Summer Sports Car (for reasonable price)

[Krist]

Folks,

I think it's time to part ways with my first car, the Vectra has served me well through a few years of very high milage commutes however I fancy something smaller and more fun. I love driving so I want something I can really enjoy and would be looking for some experienced opinions and tips.

I'm not even that opposed to a little hair dresser's car. And not particularly looking for a brand new car, i won't be doing much miles over the next couple of year The considerations I am looking for are:

Convertible preferred
Air Con
Comfortable enough for a few week long road trip (going to Italy in Aug/Sep for my and my girlfriend's birthday)
decent engine size/power ratio.

So far I have considered the Mazda MX5/RX8, BMW Z3, Audi TT etc but if anyone has any ideas or suggestions, fire away!

[Sean]

I'd go abit older on the mazda front rx7 still love them now especially with some tasteful mods. Back to boy racer days there

[parnaby]

I would avoid the RX8 like the plague. If it has over 30k miles on the clock it's pretty much useless. Plus, if you accidentally stall it, there's a very high chance of flooding the engine. Mechanically, the rotary engine is great, practically it's a pain in the arse.

I had a Mini Cooper JCW and it was great fun. Sticks to the road like glue, 180bhp in such a small car is like lightning and gives most saloon sized cars a run for their money. Insurance and petrol isn't cheap though. Also need to make sure you get some good run flats. The budget/stock level are awful.


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[ValeTudoGuy]

I can only echo the RX8 problems aabove, my mate had one and got so sick of the engine flooding issues and horrible MPG for not that much performance that he got rid and has an Audi estate that's faster, more fun and more economical.

A Guy I work with has an MX5 and it's a real hoot! That's where my money would go for an inexpensive sporty little car.

Saying that, I have always had my eye On the Old shape Audi TT Quattro 1.8T, much lighter than the V6 and can tune to 350ish HP without unrealistic mods.

[smokey joe]

Summer Sports Car (for reasonable price)

I've had 2 cabriolets & not interested in owning anymore, got to garage them & handling suffers for the chassis strengthening.

I'm biased towards the TT (petrol 2l 2wd owner) it's comfy spacious & if you get cruise control it's perfect for long distances. I get +36mpg doing short journeys.



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[tommy]

Summer Sports Car (for reasonable price)

The only little convertible I've had was a TR7, it was a golden pimptastic piece of crap that weighed more than the sun and produced negative G's at full acceleration. I don't think I'm qualified to answer your question.
Oh and I also drive an A4 Estate now and it fooking brilliant fun to drive, it feels like a little sports car but I can get all my kids and their crap in it.

[butternutsquashpie]

Lotus!!!

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[TheMonk]

Can't really go wrong with a MX-5 or Z3, IMO. Two great convertibles.

[Motormadj]

You can get a TT for not a lot of money and then add about 100bhp to it for not a lot of money, so as a value proposition, its a very good choice.

[Krist]

I wouldn't even know where to start with the adding of Bhp or tuning a car, I am leaning towards the TT at the moment actually it seems the compromise between price/fun/comfort. Just keeping an eye out on gumtree and autotrader for good deals


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[Motormadj]

I wouldn't even know where to start with the adding of Bhp or tuning a car, I am leaning towards the TT at the moment actually it seems the compromise between price/fun/comfort. Just keeping an eye out on gumtree and autotrader for good deals


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A simple remap of the engines ecu can add 50+ bhp and cost as little as ?200. It would be as simple as taking it to a specific garage them plugging in a laptop to the diagnostics port and swapping a file [if its a generic remap]. The you drive home with a more powerful car!

Its not for everyone though and even without a remap etc, the TT is a quick car. Its a great all rounder really, don't think you can go wrong with one.

[Motormadj]

What sort of age were you thinking?

[Deano]

Summer Sports Car (for reasonable price)

I'm selling my TT this summer, mk1 3.2 V6 (2004). Lovely car but had for 8 years and time for a change - at 35 I've only had two long term cars! Looks around ?4.5k online. Need to sort out some body work issues before hand. Anyone interested let me know.

Thinking of a jag xe as next car, very competitive with the bmw 3 series.


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[PeeJay]

Can't really go wrong with a MX-5 or Z3, IMO. Two great convertibles.

I drove a friend's MX5 round the block, its like a bloody go kart with no suspension to talk of.

[Emaresee]

I have to say the RX8 is a car to divide people... I wonder if the guys who had RX8's with problems had older models?

I had a several in c2005-2008 and I loved them, and found them effortless to own. I flipped them regularly as I racked up miles quite quickly and then eventually swapped out for 4x4 tank when kids arrived. I know they corrected the cold engine start/ stop flood problem so never fell foul of that.

I was lucky enough to have had the more powerful of the two models they produced and it's fair to say i wrung the necks of mine. I gave them a real good thrashing and they soaked it up! Even then I had no major oil consumption - drive it hard and fast continually and you needed to top up the oil, otherwise worth a check once a month. I thought they were surprisingly roomy, comfy and rapid. They were a bit of a dancer in the ice/wet but otherwise cornered on rails. If I had the cash I'd still have one for fun. Stuffed most things off the line, and where it lost on straight line speed to proper performance cars; proper porsches, S & RS audi's, m3's etc through the bends it made good ground up.

Insurance was a gift as the rotary engine is rated as 1.2 litre or something close... but fuel consumption is heavy. I got out of my last one and into an XC90 and saved money on fuel!!!

BUT of course they arent a soft top and the sun roof is tiny.

How about a caterham?! not that practical for most...

Nissan 350Z? comes in hard and soft top although the performance of the soft top was lesser than the hard?

Bit of a left field suggestion... an old volvo C70... big wallowy soft top come hard top. Some of the bigger engines had a bit of pull.

I like TT's and MX-5's but I'm a big unit so don't fit in them that well, hence they don't feature on my list! Same with MG-TF's and CLK's... I have to have the roof down and look over the windscreen!!