Spec me a convertible

amx

amx

amx

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Joined
2 Dec 2005
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832
Evening

In the market for a new car, my budget is £15,000 to £18,000 (the nearer to £15k the better). I don't necessarily need to buy now and can wait 'til Autumn when convertible prices tend to fall.

I do my commuting on the bike, so the car is mainly used at weekends to drive to Portsmouth (from London) and evenings if the weather's bad or I need to carry something bulky.

As I only do about 8,000 miles a year, engine size is not an issue. I'm also 27 with 6 years NCB, so insurance also isn't an issue. Go as crazy as you want :p

Ideally I'd like the car to be fairly refined / comfortable given the type of driving I do, but I'd also like to be reasonably fun. I would also prefer it if it's less than 3 years old and has a tin-top (although this isn't a deal breaker). I will consider older cars if it ticks all the right boxes.

Unfortunately, the deal breaker is that any car I buy must seat 4.

So far, I've considered the usual suspect (i.e. 3 Series, A4, Focus/Astra) but was wondering if there any better choices? The Volvo (2006+) C70 seems like a reasonable buy...

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)
 
I'd imagine you'll get a fair few shouts for a convertible 330Ci.

I agree though, you've got the money easily to get something good and premium so why bother messing about with cheap girly crap (Focus/Astra)?
 
A Mercedes SL500 R230 is the best convertible for this budget, just about available now and it will be hard to get a bad one given the type of owners who generally still own them.

Infact scrub that, the SL is about the best daily convertible at virtually any budget, not just this one.
 
Ricochet J said:
Are those 4 seaters? They have those tiny ledges at the back don't they? Doubt those can be classed as seats! :p
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Oh, true. :D Missed that.

E46 is a bit pants for the budget. Perhaps a very late one but personally i would spend half as much on a ~2001 reg sport model if doing that.
 
shame you need a 4 seater.. e46s are a bit boring but i guess it's the best you're going to get but they'll be quite old

CLK55 could be interesting, but an M3 is much better

the C70 T5s are already down to £15k.. http://pistonheads.com/sales/1193246.htm
9-3 Aeros are good value, especially if you want to spend nearer £10k..
 
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Do not buy an SL500 if you want to spend £15k. Contrary to what Jez said you cannot buy a good one for £15k (Infact can you even buy one before? IIRC the only £15k SL on all of Autotrader is one parked on the pavement in a council estate), you need closer to £20k for a nice one and it'll cost an arm and a leg to keep running.

Go for a Merc CLK or a BMW 330Ci.
 
The budget is £18,000, which will easily buy one. However they only really have 2 seats so thats off the list anyway.

Its a bit of a tough budget really as an E46 is awfully basic for the money, but then i seriously cant think of much else really. Which leads me back to my original suggestion of spending half the money on basically the same thing and not suffering so badly from the chronic depreciation which will be present on an E46 this expensive.
 
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[TW]Fox;14704937 said:
How many more over budget cars are you going to post? Why not offer him a 360 Challenge Stradale as well?
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:confused:

They're £18,350, £18,950 & £17,250. And I bet even my crappy haggling skills could get them to <£18K.
 
Jez said:
Its a bit of a tough budget really as an E46 is awfully basic for the money
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Only to an S Class owner. An E46 at this budget will have heated electric leather Sport memory seats, climate, cruise, television, DVD sat nav, parking sensors, tiptronic autobox, etc.

It's a Cabrio not a Bentley Flying Spur.
 
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