out of pure curiosity...

helpimcrap

helpimcrap

helpimcrap

Soldato
Joined
13 Jan 2004
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Leicestershire
i was in a bit of a daydream and was wondering if i had £20k to spare what car would i buy?

After much dreaming and a few insurance quotes (more to see how expensive they would be than how cheap... lol...)

I narrowed it down to the following:

4.2 Jaguar XK8
3.2 Porsche Boxster (the 3.2S version)
3.8 Porsche 997 Carrera (a bit above the £20k budget... )
5.7 Vauxhall Monaro
3.6 TVR T350C
4.0 TVR Sagaris (the looker of the group imo and well above the budget but meh... lol.. normally £30k-£40k for one)

More reliable mainstream models don't even enter the equation as it's not going to be a rep mobile, just a normal 10k a year car.

Out of those.... they're all around the same insurance wise. The TVR's slightly cheaper whilst the Monaro is the most expensive by quite a margin given you can get a near enough new one for £20k.... I was quite surprised by how easy they were to insure tbh. All less than £1100 F/C and for a normal car that would be pricey. For comparison my 1.4 Focus is abput £350 F/C. Although admittedly there was some STUPID excess!!! £3500 on a monaro!! ouch! Are they all owned by hairdressers who have car park scrapes!? :D

so after all that - what would you have and why?

the only criteria is if you buy it you have to be able to afford to maintain it - i.e. insurance/running costs etc.

for thos picking fault with my choices - the Porsche is around £500 a service at most whilst the TVR's i cannot find any info on.
 
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Well I would be looking very closely at the following;
Monaro VXR 6.0
Mustang GT V8
Jaguar XJR
Jaguar XKR
Alpina B12 (E38 V12 loveliness)


I have always had a hankering for a BMW 850CSi too, which could be done within this budget. Also the Mercedes-Benz R129 SL60 AMG is a car I would like to own. I would like an SL73 AMG more, but I don't think I could find one, and I doubt very much I could get one for £20k. I know there are some very different cars here, but they are all cars I really, really like for various reasons.

While I could afford to maintain the B12 and SL60 and SL73, I don't think I would be willing to keep paying out the kind of money they would cost to properly maintain though, at least not with the amount of money I have now I wouldn't. So in a real situation, I'd be much more likely to go for one of the V8s I mentioned, or even R129 SL55 AMG.
 
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F355 would just be too much of a headache for me.

Stupidly OTT expensive servicing, replacement of parts unusually early (new clutch every 40k anybody) and actually, not really that fast anymore. And you get the horribly dated interior as well.

An Evo 9 FQ360 will be quicker, more modern and more reliable. Yes it needs an oil service every 3500 miles, but its good sense to do this on powerfull turbocharged cars anyway.
 
0 - 60 in 4.6 seconds and 184mph top speed, quicker than almost all newer cars listed in this thread, actually has a quicker car been posted? I don't think the TVR will do the same top speed, plus it will fall apart anyways.
 
Firestar_3x said:
0 - 60 in 4.6 seconds and 184mph top speed, quicker than almost all newer cars listed in this thread, actually has a quicker car been posted? I don't think the TVR will do the same top speed, plus it will fall apart anyways.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the TVR top speed is based upon all the bodywork and internals staying on/in the car... It'll probably be a few mph higher with all the weight saving!
 
The Evo 9 FQ30 was tested at 0-60 in 4.1 (vs 4.6 for the F355), 30-70 in 3.7 seconds (versus 3.8 for the F355)

Granted it will only crack 160, but who goes beyond that anyway.

30-70 is where your likely to be using the acceleration, down a sliproad onto a motorway, or off dual carriageway roundabouts etc.. and even without the 4x4 traction advantage (which it wont when rolling) still outpaces the 355.

I said its not THAT fast. Of course its still fast, but when you can get an off the shelf Evo 9 outpace you, you know the games moved on.
 
The 355 thing is pointless anyways, you can't get one for 20k, add another 10 - 15k to that budget and your getting someplace.

Thing is ones a work of art the other is a toy from a cracker.
 
[TW]Fox;15819103 said:
E39 M5.

It's getting quite hard not to now :(
Click to expand...

The V8 of that appeals, but the generally high milage of anything is a bit iffy for me.

I was surprised at how something like the Porsche 997 is within affordable limits if you could buy it in the first place. Lot cheaper than the Monaro on insurance and it's not that more expensive on servicing too compared to main dealer prices for a Ford/Vauxhall. :)
 
the 996 Porsche's residuals are dire

The porsche afficiandos (sp?) turn their nose up at them because they're water cooled. Air cooled porches like the 993 Turbo and 993 RS have shot up in value of late, whereas a car like the 996 Turbo can be had for sub 40k and will crack 30-70 in 3.3 seconds.

When you bare in mind a Ferrari F430 F1 can only manage it in 3.4 seconds, its still seriously quick, and a 1/4 of the price of the 430.

All because some snobs turn their nose up at it because of the cooling method.

I mean jesus, how much car for the money

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1458135.htm

And this

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1422900.htm

Hubba Hubba !
 
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I thought just out ofinterest and with hos many people have said F355's i thought i'd get an insurance quote for a laugh (it's WELL outside the £20k budget i set!!!! lol).

The only car that was cheaper was the Porsche Boxster!!! It was less than twice the price of my 1.4 Focus! :eek:

Wow!

Servicing of it is another matter... lol....
 
I've been able to insure an F355 for under £700 for many many years now.

Another car i'd be tempted by is a 348, turn it into a trackday car with F355 mods.
 
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I was reading up about the 348 about a year ago, it doesn't suffer the same complications in the engine department as the 355 does, provided you can remove the engine yourself doing the work isn't actually too much of a problem, upgraded parts prices aint so bad either.

However if you did it all through a main dealer i'd guess you would need around 5k a year in servicing based on around 7,000 miles a year.

So yep, not cheap!
 
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