New car advice, £7k

Spamalot

Spamalot

Spamalot

Soldato
Joined
25 Oct 2004
Posts
5,242
Location
Cambridge
Hi,

I’m looking to change my car in the next month or so but am struggling for ideas. Some advise/ideas would be greatly received.

Current car

SAAB 54plate, 9-3, 2.0T AERO, 210BHP, Full Leather. It’s got about 98k on the clock. Worth c. £5k.

Criteria

• Needs to be sub 7 sec to 60.
• Hatch, saloon, anything but an estate really. I don’t need the space but quite like big cars.
• Would like full leather, Bluetooth and sat-nav at a push.
• I’d take strait line speed over speed in the twistys.
• Mixed driving, only do about 7-8k a year now.
• Don’t care about MPG or running costs to much.
• A similar age to the SAAB would be nice.
• Will be paid for in cash.
• I’m now 25 with two years no claims, with no previous claims, a good postcode and 6 year driving experience so insurance is fine.​

Currently considering

• Audi TT 225- Has the speed and has aged well. But a little short of toys given the age. The image is the biggest stumbling block on these though, pathetic I know.
• BMW 330ci (clubsport at a push)- Has the speed and the toys given the right spec, I can’t help but think they’re starting to look a bit dated now though. There is also a LOT of dogs out there.
• Porsche Boxster- Will be old for the money. A potential money bit? Has leather but a dire interior.
• Alfa Romeo Brera 3.2 V6 Q4- These are about £10k these days so are outside budget, they tick all the boxes though as far as I’m concerned. I’m not sure it’s worth spending £10k in a Alfa though.​

Given the above what else would people be looking at? What’s hot and whats not from the above?

Thanks!

Eddie
 
The Boxster would be in another league in terms of running costs and surely a £7k one is gonna be hard to find and not a very good example.

The Brera I drove felt very nice, but not exceptionally fast. The engine was nice that you could put your foot down and it could pick up speed at any point in the rev range but it never threw me back into my seat and made me want to buy it.

Q4's are more expensive as well, the FWD one I drove handled the power just fine.

Mondeo ST? Although I'd go for the 330ci personally.

Focus ST is only a bit away from being in budget and can easily be modded to 280bhp~.
 
Spamalot said:
• Needs to be sub 7 sec to 60.
• Hatch, saloon, anything but an estate really. I don’t need the space but quite like big cars.
• Would like full leather, Bluetooth and sat-nav at a push.
• I’d take strait line speed over speed in the twistys.
• Mixed driving, only do about 7-8k a year now.
• Don’t care about MPG or running costs to much.
• A similar age to the SAAB would be nice.
• Will be paid for in cash.
• I’m now 25 with two years no claims, with no previous claims, a good postcode and 6 year driving experience so insurance is fine.​
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Mercedes W215 CL500/W220 S500, you might even find a W220 S600 in budget now, a big high end merc is the only car you should be considering with the above budget and requirements, imho. It'll be older than the Saab obviously, but it will be a very high end car which you will be driving as a result. Anything from the W220/W215 range will absolutely eclipse anything you have looked at so far.

Edit: For the budget i would personally be looking at CL500's exclusively really.
 
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Peerzy said:
The Boxster would be in another league in terms of running costs and surely a £7k one is gonna be hard to find and not a very good example.

The Brera I drove felt very nice, but not exceptionally fast. The engine was nice that you could put your foot down and it could pick up speed at any point in the rev range but it never threw me back into my seat and made me want to buy it.

Q4's are more expensive as well, the FWD one I drove handled the power just fine.

Mondeo ST? Although I'd go for the 330ci personally.

Focus ST is only a bit away from being in budget and can easily be modded to 280bhp~.
Click to expand...

Is it ok to admit that I’m probably to much of a badge snob to conceder a Ford? Sorry! The ST220 was on my radar when I got the SAAB but I made my choice then.

The Alfa V6 was lunched as Q4 only; the FWD was only added later. I hear what you’re saying about the pace, that seems to echo the reviews. I’m yet to try one myself, partly because they are outside my budget. The c. £10k examples are all Q4’s given there age- £9.5k or £11k

I think, like you say, any £7k Boxster is going to be in the Premiership of running costs!
 
