Spec me a rear wheel car please

NVP

NVP

NVP

Soldato
Joined
6 Sep 2007
Posts
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Hi guys,

OK here's the deal, I want new car but I'm being quite fussy and specific, the conditions I would like the car to meet are as follows:

- £10,000 max but hopefully around 7-8.
- Rear wheel drive
- Preferably above 2ltr (possibly turbo depending on insurance)
- I don't mind the age of the car, but nothing more than 15 yrs old
- Petrol and manual shift

Now here's the catch, I would love a 3-series (2.5 or 3ltr) as the drive is amazing! I just love the way you can get the back out so easily, and the way you can take them around corners is amazing, plus the look of the e36 and e46 coupes are classic. HOWEVER I'm 6'5" and sitting in a 3-series is quite uncomfortable and would get annoying for everyday use, the new shape (e90/92) has more room but the coupe is quite expensive which rules it out.

I know the obvious answer would be 5-series but I think they are slightly too heavy to have as much fun as in a 3-series, plus they look too businessman-ey. I would love a 6-series (even though they are as fat as the 5) for the looks, but again the price is excessive.

So I would appreciate suggestions regarding a similar car, with similar driving experience and more room inside, which meets the requirements outlined above.

Thanks

NVP
 
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To be honest I've not noticed the 3 Series Saloons I've driven to be noticeably more chuckable than the 5 Series I have. The 5 isn't THAT much bigger, after all, and retains the same level of weight distrubution and weighs about an adult passenger more.

I had the same requirements as yourself and drove loads of stuff including 3 and 5 Series. In the end I chose the 5 as it didn't lose much agility but gained in terms of build quality, refinement and in my opinion (Though this is utterly subjective) looks.

Personally I'd take one for a drive and see how you get on. You might be suprised. The only problem is that you'd need a Sport model and frankly I don't fancy your chances of getting a nice E60 Sport for less than £10k. The bottom end of the Sport market for any type of BMW is full of all sorts of abused and badly looked after multi-owner rubbish.

As this is OcUK you will soon find this thread is full of people recommending you buy all manner of nutcase stuff like M5's, M3's, Twin Turbo Mitsubishis, Supercharged AMG Mercedes and suchlike. My advice is that you ignore this stuff as it's unlikely the massive extra running costs will be justifiable for you. If you'd get the most of such a car you'd probably not have needed to ask us in the first place and you also wouldnt have 'above 2 litre' as an engine size requirement.
 
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Rilot your comments are appreciated in the Mazda RX8 is an amazing Elise and a BMW 330Ci is rubbish at handling in comparison thread please :)
 
In fairness Fox speaks sense in this case, your requirements are very specific and unless you want to end up with some horrible Jap thing I think a 5 is the only thing that will tick the box.

There are some gorgeous old school 6 series about for your budget, no idea what they're like to own in terms of running costs etc:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1187972.htm

Or go really mental and buy an 8 series :D

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1195390.htm

Seriously though, just buy a 5
 
iaind said:
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£9700.
 
Yup each to their own, Jap cars just dont do it for me unfortunately.

But hell, I'm not the OP though, if it meets his requirements then by all means recommend away and ignore me. The 6 and 8 werent serious suggestions anyway in case that wasnt obvious :)
 
iaind said:
Yup each to their own, Jap cars just dont do it for me unfortunately.

But hell, I'm not the OP though, if it meets his requirements then by all means recommend away and ignore me. The 6 and 8 werent serious suggestions anyway in case that wasnt obvious :)
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Haha I did realise, and the S14 isn't a serious suggestion either :).
 
[TW]Fox;14711316 said:
To be honest I've not noticed the 3 Series Saloons I've driven to be noticeably more chuckable than the 5 Series I have. The 5 isn't THAT much bigger, after all, and retains the same level of weight distrubution and weighs about an adult passenger more.

I had the same requirements as yourself and drove loads of stuff including 3 and 5 Series. In the end I chose the 5 as it didn't lose much agility but gained in terms of build quality, refinement and in my opinion (Though this is utterly subjective) looks.

Personally I'd take one for a drive and see how you get on. You might be suprised. The only problem is that you'd need a Sport model and frankly I don't fancy your chances of getting a nice E60 Sport for less than £10k. The bottom end of the Sport market for any type of BMW is full of all sorts of abused and badly looked after multi-owner rubbish.

As this is OcUK you will soon find this thread is full of people recommending you buy all manner of nutcase stuff like M5's, M3's, Twin Turbo Mitsubishis, Supercharged AMG Mercedes and suchlike. My advice is that you ignore this stuff as it's unlikely the massive extra running costs will be justifiable for you. If you'd get the most of such a car you'd probably not have needed to ask us in the first place and you also wouldnt have 'above 2 litre' as an engine size requirement.
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Thanks for the great advice Fox. You really think there is not much difference in the driving ability between the 3 and 5? I have never driven a 5 before but have driven a 7 series and, although I expected it to be below par i found it suprisingly even more poor considering its basically a much, much bigger 3. This is what put me off a 5 series, although I assumed it would be much better than the 7 as it is no where near as weighty, I still thought I wouldn't get the same grip in the front wheels as a 3 series and the back wouldn't be as light... May I ask what engine you would recommend for a five series? To have as much fun in as say a 325? I will have to try and test drive one although it's going to be hard to check oversteer on a test drive as the owner would no doubt dissapprove.

Clarkey said:
S15 Silvia Spec-R would suit you down to the ground by the sounds of it.
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The Silvias are very nice cars, but I'm debating going for an old japanese car for everyday use. Are they reliable? easy to maintain and cheap to run?

iaind said:
In fairness Fox speaks sense in this case, your requirements are very specific and unless you want to end up with some horrible Jap thing I think a 5 is the only thing that will tick the box.

There are some gorgeous old school 6 series about for your budget, no idea what they're like to own in terms of running costs etc:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1187972.htm

Or go really mental and buy an 8 series :D

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1195390.htm

Seriously though, just buy a 5
Click to expand...

Oh my days that 6 series looks amazing!! I would love an old school 6 but i heard they are terrible on the mpg and for everyday use I don't think I could afford to keep it going, however depressing that sounds :(

How are 8 series to run and maintain? Were they as exciting to drive as they look? Low centre of mavity like the 3 and Z's coupled with the rear wheel drive and 4ltr engine looks like a lot of fun but maybe too much oversteer to be safe??

What are peoples oppinions on gas conversion? Do you lose a noticable amount of perforamance?

Thanks for all responces so far :D
 
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I'm 6'4 and dont even have the seat all the way back in my 3 series :s so either you have no body and are leggier than a supermodel or you're just doing it wrong.
 
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