Recommend me a car!

Be careful --- You are right about the price, but its the running cost, insurance and repairs you need to think about.

Was with a mate in his Subaru Impreza yesterday - asked him about fuel consumption - "If I keep it under 3000 rpm I can get 25mpg!!!!" Otherwise if he is heavy with his right foot it eats ?55 worth of fuel in just over a 100 miles!

Don't get me wrong, they are fantastic cars, and I would love one - but it isn't the cost of purchase that bankrupts you, it's the ongoing cost of ownership. Before I got my SV I was looking at a Maserati 3200. They are about ?15K, and I could afford the insurance - but it was the fuel consumption and average ?2000 service costs (that's average costs) per year according to the owners club that really put me off.

Another of my mates has a Lotus Esprit Turbo - super fast, but has cost him over 15000 --- yes ?15k over the past 5 years. Be careful. If you want fun on four wheels with good fuel economy try a Mazda MX-5, Fiat Barchetta (gutted I sold mine last summer) or save a bit more and go for Lotus Elise or VX220.

The other option is to go for a Golf GTI - lots of those about and reasonably good build - or as has been mentioned before you could try a Focus (not sure about the cheapest ST)

For that price Buy,insure and tax one of these. Honda crx 1.6Vti with manual targa roof
Quick,honda reliability and 40mpg,kick the vtec in and match most modern hot hatches plus they are becoming classic and going up in price not down.
A genuine fun sportster well within your budget

I bought one to replace my old Porsche and it is just as much fun but a darned lot cheaper to run/maintain

N.B It is only a two seater so you don,t become everybodys taxi

MX-5 is a good call. I used ot have 1.6 UK car, on a P reg. No pwer steering, no electric windows. But it had rear wheel drive, and was bloody good fun.

Great Mazda reliability and very cheap to run. And when people call them a girls / hairdressers cars, it's only cos they aren't secure in their own sexuality!

Goldwing... car on two wheels or, slightly more seriously, Fiesta - bought one about 3 years ago for ?4K with 19000 miles on, fun* to drive and cheap to run...

* not of course compared to a bike...

[21QUEST]

Originally Posted by Camel

........ And when people call them a girls / hairdressers cars, it's only cos they aren't secure in their own sexuality!

Jeez!!! talk about being defensive


Ben

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by Scoobs

What about an Impreza?

For ?4k you can have mine - I'll even deliver it

89k miles with full subaru history , two 'mature' owners from new. Unmolested - only extra is a Prodrive short shift gear linkage. Mint inside, outside is generally v.good.

Im in same boat here, thinking of spending the same as you Scoobs, getting rid of my mx5 which is currently worth about ?6.5k. I would go bangernomics but dont think I could just go out and buy any old rotter regardless and try and run it. Plenty of petrol golfs around 2000 plates going for that price.

buy a merc

Originally Posted by 21QUEST

Jeez!!! talk about being defensive


Ben

Heheheh, I know.

But they really are great fun cars, which a certain amount of people would not consider, just because their mates might take the mickey.

Suzuki Ignis Sport 1.5!