Which Sports Car?

2, 3 or 4 wheeled petrol heads in here.

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Clingy
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Post by Clingy »

The missis is hankering after a sports car. Trouble is she currently drives 70 miles a day in a Megane Diesel at 60mpg. Now "no pain no gain" so she knows that she wont get that out of a sports car, but something half decent would help. So a balance between performance and economy. So that rules out the first choice....Nissan 350Z. Looking at less than 3 years old and less than 30000 miles. At the other extreme is the MX5 folding hardtop at around 40mpg. Just a tad too small me thinks, but we could probably get a new one as we have another car that is over 10 years old and therefore worth £2000 scap value. Then there is a 2 litre Z4, but they look so trashy inside. Others we have been thinking about are a S2000 and a Boxter. The latter would have to be 5 years old to get into our budget and probably have high running costs. Another alternative is to keep the Megane for the work trips and for the kids when home from Uni, and get an older sports car for uni holidays and weekend fun.

What would you do (and no, I won't divorce her and get a Ducati)?
Trig
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Post by Trig »

S2000
Slatz
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Post by Slatz »

tt
andrew
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Post by andrew »

If its for your wife an MR2 or MX5. Easy cheap fun. Nearly replaced my toy car with an mr2 as the facelift ones seem bullet proof except for fading paint, 3 out of the 4 I looked at were shocking so kept the cash :P

If its you an S2000. I'm sure cocopops owned one though...... might be wrong :S

Hardcore ? an elise or VX220 although they are quite impractical, that said however when we went to the ring we took an VX220 turbo, Exige S and a S1 Elise and they all carried their own stuff with them and the vx was 2 up all the way..... for day to day though unless you're a fan it'd get old quickly and none of the lads i know use them as dailys.


Some others i'll randomly throw into the mix that do not fit the bill but worth a look: Crossfire (alright for free not worth paying for), Alfa Spider (nice in black and great as a hire car ;) ), C70 (safe and reliable im guessing, not heard anything about them but a neighbour has one lol).

I'll be quiet now, but like I said up top an MX5/MR2 for the cash takes some beating once you've had a go and work the sums out.

Did you mean sports car as in a proper car or does a soft top mean sports car ? if its soft top then the alfa and volvo apply quite nicely for a family person i'd say......

wow extra posts just edit


see what i just did there hehe :)
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Post by Richie »

Hard to beat an MX-5 TBH....

There are faster cars and cheaper ones but the MX5 is the best all-rounder for the money. They also hold their money better than any other roadster out there (worth 60% of value after 3 years old).

Apart from TT (4wd), I beleive the MX-5 is nicer to handle... Z4/S2000 can be tail happy (personal experience)...

If you can stretch to the hard top (roadster coupe) then go for it.

Sod all economy diff between 1.8 and 2.0 and the sports version adds a 6 speed box as well as other nice bits (LSD etc).

You can go as far back as a 56 plate for the folding hardtop so can easily get one cheaply and lose hardly any money from that point...


Ok ok... I used to sell Mazda's :rolleyes: :lol: (sold S2000's as well)
Last edited by Richie on Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Clingy
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Post by Clingy »

Cheers guys.

Tending now to be more practical and folding top MX5 looks a goer...might even justify a new 'un. 2 litre is a must if I am ever to drive it though.
Last edited by Clingy on Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Richie
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Post by Richie »

They have just facelifted the MX5 in past 6 months so, unless u are desperate or prefer facelift, there may be some tasty pre-lift versions around saving tons of cash so dealers can get shot of them....
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Myocardial Infarction
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Post by Myocardial Infarction »

Mazda RX7 with a nice T88 single turbo conversion, Full Bridge port, Carbon body panels, lightened flywheel and propshafts. Lite weight alloys and stripped interior with fully welded seams and a full cage.

It's a sports car you can't worry about mpg :P
Trig
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Post by Trig »

Or oil usage and tip wear :P
Myocardial Infarction
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Post by Myocardial Infarction »

Ianetti ceramic tips with custom milled rotors does away with tips blowing out and oil usage is part of the design and it is only a different form of petrol triglet and you have no problem pouring that in and let the monster slurp it up ;)

Probably not adding much so I say:

BUY A JOYSTICK :P

Hehe I just bought myself a 2003 Landrover Defender 110 CSW with 60k, hopefully picking it up next week some time, once my cheque clears :D
Last edited by Myocardial Infarction on Fri Jun 19, 2009 12:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Richie »

RX's are now dead.... Mazda wont be making a replacement with the rotary engine as its too difficult to get it under the what will be the newer and stricter emission rules...

RX8-R3 is the last one...
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