Its (Not) Decided - New (to me) car time

scaza

scaza

scaza

Associate
Joined
8 Jun 2008
Posts
651
Location
Stoke-On-Trent
Evening,

Now I've rarely posted a thread on here for quite a while now, but there's not really anywhere better to get ideas for a new car from.

For the past 3 years (That's gone quick) I've had my MK3 Mx5, and I love it. It's a car that I bought in the winter, with the idea of selling come summer for a little extra cash, while seeing what that 'Driving experience' was everyone raved about in the meanin time. It's such a fun car, hence why it's going to be going into my garage with the intention of made a little more track friendly (Until I run out of money of course :D)

Now I've set myself a limit of 18-19k. And I mean limit, this started at 12k but a little overtime here and there have me a little more disposable.

My current top contenders are as follows.

Audi TTRS MK2:
Quattro, Great sounding 5Pot, Brutal acceleration.

Current favourite :confused:

SLK55 AMG:
My god the noise of that V8, Airscarf.

Had an SLK350 before and always said I'd never have another because of the awful gearbox. But did I mention that noise?

135i Coupe/Z4-35i:

Newer, Great Autobox, plenty fast.

Unsure if these would feel quite as special as the the others. Horror stories of the N54 engines worried me with HPFP and WasteGate issues.


In all honesty, ive gone at this with the criteria of Not Front Wheel Drive and Not being a big car (90% of my journeys are just me, and I currently drive an Mx5). I'm looking forward to suggestions, always amazes me some of the cars that are recommended on here that are hidden gems.

Thanks guys.


DISCLAIMER - Written on a phone. I cannot be held responsible for Autocorrect or formatting issues. Or maybe I can, worth a try though :D
 
Sadly the SL55 R230 has sailed well north of £20k now.

TVR Tuscan has gone the same way.

What about a Jag XKR? >400 bhp with a supercharged V8?
 
tom_nieto said:
Sadly the SL55 R230 has sailed well north of £20k now.

TVR Tuscan has gone the same way.

What about a Jag XKR? >400 bhp with a supercharged V8?
Click to expand...

Hadn' even considered a Jag XKR, I do like the look of them, shame the 5.0 is slightly out of reach mind.

DereksDontRun said:
M235i instead of 135 coupe, if they're down to sub 20k?
but agree, while probably newer cars than the others you mentioned, they might not feel as "eventful"
Click to expand...

Didn't even realise they had dropped this cheap, easy car to test drive as well.

Gaygle said:
You considered an E92 M3?
Click to expand...

I hadnth, purely because I haven't thought about a car that size. Have a great sounding, high revving V8 thougj, I'll have a look.
 
Fox is indeed correct, loads of sub £20k SL55s. Regardless of that though, the OP was looking at an SLK anyway :p
 
[TW]Fox said:
They only ever did a supercharged one. There's loads on autotrader.
Click to expand...

My autotrader skills have failed me clearly... I can only see SL500’s rather than any SL55 AMGs for under £20k. The reason for suggesting the SL55 AMG was the additional supercharger compared to the non-supercharged SLK. The noise is ridiculous!

TVR Tamora would be nice, but would need a lot of care and attention.
 
MissChief said:
Had a look after I posted, they're all £30k and upwards.
Click to expand...

And to think I was looking at Tuscans not long ago for well under £15k! Probably would have spent the remaining money on fixing it mind you!

The prices are being inflated by general second hand sports car prices but also by the fact that almost all of the TVRs at this age will either have had serious engine rebuilds or have been written off!
 
Ive found a TTRS, M235i and XKR all within 5 miles so I'm going looking.
Although i Didn't quite realise how big of a car both the XKR and SL55 (Not slk) are.

It's a shame about TVR's being so expensive, I did have a look at Lotus Exiges but it seems they've also become more expensive.

As awesome as a Corvette is, LHD would be way too annoying for me.

There are lots of boxters available I hadn't even considered, Is it the 3.2 that had the engine issues to do with a bearing?

Cheers
 
You'd need to do a bit more detailed research on the IMS bearing to look at risk levels for individual model years as the bearing changed in design from the factory over time. The long and short is that very early cars (<2000) are OK, 2000-2005 are at higher risk and 2006 and onwards are lower risk. After 2008 the DFI engine came in and there is no longer an IMS to fail. There are various replacement bearings which can be fitted which can potentially alleviate the problem. Bore scoring can occur on the 3.4L engines, although it's not as prevalent as the 3.8L found in the 911. Alternatively, get a facelift one and forget about it! The Porsche Boxster is really a thing of wonder at how well it handles and gets down the road. They're very popular for good reason.
 
Owned an R171 SLK55 for nearly 3 years. Great car and I loved it dearly, sounded brutal when I replaced the secondary cats and resonator with an X-pipe.

No real extreme or expensive faults with them. My main gripe with it was the gearbox, if Merc had done a manual I would still own it now.

Give it a try and see if you like it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom