What to buy for £8k?
Discussion
Car suggestions please! 
I'm buying my first house soon, but don't want to be without an interesting car. I'll probably spend around £8k, though I'd rather spend less and I am willing to spend up to £10k if the car is really good.
My criteria are:
Not too big - the smaller the better, so long as my cello will go in the passenger seat. I don't need rear seats - I see them as unnecessary weight and space for me.
Good handling - I race as well so I am very focused on how a car handles. I'm not bothered about grip, just good handling.
Quickish - Not too slow!
Good controls - I'd rather it had manual everything, though I realise this isn't possible these days. If it does have assisted controls, then I would like them to be well judged and with lots of feel.
So far I have driven:
Mk3 MR2 - fabulous - though I wouldn't mind a small boot to carry the odd box or bag. Performance is obviously a bit pathetic, but it is small and handles well so that makes up for it.
2000 model 200SX - I was a bit underwhelmed by this. Tidy handling, okish performance but I couldn't reach the steering wheel, and the rear seats were a waste of time, especially considering they destroyed the boot space!
Subaru Impreza Turbo - quick, but 4WD felt boring and not very involving.
Straight RX7s seem so rare in UK spec.
Any thoughts? What is insurance and servicing like on an import?
I'm buying my first house soon, but don't want to be without an interesting car. I'll probably spend around £8k, though I'd rather spend less and I am willing to spend up to £10k if the car is really good.
My criteria are:
Not too big - the smaller the better, so long as my cello will go in the passenger seat. I don't need rear seats - I see them as unnecessary weight and space for me.
Good handling - I race as well so I am very focused on how a car handles. I'm not bothered about grip, just good handling.
Quickish - Not too slow!
Good controls - I'd rather it had manual everything, though I realise this isn't possible these days. If it does have assisted controls, then I would like them to be well judged and with lots of feel.
So far I have driven:
Mk3 MR2 - fabulous - though I wouldn't mind a small boot to carry the odd box or bag. Performance is obviously a bit pathetic, but it is small and handles well so that makes up for it.
2000 model 200SX - I was a bit underwhelmed by this. Tidy handling, okish performance but I couldn't reach the steering wheel, and the rear seats were a waste of time, especially considering they destroyed the boot space!
Subaru Impreza Turbo - quick, but 4WD felt boring and not very involving.
Straight RX7s seem so rare in UK spec.
Any thoughts? What is insurance and servicing like on an import?
Re: your second post - go drive a good DC2 Integra Type R. It's got the most neutral balance of any fwd car I've driven, truly throttle-steerable. The driving position is impeccable, the steering better than any other Jap machine I've driven, and very direct, the controls are all properly weighted and in proportion, the engine sounds fantastic, even with a stock exhaust. And so on...
IMHO it handles better (more precisely and responsively, with more feedback and a greater feeling of "oneness"
than the STi I drove a while back...certainly less understeer.
Yes the fwd is something many people can't get over, but remember evo rated it second only to the P1 in their "best real-world drivers car" article, and that was ahead of an Elise S1, a Boxster, and some other serious machinery...
...just a thought.
IMHO it handles better (more precisely and responsively, with more feedback and a greater feeling of "oneness"
than the STi I drove a while back...certainly less understeer. Yes the fwd is something many people can't get over, but remember evo rated it second only to the P1 in their "best real-world drivers car" article, and that was ahead of an Elise S1, a Boxster, and some other serious machinery...
...just a thought.
FD3 if the cello fits is definitely an option - modern classic. Although from what I hear they've all (imports certainly, and I believe UK cars too) got a rust problem, regardless of mechanical health.
Risky, but gorgeous and quick.
300ZX / 3000GTO are both heavy and complex - quick in a straight-line, but really GT's not agile sports cars. Might not be what you're after.
Evo V perhaps - high running costs, but apparently drive completely differently to Scooby's. Hope you don't do big miles though.
I'd suggest some Euro stuff too - Integrale, E36 M3 (pre-Evo doesn't have so many engine woes, and decent ones just sneaking under £10k now), 944 perhaps...
Risky, but gorgeous and quick.
300ZX / 3000GTO are both heavy and complex - quick in a straight-line, but really GT's not agile sports cars. Might not be what you're after.
Evo V perhaps - high running costs, but apparently drive completely differently to Scooby's. Hope you don't do big miles though.
I'd suggest some Euro stuff too - Integrale, E36 M3 (pre-Evo doesn't have so many engine woes, and decent ones just sneaking under £10k now), 944 perhaps...
RobM77 said:
you could get a very nice MK2 rev 5 MR2 Turbo....
How good are they? I've heard awful things about the handling, but apparently the rear suspension was revised in 1997.
I was going to suggest that - the handling on the rev 1 cars as supposedly a bit dodgy, but the rev 2 onwards are fine.
Gaz will back me up!
RobM77 said:
A lovely RX7. "£9k of bills £15,000 miles ago". That scares me!! That really scares me! If I am buying my first house I can't afford to have unexpected bills.
That'll be the engine rebuild that all RX7's have to have at some point in there lives. Probably includes other bits and peices as well being done. At least you know its been done and wont need doing for another 50k miles or so.
MrFlibbles said:
you could get a very nice MK2 rev 5 MR2 Turbo....
How good are they? I've heard awful things about the handling, but apparently the rear suspension was revised in 1997.
I was going to suggest that - the handling on the rev 1 cars as supposedly a bit dodgy, but the rev 2 onwards are fine.
Gaz will back me up!
The rev 1 was very twitchy in the wet
the rev 2 improved it
the rev 3 was a vast improvment in brakes and build quality
by the time you got to rev 4/5 the car was pretty much sorted - it is more GT than all out sports - but by that fact, its a car you can do motorways in, but they have a blast on a track day..
(0-60 is in the 5 sec region)
Plus, its a Toyota - so as long as its taken care of, it will keep going and going without any problems... yes its an import, but its a grey rather than parallel, so insurance isnt too bad - when i looked at them earlier in the year, the N/A import was nearly double the UK N/A, but the Turbo was only 5% more than the import N/A..
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