What do I buy next?

Author
Discussion

muckyman

Original Poster:

301 posts

197 months

Monday 29th December 2014
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I find myself without a car as I accidently sold my ST205 GT4 a month or so ago. I wasn't looking to sell it, in fact I only had it a few months, but I'll sell anything if the price is right and I got as offer out of the blue I couldn't refuse.
So, now I need a replacement and I thought I would ask on here as its generic, rather than asking in any of the owners clubs I'm a member of (as they would naturally be biased).
I'm a serial car changer, and get through a few each year but am trying to find one I've not had before that'll keep me hooked for a while.
Recent cars have been, VX220, TVR Chimaera 450, MR2 (mark 1 & 2), Celica GT4, Clio 182, Toyota Soarer TT, MX5 turbo (still have an MX5 tucked in the garage for track days), Audi TT, Z3 M-Roadster.

Budget is £8k or less and I'm looking into the following as options:-
350Z, Supra TT, Mitsi Evo, E34 M3, Impreza STI (blobeye)
Any views on the above, or additional suggestions?
Its got to be 'interesting' (subjective I know), not front wheel drive, fun and easily resellable in case I get bored
Ta in advance for your thoughts

TommoAE86

2,742 posts

133 months

Monday 29th December 2014
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I'd be coveting the Supra TT's, they are quietly cool imo. Which would you go for? JZA80 you could hunt around for a UK one though you might struggle for a TT in your budget. You could import a mint JZA70 TT for your budget but you might not want to wait.

If you want to be truer to your car jumping and having just got rid of a Toyota I'd go for an Evo, would be an experience.

Out of the above I've only driven a JZA70 so the rest is based on what I've read/seen/heard.

What about a Skyline? You could get a GTS-T in that budget, or maybe even a GTT...

The Flying Ox

400 posts

179 months

Monday 29th December 2014
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£8k will buy you a very decent FD RX7. I know there'll be a thousand non-owners commenting on reliability and oil usage and fuel consumption and all that nonsense, but they really are special cars.
Buy a single turbo conversion with a recent engine rebuild, keep on top of the oil changes, maybe run some 2-stroke oil as premix if you're overly-cautious, and it'll see you right. I had one that had been rebuilt 12 months prior to me buying, I ran it as a daily driver for a year and a bit and then sold to a racing driver in Denmark who's still wringing its neck. That's coming up for 4 years and 30000+ miles on a 400bhp car, and it's still going strong. How many similarly tuned Subarus last that long*? It managed mid-20s mpg when driven sedately, single figures if not. I changed the oil & filter every 2000 miles. Sounds excessive, but they only need the cheapest of cheap 10w40 mineral oil @ less than £5/litre online + a £20 oil filter off eBay.

I'd have another in a heartbeat.

EDIT - * my experience is 1 owner with 2 blown engines, so obviously too small a sample set to be meaningful. It did cost him somewhere in the region of £6000 to get his car to that power though, whereas the RX7 needs about £2k for the same.


Edited by The Flying Ox on Monday 29th December 18:28

ikarl

3,739 posts

205 months

Wednesday 31st December 2014
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an Impreza type-R (2 door with driver controlled centre diff) would maybe offer you something you've not yet had?

muckyman

Original Poster:

301 posts

197 months

Monday 5th January 2015
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Many thanks for the input guys, I'm leaning heavily towards the Mark IV Supra (twin turbo).
Looking forward to some viewings and test drives :-)