Spectacle me the moon on a stick!

DingleBerry · 2 Aug 2007 at 14:22

Its getting time for the rover 623 go in autotrader i think. I'm feeling in the mood for a new car. My girlfriend is getting a free xsara estate diesel in the not too distant future so that's already got all the practicality boxes ticked.

I'm not overly sure what I want, either another "fast" saloon, the 623's ok but its not going to set the world on fire. I'm looking at the turbo'd rovers of the same kinda age. A mate of mine has a 620ti which is a nice car and they are dirt cheap to buy. I recon a good one could be found for £700. The 800 with the same engine is also satisfyingly grandad too.

But its tempting to just spend that little bit more and buy something exciting. I've been looking on pistonheads and there are pleanty of things like mr2's and bimmers around the £1500 mark. They are towards the concerningly cheap end of the market though.

Insurance doesn't look like too much of an issue, I can insure a mr2 for only £100 more than the 620ti.

So I'm open to suggestions, fast saloons or something a more sporty. I've got an irrational dislike for small cars though. Max £1500ish.

What I can't have is a project or something thats always breaking. I don't have the time at the moment.

jpmonkey69 · 2 Aug 2007 at 15:59

I think the later model Rover 800 Turbo Coupes look ace, if you're ruling out the 620ti because it's 4 door.

DingleBerry · 2 Aug 2007 at 16:34

The 620 is certainly not ruled out. I'm quite happy with my car really, would just be nice to go a little faster. I'm not sure if its just my car but the 620 my friend has handles significantly better than mine. I'm tempted by the 800 coupe too

We've got to explore all the options though!!

The 2.2l preludes look ok for £1500, well from the photos of them on ebay

, eminently insurable aswell!

But not as insurable as a toyota soarer which is a mental £280 a year tpft, shame it probably wouldn't go round any corners. 280bhp minced through a auto box...do they handle or are they just 0-60 cars.

Would it be a waste of time to try and get a n/a mr2 for that kinda money?

I thin its a choice between somthing fairly mental for £1500 or a rover 620/820 for £5-800. The fact all mental things for £1500 are actually nackered may well make this decision though

jpmonkey69 · 3 Aug 2007 at 09:05

DingleBerry said:
I thin its a choice between somthing fairly mental for £1500 or a rover 620/820 for £5-800. The fact all mental things for £1500 are actually nackered may well make this decision though

If you were willing to go up to just under 2k, you could look at older MR2 MK2 Turbos, or an early Nissan Pulsar, I've just seen one on the 'trader too. They're quite mental!

There are a couple of high milage impreza turbos for sub 2k too, I'd imagine they're in baad condition though.

Dogbreath · 3 Aug 2007 at 12:53

DingleBerry said:
Would it be a waste of time to try and get a n/a mr2 for that kinda money?

You should be able to pick up a usable n/a for your budget, but the 620 turbo would be the quicker car in most situations.

DingleBerry · 3 Aug 2007 at 13:27

Hmmm. Turns out LV are incapable of setting up their entrys in money supermarket and won't insure me anyway. Thusly removing the best 4 quotes from the list gives me a slighly less encouraging £750 which is to be frank...too much. Which is a shame, I rather fancied a mr2.

Has he price of insurance gone up in the last few months? The quotes I'm getting for a 620ti aren't as good as they used to be. Bum.

Are there any other good options worth considering for what I want? mx5? It seams LV will insure me for a sensible sum of money on an mx5 if there are any out there which aren't dogs for the money.

DingleBerry · 3 Aug 2007 at 14:22

Hmm well I CAN insure a 1.8l mx-5...what I can't do is buy one for less than 2k. Only the 1.6i which is a shame...might still be worth considering.

I CAN buy a mr2, but can't insure it

The 820 vitesse turbo for reasons best known to the insurance industry is £200 cheaper to insure than the 620ti which I guess is a good thing.

SKILL · 3 Aug 2007 at 18:18

£1500 would get you a nice mk1 mr2, not the fastest car in the world, but quick enough and the handling is lovely, similar to the MX-5 in a few ways (slow-ish car with fun rwd handling

)

That'd be my choice at least, if I didn't already have one

DingleBerry · 6 Aug 2007 at 16:42

I don't really like the looks fo the mk1 mr2. They are a bit to square.

I've done a bit of research and insurance isn't as bad as I thought on a n/a mr2, its actually cheaper if I get fully comp than it is tpft which makes a pleasant change.

I've decided against a 620ti because its just so very similar to my 623 it wouldn't feel like a new car. The 820t is just bigger than I need too. The 220 turbo coupe is quite nice. I'm going to keep an eye out for a nice one of those perhaps.

Had a brief look at 406 3.0L v6 coupes but they are a bit hard to insure, although you get a lot of toys for your money. Nothing else really grabs me at the moment though.

Seams like the mr2 ticks a lot of boxes and you get get black rev2 tbars with leather for under £2k.

K.C. Leblanc · 6 Aug 2007 at 17:04

DingleBerry said:
Only the 1.6i which is a shame...might still be worth considering.

Might not be such a shame. The UK spec 1.6 had it's power restricted to make it an innsurance friendly alternative to the 1.8. Import 1.6s and (I think) early ones are more powerful.

DingleBerry · 6 Aug 2007 at 17:45

really? might investigate them a bit more then. I'm not sure I wan't a roadster though...depends how they drive. IMO the mr2 looks cooler