Best performance per £ competition

Jez · 10 Oct 2006 at 18:40

Aim to find the fastest (not necessarily in a straight line, it must be good to drive too) car for the money out of the box available today. Must be a realistic price for the car, no first hit on trader at well under book wrecks.

I am starting to think that an E34 540i is getting close to the best bang for buck money can buy, nearly 300bhp and a decent chassis. Can be had for around £2000 for a decent one.

I was thinking it'd be something jap which would claim this, but i cant find anything for that kind of price which would be as good.

Surely i am mistaken?

agw_01 · 10 Oct 2006 at 18:43

Someone on Rovertech just bought a Rover 220 Coupe Turbo, lowered, stainless cat back exhaust and 17" alloys... T&T for £170.

I think that makes me the winner

Lashout_UK · 10 Oct 2006 at 18:43

It'll make a great runaround!

TerryWogan · 10 Oct 2006 at 18:44

Some sort of 80's hatch with a lot of engine work/engine transplant. Probably had 1000s spent but only for sale for well under 2 grand.

Jez · 10 Oct 2006 at 18:45

Can i just add, not modded please. As we all know mods do not really add value to a car when sold, so these will skew it somewhat

That rover sounds like something of a deal if it actually goes ok! Not exactly a usualy price for them though

Siliconslave · 10 Oct 2006 at 18:48

you can easily get a decently modded s13 with other 250bhp for about £1500, thats some pretty serious power, in a nicely balanced, light body for not much money, tempting

edit: doh

agw_01 · 10 Oct 2006 at 18:49

Jez said:
Can i just add, not modded please. As we all know mods do not really add value to a car when sold, so these will skew it somewhat

That rover sounds like something of a deal if it actually goes ok! Not exactly a usualy price for them though

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h53/turbo-vitesse/DSC05184-1.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h53/turbo-vitesse/DSC05182.jpg

Yeah, it was a bit of a bargain. Just a shame about the guy who owns it.

There have been quite a few Rover 420 Turbo's going for under £400 on RT recently. They too, represent excellent value for money.

Jez · 10 Oct 2006 at 18:52

Looks very nice indeed, why was it so cheap?

agw_01 · 10 Oct 2006 at 18:54

Apparently, it had an immobiliser problem and the person selling didn't know what was wrong with it... just that it wouldn't start.

ramirez · 10 Oct 2006 at 19:25

Toyota Soarer 2.5 twin turbo (280 - 300 bhp) for between £1500 - £2000. I paid £2000 for mine back in January, fresh import with 12 months MOT and 6 months tax, 50,000 miles.

or 4.0 V8 with 260 bhp for £1000 - £1500.

though all the V8s are autos, and 99% of the turbo models are too.

Edit : Probably will be extremely reliable too, mines been spot on!

Garrett · 10 Oct 2006 at 19:28

I'm thinking MR2 Turbo with an upgraded turbo will offer pretty good bangs for your sterling.

Edit: Unmodded, how about a knacked old Jaguar XJS V12??

Nice little example

Jez · 10 Oct 2006 at 19:56

ramirez said:
Toyota Soarer 2.5 twin turbo (280 - 300 bhp) for between £1500 - £2000. I paid £2000 for mine back in January, fresh import with 12 months MOT and 6 months tax, 50,000 miles.

or 4.0 V8 with 260 bhp for £1000 - £1500.

though all the V8s are autos, and 99% of the turbo models are too.

Edit : Probably will be extremely reliable too, mines been spot on!

Christ why the hell are these not more popular? I really must get some insurance quotes flowing on one of those beauties.

Whats the difference between the Lexus and Toyota versions? Twintubby the best one to go for?

ramirez · 10 Oct 2006 at 20:03

because absolutely nobody knows what they are, and how much power they pack!

the only lexus ones you see are rebadged toyotas, they are only called lexuses in the USA - all the ones in this country are Jap imported toyotas.
Yep the TT is the best version and really is stonking quick.

Jez · 10 Oct 2006 at 20:05

Looking at the specs i see they are 280bhp and you are looking at 60 in 6.5 ish with 100 in 17ish

Do they really weigh in at 1800kg? That cant be right surely for an older jap coupe? Would explain the slight lack of performance.

(going on a tangent here thinking itd be a good messabout car for me as i need one soon, was hoping for a sub 15s to 100 car for myself really)

Lashout_UK · 10 Oct 2006 at 20:07

Yes, they really do weigh that much - although I was under the impression it was closer to 1600~kg, rather than 1800. It may be down to what type of suspension and equipment level is fitted.

Go with the twin turbo if you want to release more power a little easier than it's V8 equivalent

http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/A_0062/article.html?popularArticle

http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/A_1187/article.html?popularArticle

Be wary of any Lexus with a problem though, as usually it's a financial nightmare to sort - as you'd expect with an advanced, complex Japanese coupe

- especially problems with suspension.

Jez · 10 Oct 2006 at 20:17

Quality, not the fastest thing around, but sounds like an impressive all round package. Thanks for the links

Nozzer · 10 Oct 2006 at 20:19

The LP640 at ~£220k is quite good value.

Oblivious · 10 Oct 2006 at 20:20

Sorted

Jez · 10 Oct 2006 at 20:21

Would probably work on a twin turbo soarer

silversurfer · 10 Oct 2006 at 20:32

I knew about those, they are like the Jap 7 series. They come with double din radio and all the onboard computers are in japanese with reverse camera screen and everything all ready to go wrong on you

Thats the badge you might see on them and with maybe no hint of lexus or toyota.

My vote in general would go with an old BMW, common enough to be a repmobile but unwanted due to high running costs. Not many people want a 2k car that might cost 2k to run a year