Sports Car Suggestions

he's a moron tbh. £30k on a 2 door sports convertible with what a 1.4 turbo'd engine?

he could have gotten a decent porsche for that.

Wow could he? Where do we get these brand new Porsches for 30k?

Because obviously you are not saying somebody in the market for a new Fiat should have bought an old Porsche, right?
 
he's a moron tbh. £30k on a relatively slow 2 door sports convertible with what a 1.4 turbo'd engine? i take it he watches whatever top gear is now called on amazon and makes his choices based solely on that show which is now primarily there for comedy value rather than car knowledge.

he could have gotten a decent porsche for that.

back to my original point. with £20K to spend the only reason to go for an MX-5 is the low running costs and to bank most of that £20K. there are be

I don't think he is the moron here... :)

Anyway, on topic......... What will the car be used for OP?
 
What does the OP want anyway? A car to look cool in, drive fast in straight lines? take to track?

This!! Does the OP want an out and out sports car that's great fun to drive, but may become a bit tiresome on longer journeys/commuting, or something a bit softer? Will the car be used daily or just as a weekend toy?

I love my Z4 35is, sure it's not the best handling sports car out there/in the list, but it has a great engine and it's also more comfortable/better for the commute/longer journeys. Really depends what you want to use a sports car for and what compromises you're willing to make.
 
which proves my point. the MX-5 because is cheap to run, buy and maintain. with it being 5 years newer it would be more reliable. if you had more money to spend then you could have gotten a newer s2000 or 350/370z?

if you don't have a lot of money to spend on running and maintanance then sure buy an MX-5 it's the right choice if your looking for a 2 door convertible.

which is why i've labelled it a poor mans convertible

How is an MX5 comparable to a 350/370z?
 
I came from an Slk350 to a MK3 Mx5.

Even though the idea is the same as a two seater convertible, both cars are completely different. The Auto gearbox in the Merc and the steering never made it feel particularly sporty. It was great for a longer drive with the roof down and it went well.

The Mx5 feels more sporty. No where near as quick but the feel of the car softens the blow. It doesn't feel much slower, it feels less of a GT car and more nimble. The downside being its less comfortable for longer drives, especially now I've ruined it in that aspect.

It depends what you want out of a car. Two seater convertibles although similar in one aspect can feel completely different, so take some for a drive and decide what sort of car you yourself like.
 
I've just picked up a Z4 myself, albeit at a lower budget to this. I was considering both the S2000 and MX5 as alternatives, but while they both are brilliant cars they didn't suit my needs.

It's going to be used most days, and the idea of facing traffic every day in a car as raw as an early S2000 did not appeal, whereas the BMW has a degree of comfort. If it was a weekend car, I'd have had an S2k in a heartbeat, or a Boxster S, but I felt the Z4 a decent compromise between daily driver and weekend toy

For the OP, I assume this is a weekend toy, in which case I wouldn't choose a standard Z4. The M is a different animal however! Out of your list I think the Z4M and the S2k are the most appealing to my eyes
 
WOW what a response!
Thank you all, for taken the time to read my thread, reply or just subscribe (with tea & popcorn.) ;)
I have received some great response's and feedback, which is exactly what I wanted.
Cars that I never considered or briefly looked at are summarized:
Caterham 7
BR86
911 Carrera
Audi TTS/TTRS
SLK 55 (R171/R172)
Lotus 111R
Exige
VZ220
Porsche Boxter/Caymen.

Truth be told, I don't know what I want! Hence why I had such a broad spectrum specification.
Why I have a MX5 + Z4M in the same short list?
I started looking back in January 2015 with 2K savings, since then my savings have ballooned too 18K.
This has allowed me too look at a broad range of cars, and many on the short list, are one's that appealed to me in the past, but are some what relevant as they are all similar, just at different price points.
- MX5 are great affordable cars on low budget (Not relevant now.), responsive cars.
- 350Z are great V6 tune-able cars.
- S2000 is my childhood dream car, except for a lambo.
- Z4M is presently my favorite.
- Ariel Atom, excites me like a leggy blond (But wont be practical + over budget.)

I truthfully don't know how much I am going to spend. I certainly don't need a new car since the Megane is sorted with MOT, tax and insurance until March 2018.
Similarly I don't see me now buying a £4K MX5, but I included it in the list, as it was relevant.
I also fear spec creep, has set in, after all more is always better?

But do I spend some of my savings on a 6-10K Sports car (S2000, Z4 3.0, 350Z.)
And potentially invest the rest of the savings + spare wages on property or share's lol.

Or do I blow it all on a spare of the moment, heart attack inducing speed demon (SLK55, Z4M, Caterham.)
And potentially bin it on the first corner, when I run out of skill...

