Best bang for buck - £3000

TacticalFish

TacticalFish

TacticalFish

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Joined
6 May 2016
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693
Hi All,

So as the title indicates, I'm looking for the best bang for buck, my budget is £3k or under (preferably).

What I've considered: MX-5 (not particularly fast but sounds like a fun drive), RX-8, old BMW's, 3.0 V6 X-Type.

I'm currently driving a 2.0 Mk1 Focus (54). Car before that was a 156 1.9JTDM, which I absolutely loved, and sold with great reluctance.

Any ideas, input or experience are appreciated.

Cheers!
 
3k will get you some pretty good fireworks. Should get quite a bang from that.

Alternatively tell us what you actually want from a car, MX5 to an X-type is quite a range and doesn't really give us much to go on
 
If you must want all round ability I think you'll struggle to beat a wrx with a remap.

If you actually care about interior etc then possibly look elsewhere. Rx-8 an interesting car but itd need to wither be a rebuilt one or a chance on a car at about half the budget.

330ci another one to think about, it will need care and loving though.

If the mx-5 is more what you're actually after from a car you should just about be able to buy a turbocharged one or a 2zz mr-2(/s)
 
How good would a CL500 be just to take the absolute chance it didn't decide to throw some sort of stupid wobbler then abandon it after a year

Ps S Types are horrible, an XJ would be far better
 
All good options, will look into those, thank you! Hadn't considered a Cooper S, quite good stats from a 1.6 engine.

3k will get you some pretty good fireworks. Should get quite a bang from that.

Alternatively tell us what you actually want from a car, MX5 to an X-type is quite a range and doesn't really give us much to go on
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It could get me some good fireworks, or possibly a small jet engine, which would boost the top-speed of my Focus considerably.

But in terms of what I'm looking for, something well planted, with good torque, and good overtaking ability, manual, and saloon or hatch. Ideally with as lower mileage as possible (<70k). The X-Type is a bit of a wild card but from what I've read it handles quite well (for something of that size).
 
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rodenal said:
If you must want all round ability I think you'll struggle to beat a wrx with a remap.

If you actually care about interior etc then possibly look elsewhere. Rx-8 an interesting car but itd need to wither be a rebuilt one or a chance on a car at about half the budget.

330ci another one to think about, it will need care and loving though.

If the mx-5 is more what you're actually after from a car you should just about be able to buy a turbocharged one or a 2zz mr-2(/s)
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Interior isn't a huge consideration, but who doesn't like a bit of luxury.

330ci is a good suggestion, I've seen a few in relatively good condition. I'd be sceptical about buying a car someone has stuck a TC on themselves.

Impreza would be nice, but I don't think I'll find a good specimen with <70k miles on my budget.

I feel like I'd be taking a pretty big gamble with and Rx-8..
 
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As long as it's a 2 litre car (you wouldn't get a 2.5 for the money anyway) I don't see why mileage matters, these are all old cars now
 
I went from an slk350 to an mx5 2.0.

While I no longer have anywhere near the sort of power I had, the mx5 is actually just so much more fun. Also consumables seem to be incredibly cheap, which since its getting a bit of a hard time, is great.
 
rodenal - Not sure I see your point, a lower mileage car will have been through less trauma (hopefully), and therefore is less likely to have costly problems arise.

scaza - cheaper consumables are a definite advantage, something that you wouldn't get with Mercs, Jags or BM's. I keep reading how much fun they are time and again, hence why I'd be willing to take a dip, even though it wouldn't be the fastest. Is the soft top much of a boon in winter? And is fitting a hard-top a difficult job?
 
BMW consumables are deceitfully cheap, particularly E46s. Everyone and their dog has had one so parts are plenty.
 
TacticalFish said:
rodenal - Not sure I see your point, a lower mileage car will have been through less trauma (hopefully), and therefore is less likely to have costly problems arise.

scaza - cheaper consumables are a definite advantage, something that you wouldn't get with Mercs, Jags or BM's. I keep reading how much fun they are time and again, hence why I'd be willing to take a dip, even though it wouldn't be the fastest. Is the soft top much of a boon in winter? And is fitting a hard-top a difficult job?
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You're not going to be overtaking much with the MX5 in standard form, it's more about holding speed through corners than outright speed.

People give me funny looks, as in "What is that 40 year old doing with the top down in this weather, knob!" sort of looks, but i have it down at any opportunity. Plus i do draw attention to myself as it's supercharged so I've "got an exhaust on it"...

The heaters are brilliant and with the 2.5 Sport models (in your budget) you get heated leather seats.
 
TacticalFish said:
rodenal - Not sure I see your point, a lower mileage car will have been through less trauma (hopefully), and therefore is less likely to have costly problems arise.
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It depends who has owned it, a high mileage car that has been pampered by the previous owner could be better than a lower mileage one that hasn't been. Condition and history would be more important than mileage at this budget IMO.
 
As above, remember you're buying a car that is most likely going to be in the region of about 13 years old and you're not paying a lot of money. 70k would be absolutely nothing for most of these cars.

I'd value a low number of owners and some real good history (receipts and details if possible rather than just a stamp in a book) over mileage.

You will still find some one owner, 100k dogs - but people don't tend to hang on to cars that are nothing but trouble. The seller will tell you as much about the car as anything you can see written down too. If i speak to someone about an older, cheaper car like this and they know what they're actually talking about in regards to it I get a sense of confidence

Diddums said:
BMW consumables are deceitfully cheap, particularly E46s. Everyone and their dog has had one so parts are plenty.
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Some parts are indeed really very cheap - others (usually pretty weird, fairly anonymous minor parts) can still be lol expensive. But you can do pretty much all work yourself on either the BMW or impreza, others like big old merc's and Jags still have some pretty complicated gubbins
 
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Ricochet J said:
Surely best bang for buck are these :p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...ine-size=3.0&transmission=automatic&logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...ostcode=lol&fuel-type=petrol&page=1&logcode=p

But seriously, this one is awesome value for money,

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...transmission=automatic&postcode=lol&logcode=p
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The Jags may not be so bad. But the Mercs are most likely lemons. Theres tonnes of high end Mercs for sale, no one wants them because they are likely to explode and will cost way more than what the car is worth to fix.
 
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