Vectra VXR? :p

Civic Type-R as a hatch choice.
Some BMW barge thing (otehrs can elaborate further)
ST220

Why sub 7 0-60, I have found a car that does 0-60 in 6.9 seconds but tops out at 62mph, or another car that does 0-60 in 7.1 but tops out at 200mph? ;)
 
Jez said:
Edit: For the budget i would personally be looking at CL500's exclusively really.
Click to expand...

I've looked at these a couple of times, simply stunning really. Just how sore is it going to make me though :eek:. £100 a month in the bank or £300?
 
You are going to be very hard pushed to get something the age of your current car for this budget. A good 54 plate 330Ci is the wrong side of £10k, as is an Audi TT.

The CL is awesome but will bankrupt you. I doubt a CL ever leaves a visit to the local Merc indy with a bill of less than £1000.
 
[TW]Fox;16526991 said:
You are going to be very hard pushed to get something the age of your current car for this budget. A good 54 plate 330Ci is the wrong side of £10k, as is an Audi TT.
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I could pick up pre-facelift examples that are a couple of years older of both for £7k though couldn't I? I know they're not as new but close.
 
Spamalot said:
I've looked at these a couple of times, simply stunning really. Just how sore is it going to make me though :eek:. £100 a month in the bank or £300?
Click to expand...

They obviously dont have the running costs of a 330 with being massively more complicated, but over the small mileage i'd chuck say £200/month into a car repair and service fund which really should see it through as long as you dont get really unlucky. You'd only need to perform annual servicing at that mileage.

The biggest concern is finding a good indi to maintain it, as Mercedes are absolutely obscene. Luckily i have found one fairly locally to me which has seen my bills drop drastically on my W220.
 
Jez said:
They obviously dont have the running costs of a 330 with being massively more complicated, but over the small mileage i'd chuck say £200/month into a car repair and service fund which really should see it through as long as you dont get really unlucky. You'd only need to perform annual servicing at that mileage.

The biggest concern is finding a good indi to maintain it, as Mercedes are absolutely obscene. Luckily i have found one fairly locally to me which has seen my bills drop drastically on my W220.
Click to expand...

After having a quick Google I found these lot just outside Cambridge- Merc Indi. How good they are is another question. I guess buying a CL500 at this price point you are swapping depreciation for maintenance, it’s already lost 90% of it’s value after all.
 
I paid £7400 for my 330ci a couple of months ago. It has 63k miles on the clock.

I looked at quite a few and drove down to London to look at a couple of complete dogs describe as Stunning/mint/fantastic/spotless examples :mad:

It has no sat nav or bluetooth though.
 
Spamalot said:
After having a quick Google I found these lot just outside Cambridge- Merc Indi. How good they are is another question. I guess buying a CL500 at this price point you are swapping depreciation for maintenance, it’s already lost 90% of it’s value after all.
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You will still lose money to depreciation, as these cars get older and older they fall into no mans land whereby there is literally no market for them as they only suit lined pockets, but generally lined pockets will not want a 15 year old car. Look at the used values of mid 90's S-Class' as an example. Buy one with the attitude you will write off the capital, and anything back will be a bonus.

Really its a more expensive option, but not massively so over your limited mileage, and the result is that you will be driving a genuinely proper high end car. They are just gorgeous, after owning mine (which is really quite old and worn out now, you will get a much better one than i am driving now) i am left in a situation where i simply cannot replace it with anything other than...a newer one of the same car.
 
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Spamalot said:
Are you looking at these new aftermarket all singing all dancing head units?

Edit- Did you not have a 3.0 Z4 before? Is that classed as a downgrade these days? Or have you just been sacked by the salon ;)
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No I haven't. Prefer the standard look so don't want to ruin it with something that looks out of place.

Yes I had a 3.0 Z4 before. Its a definite downgrade as it was £3000 less than I soldmy Z4 for, aswell as being £300 per year cheaper on insurance. Currently buying a house so every penny helps ;)

Oh and shut up and sell your old mans car already and buy something decent :p
 
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