Best fun cars that aren’t a pain to sell?
Discussion
I’m after a used car that’s fun to drive but won’t be a nightmare to shift when the time comes. I’ve had my fair share of enthusiast motors—mostly big V8 barges—but such cars are notoriously hard to move. Most recently, I had an F10 M5, which took five months to sell, despite being in pretty good nick and well maintained.
Since there’s a chance I’ll be moving abroad mid-next year, I’d rather avoid another daunting selling process. And, as I’m turning 30 this year, I’d like to take a more grown up approach to my automotive passion and go for something that’s cheaper to own and maintain than my previous cars.
I only really use a car for weekend drives, the odd trip to the shops, and giving the missus a lift to the station when she’s running late (regular occurrence), so size and practicality don’t really matter.
My only requirements are:
• Fun to drive
• Fairly easy to sell when the time comes
• Reasonable to own in terms of depreciation, maintenance, and overall running costs
The budget is around 10-15K as I find this to be the sweet spot for quicker private sells, but I can stretch the budget to 25-30ish for slower depreciating, limited run models.
Current shortlist:
• MK7 Golf GTI / Golf R
• ND MX-5
• Audi S3 8V
• Megane Renaultsport (MK2 or MK3)
Would love to hear any other suggestions (maybe some limited edition trims?) or experiences with these—particularly how easy they were to move on when the time came. Cheers!
Since there’s a chance I’ll be moving abroad mid-next year, I’d rather avoid another daunting selling process. And, as I’m turning 30 this year, I’d like to take a more grown up approach to my automotive passion and go for something that’s cheaper to own and maintain than my previous cars.
I only really use a car for weekend drives, the odd trip to the shops, and giving the missus a lift to the station when she’s running late (regular occurrence), so size and practicality don’t really matter.
My only requirements are:
• Fun to drive
• Fairly easy to sell when the time comes
• Reasonable to own in terms of depreciation, maintenance, and overall running costs
The budget is around 10-15K as I find this to be the sweet spot for quicker private sells, but I can stretch the budget to 25-30ish for slower depreciating, limited run models.
Current shortlist:
• MK7 Golf GTI / Golf R
• ND MX-5
• Audi S3 8V
• Megane Renaultsport (MK2 or MK3)
Would love to hear any other suggestions (maybe some limited edition trims?) or experiences with these—particularly how easy they were to move on when the time came. Cheers!
Up gti. You will get a great one for your budget. Will be lots of fun, as it has performance you can actually use in the real world without getting you into trouble. I have a Racingline stage 1 map which gives in 145 bhp. I love the simplicity that it offers, that seems to have been lost In most modern machinery nowadays. Also, you don’t see many on the road
Jiebo said:
Golf R. Every chav, barry boy and roadman up and down the country want one.
Yes ... because these groups of people are well known for painlessly buying cars with minimal hassle. 
The op would separately be offered 4k in cash, an e-scooter, a used PS5, an electric motocross bike and a staffy!
To my eyes the answer is to buy something that could be easily punted on to WBAC or Motorway with a minimum of faff (and financial loss). So likely something fairly modern and mainstream with a bit of fun sprinkled on the top. It might not float your boat as much as some of your previous cars, but if you want a quick & smooth selling process, a private sale is unlikely to be the path to take.
Or go the other way, buy whatever you want while you can, accept that it'll be a PITA to sell, so kick the process off 6 months in advance of your anticipated leaving date and buy a cheap shed to rattle round in if it happens to sell quicker than anticipated.
ThingsBehindTheSun said:
My gut feel is the Golf GTi would be the easiest to sell.
I suspect the MX5 and Megane {especially mlk2) would be the hardest.
I could have sold my Megane R26 three times over two years ago. People have cottoned on that they are now appreciating in value.I suspect the MX5 and Megane {especially mlk2) would be the hardest.
MX5 will always come with concerns over rust though. Been there done that also.
Tom4398cc said:
Save half (or more!) of your budget and get a RenaultSport Clio 197 or 200?
I’ve been considering Clios as well - nice, capable cars, but to be completely honest, I’m concerned it might feel like too much of a downgrade coming from the cars I’ve owned and that I might not enjoy it. Would definitely be fun for short B-road blasts but probably less enjoyable on longer weekend trips.Jiebo said:
Golf R. Every chav, barry boy and roadman up and down the country want one.
That’s exactly the kind of crowd I wouldn’t want to deal with when selling, and the image is the one thing that puts me off the Golf R. Unless I find a silver on silver, no tint granddad spec—but that would presumably be a harder sell, which kind of defeats the purpose.Rotary Potato said:
The op would separately be offered 4k in cash, an e-scooter, a used PS5, an electric motocross bike and a staffy!
Exactly 
. And you made some very good points in your post. That said, WBAC realistically means losing several grand. Maybe I should try selling via Collecting Cars when the time comes…In general, I reckon a fast Golf is the most fitting choice. Probably going to be a GTi Performance. I’ll consider an R too, but most nicer ones are well above £15K, and then there are the concerns mentioned above.
Anyhow, I appreciate everyone’s input and am happy to take any more suggestions.
Edited by mf123 on Tuesday 11th March 14:43
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