= Test driving, and time will tell...


Since I now have such a large list of new cars too research.
I hope members could give some further feedback on cars they own, that are on the lists.
- Whats great about them?
- What goes wrong with them?
- Convertible or Coupe? (Great debate already going on about this point!)
- Manual or DCT Automatics?

I genuinely appreciate all feedback and points of views, brought by the discussion.
Please keep the responses coming. Happy motoring.
Seanoog.
 
i wouldn't blow your savings. i have a 5% savings account for instance. i would take out a loan @ 2.8% or whatever is cheapest now. just pay the loan off monthly. that way you still have your savings and they make you money as the interest on the savings is more than what you pay on the loan.

that way you still have £20K for a rainy day too. also like i said before you could just spend £6K on a Z4 / 350Z and be done with it. I don't think the Z4M's are 3 times the car.
 
10k will get you a mint low mileage 350z, I picked one up 6 months back with good mods - remap, exhaust, brakes and I love it, engine sounds so good and puts a big smile on my face every time I drive it. They have quite long gearing and rev to 7k, this mated with the v6 is a great combination and very addictive. I don't know why people say they are not quick, My last car was an sti and this feels quicker, no major issues reliability wise neither.
 
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I would put enough into the "new" car to get something decent, say 6k.

Go and test drive a few different ones on a Saturday and see if you like anything.

Buying a car isn't about what I think, it's about what you like. If you don't like anything increase the budget :D

Once you know what you like buy the best one you can find.
 

This one has been on the market for a while and has dropped about £5k since I was looking. I think it'll be a bit ropey for it not to have sold. A nice manual C4S convertible is getting increasingly difficult to find. If you want a keeper and a project this might be something to invest in. I saw one of these with mismatched tyres on the rear axle for goodness sake so there are some dodgy ones out there. They are awesome and pretty depreciation free if you pick the right one. Servicing at independents isn't as scary as you might imagine and horror stories are always more widely reported online. Having bought a 997, I'm very happy, but I wonder if an early 996 would still be a great bargain. However...

I disagree entirely. I sold my 2007 S2000 last year (2016) for £12k with 52k on the clock. I bought it in 2012 for £14k with 25k on the clock. That's a £2k loss on depreciation over 4 years and 25k miles. There aren't many cars outside of exotica with that kind of retention. That makes the entire ownership cost very low.

I had a similar experience. I bought a 2007 S2000 for £12k and part exchanged it for my 911 for £10k 5 years later. I went from 27,000 to 61,000 miles. It passed every MOT in 5 years and only got upset when it was left in the garage and the battery went flat. I regularly got 32 mpg on the motorway and strangely it didn't use a drop of oil despite using VTEC on every journey. I am concerned that I will regret selling it. The handling is sublime and the gear change puts the 911 to shame (even with the short shift)! It doesn't cover ground quite as well as the Porsche, but for UK roads there is more than enough performance. Track days, no problem! I drove to rockingham, had a full day on the track, drove home and commuted to work the next day. Didn't skip a beat. I have had to triple the budget to beat the S2000 with my 997 and I've only really changed because the Porsche is a dream of mine.

If I had £10k to spend on a sports car I would buy another S2000 in a flash. They are totally worthy of the hype. If you have or want to spend all your cash, things get more interesting, the Z4M might be my choice (sensational engine), but you'll still get a really good 996 911 for your cash. The BMW and Porsche won't be too dissimilar in terms of running costs.

Go and drive some cars and enjoy! What a lovely problem to have!
 
Good response Seanoog. I think I'd agree with the others and go for the £6k-£10k bracket. Most of the choices here (particularly S2000, Elise or 350Z) are unlikely to lose any (or much) money, so if you decide to upgrade later, it should be fairly painless, and costs should be limited to running costs you'd have paid anyway.

In terms of Coupe vs Convertible, in my opinion, the rule of thumb should be to buy what the car was originally designed as. So that means a Z4 roadster, a 350Z Coupe etc - the alternative version tends to be a bit of a compromise that doesn't exist in the purpose-designed cars.
 
The S2000 to this date is probably the best car I've driven for driver feel/involvement and gearchange. I drove a Boxster S as I was interested in changing but to me the S2000 felt nicer.
 
The S2000 to this date is probably the best car I've driven for driver feel/involvement and gearchange. I drove a Boxster S as I was interested in changing but to me the S2000 felt nicer.

You need to spend about three times as much to get a boxster that's a significant upgrade imo. The new ones are seriously fast and are a massive step up in performance. For similar money the S2000 is where it's at.
 
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