Performance on a budget.

Approx 5 years ago I bought a reasonably quick car for £3,500 (07 plate). I had it remapped to 300BHP. It has xenon's, dual zone climate control etc and has been a solid runner. I've put approx 60k miles onto it since buying it and only had to replace tyres/breaks and 1 time the starter motor, just like with any other car. It's roomy, fits the kids into it easily and has plenty of boot space for ikea/tip/car boot sales/holidays. Most things are cheap to sort out because they can be picked up at eurocarparts and fit at most local garages.

Could probably pick one up for ~£2,000 now but I can't recommend it because this is OCUK forums, it's ex-police and a Vauxhall Vectra, both big no no's around here :)
 
no_1_dave said:
Approx 5 years ago I bought a reasonably quick car for £3,500 (07 plate). I had it remapped to 300BHP. It has xenon's, dual zone climate control etc and has been a solid runner. I've put approx 60k miles onto it since buying it and only had to replace tyres/breaks and 1 time the starter motor, just like with any other car. It's roomy, fits the kids into it easily and has plenty of boot space for ikea/tip/car boot sales/holidays. Most things are cheap to sort out because they can be picked up at eurocarparts and fit at most local garages.

Could probably pick one up for ~£2,000 now but I can't recommend it because this is OCUK forums, it's ex-police and a Vauxhall Vectra, both big no no's around here :)
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Big no-no's on this forum (and in life) is doing something like; Buying a highly depreciating asset such as an Insignia VXR with a one off windfall against all sounds advice and then cashing out on it immediately.

Literally flushing money down the pan.
 
Thanks for the continued suggestions, I've had a look locally at a all sorts mentioned in this thread and more. I've decided to increase my budget to ~5K.

I should add more details I guess:
On the Saab suggestions many of the local examples seemed to have been abused, I couldn't find a clean one.
I looked at various older BMWs of various specifications, most locally had "questionable" service histories and would have been quite a gamble.
On Mazda 3, I looked at two MPS variants and again not looked after.
I saw a decent Renaultsport Megane in budget but #frenchelectronics but was tempted as a wildcard
 
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Don't stick to "local" regardless of what car you want. You can pretty much reach most of the civilised parts of the U.K. And back in a day, depending where you are. Not wanting to take a day and a fifty quid train ticket when you're spending 5 grand of your hard earned is mad
 
If u now have 5k op it will get you a 2006 focus ST plenty more about than the Mazda 3 MPS's and looks better IMO
 
Do you want frantic fun? A combo of smooth but punchy? Or generally fast yet GT style feel and smoothness?

Astra VXR, Focus ST or BMW quick 3 series of some sort for example.

What kind of thing are you looking to get from your car?
 
iaind said:
Don't stick to "local" regardless of what car you want. You can pretty much reach most of the civilised parts of the U.K. And back in a day, depending where you are. Not wanting to take a day and a fifty quid train ticket when you're spending 5 grand of your hard earned is mad
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I TRIED telling that to my family a few weeks ago, they just don't understand. Some people have this mental barrier that anything outside an hour's drive is just too far.
 
I just don't get it. My Saab was less than 3k but I still paid £40 for a train from Devon to London and took 4 hours to go and see it. Would have been perfectly happy to do the reverse if it wasn't as described or we couldn't make a good deal. For the sake of a day out of my annual leave it was totally worth it - it would have taken ages to wait for one to come up locally
 
I kind get it. Which is odd as I'm a major advocate for travel and infact bought my last car from 500 miles away. Infact I've not bought a car closer than 150 miles since my first car in 2002!

However..

It's such a minefield. Most people are liars, dishonest or just plain dumb when it comes to selling cars and other than very certain circumstances its very hard to come up with the effort to travel 200 miles only to find Bob's 7 year old car is infact not quite the minter he swore it was and is infact a pile of crap.

I now therefore only do it with main dealer approved used cars and every time I've done it the car has been immaculate but this is luck rather than judgement as I've seen plenty of tatty examples when kicking tyres on the forecourt during a service or whatever...
 
I see what you're saying but obviously main dealer cars aren't close to being an option at this sort of money. I've actually met some really honest sellers - if you can find an enthusiastic private seller then you can normally avoid being messed around.

Yes it's a minefield, I totally agree and you have to keep your wits about you. It'll always be a gamble but you have to enter cheap car buying knowing that you're going to take a lot of gambles. You can help your odds but if you're not happy with any sort of gambling then you'll need more money :)

I've bought several cars which needed a day out to get them and never been badly stung. The Saab with the ABS fault and covered up warning lights was probably the worst experience but otherwise it was as described and I honestly believe the dealer didn't know.

For this requirement id personally be taking a gamble or two but the other option is patience and keeping an open mind
 
When I bought my 330i last year I took a massive risk. The seller lied about why the ccv breather hose was ripped- worked it out by looking through his forum posts. It got ripped when changing the rocker cover gasket. Said he didn't know how it got ripped lol.

It is a mine field at this price range. People will say anything to get rid of a car. Everytime I've sold a car I've just been honest and presented it as it is. If they don't want it so be it, someone else will. Just depends on luck and the amount of research you're willing to do on a particular model.
 
[TW]Fox;29294153 said:
I kind get it. Which is odd as I'm a major advocate for travel and infact bought my last car from 500 miles away. Infact I've not bought a car closer than 150 miles since my first car in 2002!

However..

It's such a minefield. Most people are liars, dishonest or just plain dumb when it comes to selling cars and other than very certain circumstances its very hard to come up with the effort to travel 200 miles only to find Bob's 7 year old car is infact not quite the minter he swore it was and is infact a pile of crap.

I now therefore only do it with main dealer approved used cars and every time I've done it the car has been immaculate but this is luck rather than judgement as I've seen plenty of tatty examples when kicking tyres on the forecourt during a service or whatever...
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iaind said:
I see what you're saying but obviously main dealer cars aren't close to being an option at this sort of money. I've actually met some really honest sellers - if you can find an enthusiastic private seller then you can normally avoid being messed around.

Yes it's a minefield, I totally agree and you have to keep your wits about you. It'll always be a gamble but you have to enter cheap car buying knowing that you're going to take a lot of gambles. You can help your odds but if you're not happy with any sort of gambling then you'll need more money :)

I've bought several cars which needed a day out to get them and never been badly stung. The Saab with the ABS fault and covered up warning lights was probably the worst experience but otherwise it was as described and I honestly believe the dealer didn't know.

For this requirement id personally be taking a gamble or two but the other option is patience and keeping an open mind
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My mindset is a combination of these two. And when I say I was looking local I was looking at a 50 mile radius which includes two major cities so I expected to see a few good examples, unfortunately I didn't and I'd rather not rush into something so just taking my time and keeping looking. The increase in budget was more that I did see a few motors out of budget (even after realistic negotiation) that I did like and fit most of my requirements, and in reality that just means saying no to a PC upgrade this year and putting more money into a car which I've decided I'm okay with. On travel I just don't see the maths working out more than 50 miles, I'm in no rush to buy so kinda think I can wait for a while and see what comes up, I do understand if you're in a hurry then looking wider makes a whole lot of sense.:)
 
Nice examples of reasonably quick cars can be hard to come by. Best bet is to do national searches, then decide, if you find something, if it's worth the travel.

I traveled over 1,000 miles round trip for my S4 in a day. A couple hundred quid, and a day of your time, could significantly reduce your search time. Or stop you from "settling" on the wrong motor because you can't find the right one. Heck, you can usually negotiate that couple hundred quid off the price anyway.
 
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