly a much more frugal choice :)


either that or go what my with did in the same situation and get a Leon Cupra R :)
 
Your right sormi, mid range is also important. Which is why the TT is still my number one choice at the moment, 4 wheel drive (ish) to help launch of the line, remaped should see 265bhp with plenty of mid range shove from the turbo. I dont fancy a LCR tbh, i did look at them when i was buying the 182 but i couldnt live with the interior id also like to move away from FWD hot hatches.

The golf isnt actually a bad suggestion, am i right in thinking these are a 2.8 v6 with AWD, well haldex (sp?) system. Whats fuel consumption like on these things?
 
Dorje said:
Power delivery is the same yes, vtec.

The F20C in the S2000 though produces 40bhp more and is Honda's only longitudinal 4 cylinder engine designed for RWD. It also revs higher than the K20A2 used in the ep3. The F20C produces the highest specific power for any naturally aspirated piston engine in a car worth less than US$100,000, at 120 bhp (89 kW) per litre.

Aside from the S2000 being RWD as opposed to FWD it's obviously also a convertible which will certainly be a different driving experience.
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I 'think' the F20C has VTEC as opposed to the K20's iVTEC which is supposed to give a slightly different delivery.
 
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