Fun/exciting car - recommend me?

grudas

grudas

grudas

Soldato
Joined
12 Mar 2008
Posts
23,546
Location
West sussex
So it's this time of year, I'm ready to purchase a new car, no rush kinda thing so will take my time.

I am looking for something fun, reasonably fast, loud/exciting to look at/good sound etc.

practicality doesn't bother me, I've got another car that is practical and will do the shopping etc duties no problems so this needs to be a fun car.

budget is say, up to 7K.

Current cars I'm looking at are -;

350Z - HR if I manage to find one, not too fused if it's pre-facelift.
Scooby - always had a soft spot for them, they're reasonably practical too.
s2000 - love them but a bit unsure if I want to go soft top.
TT mk1 - love the looks, the interior etc but think I'd find it boring to drive, even in a 3.2 form.
MX5 - NC probably with a folding hard-top, do like them a lot, but have a feeling that it's not exciting enough to look at/doesn't make enough "noise" to be fun.
330i e92 - A be a bit boring/dull to drive?, then again I have not driven one so I can't tell.

Ideally I'm trying to go AWD/RWD for my next car just to test the water and see what I prefer compared to FWD hence no hot hatches in the list.

Trying to stay with something reliable/easy to work on, it being a fun/weekend car is only going to up to 5000 miles a year so not too fused about fuel economy.

Right now, 350z is winning me hands down, seems to tick most boxes being a coupe, decent engine, good sound and big aftermarket.

but maybe I'm missing something obvious from the market? hence the thread!
 
For a budget of 7k, I think you can do better then a 350. It's pretty lacklaster compared to some of it's turbo rivals.

For 7k I'd love to get:

Celica GT4 - Turbo, AWD, Incredibly well handling chassis & cheap to tune. Grip is unbelievable

Evo 4/5/6 - Evo, enough said

Soarer/Chaser/Aristo - Prices are on the rise for all of them, but not impossible to find a manual with a 1JZ/2JZ for less than 7k. Get turbo supra power without paying the supra price tag!

e36 M3 3.0 - Incredibly nimble chassis, great power and reliable.

Turbo MR2 - Seriously cheap for the performance you get, but you need to have balls of steel to drive them to their full potential.

MK1/MK2 MX-5 Turbo - For half your budget you can build a monster MX-5 which will destroy most things on this list when it comes to handling and acceleration. Lacks top end though
 
vx220 is out of my price range.. not many under 8k if any tbh!

I was looking at chasers, soarers, aristos etc but it's either a manual or heavy modded one.

unless I go the long way and import from japan but I cba with that.
 
Not many Elises for under 10k either now, they seem to be creeping up in price. Problem with them is if they get so much as mildly bumped (supermarket carpark style)...write off.
 
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Or save a heap and get a mk3 mr2 with 2zz transplant. Basically a cheap lotus exige. 945kg, mid engined, 6 speed lsd, 200bhp/tonne and 8.3k red line. Even if you were to pick up a tidy mr2 for 3k ish you could get the conversion done yourself easy in your budget.

If you had to go for something off the shelf though I would be either going S2000 or some classic. AE86 or 200sx or EK9 Type R.
 
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Armageus said:
Only other thing I can think of that hasn't already been suggested - BMW Z4:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201610229021402
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201610259130343
Click to expand...

I have the non si 3.0, love it to bits.

What I wish I knew before purchasing, the interior build quality on them are poor just googling Z4 interior rattle and you'll come up with a lot of forum posts on the Z4 forum, Unless someone has gone over it with a fine tooth comb its a rattley squeaky interior.
 
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mr2 is not really my thing, there's just something about them that I dislike.

I've been looking at z4 coupes but 7k budget only stretches to a high mile one, now I wonder how reliable are they really, especially at higher miles, what things are going to go wrong?

rattles would drive me nuts!

rx8 was an option but I'd go for 231 rather than r3, those fetch 4-6k and still have the same issues :/

I've got a 3 sport right now, going to an mps would be nice power wise but the rest is very much same-same, still think I could pick 350z.

looking around HR engine is going to be stretch, a facelift GT is more do-able.
 
If you can get hold of a S2000 it would tick all your boxes, but I'm not sure what sort of example you could get for 7K.

Reliable, fast, tuning potential (S/C), not super expensive to run and seriously exciting engine.
 
I have a mk3 mx5 and although it's a great daily driver I don't think it's exciting enough as a second car.
A modified mk1 or mk2 might fit the bill better with a turbo, depends on if you want something standard or not.

I looked at s2000's at a similar budget but the few I looked at were a bit tired looking, but if you have time to look they are very nice of you find a good one.

350z would be high on my list.

Another couple of suggestions would be Toyota supra or Jaguar XJ.
The XJ 4.2 looks fun with 400bhp although they are all auto boxes.
 
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