Next year I am looking to trade in my MK Indy-Blade for a more practical sports car for touring abroad. I will have a budget of £10-£12K. Taking into
consideration running costs, practibility, spares cost/availability, wow factor, performance, reliability etc etc what car from the list would you
buy. If you vote "other" please list choice and why. Thanks for your help. Barry
[Edited on 24/8/10 by LBMEFM]
Placed my vote. No prises for guessing what i voted
Got to be a S2000 everytime.
quote:
Originally posted by couch22k
Got to be a S2000 everytime.
other - a Porsche of some sort
Continental cruising HAS to be the Jag, comfort, speed, long legs, space, and coooool
For Cruising it has to be the Jag.
i think i need a bit more info on what you want to use the car for. Any trackdays? how many passengers? how much room do you need? Are you
concerned with MPG.
They are all nice cars though
S2000 is the one that makes the most sense all-round, but obviously your heart may guide you to the Jag
(I'm not mentioning TVR as you wanted something that'll drive reliably, not a driveway ornament.)
anyone would think the MG TF was a bit of a flop....
S2000 is the best option if you're planning on using regularly and on long Euro trips.
Chimaera would be substantially cheaper to run than a Tuscan.
Boxster would be an alternative as it seems you're looking for roof down options.
If you want a coupe then Z3MC's are in your range and well capable of decent rate continent crossing and providing some fun at the same time.
I would normally go for an Elise above all else on the list (had two of them and will have another in the future for certain, unless I plump for an
exige or europa instead).
But, for euro touring I'd rather be in the Jag - nothing else on the list has that special GT car appeal.
MX5 is the cheapest to operate by far I would think. Depends whether you want fun driving or fun showing off. If the latter, then the Jag.
I voted 'other' but for boring practical reasons:
I'd get a BMW convertable.
Why:
How many MG/TVR/jaguar/lotus/japaneese car dealers have you seen in (say) the Pyrenees or other remote parts of europe, or even in mainland parts of
France/Spain/Italy etc, whereas BMW dealers will be fairly local to you almost everywhere in europe. I know a guy who's lotus's gearbox gave
up near Perigord and he ended up with 12 days extra unplanned holiday while waiting for bits to get to him!
Regards
Hugh
Tuscan for the "wow" factor
If you want something that'll cover the milage in comfort, be fun in the mountains, carry the luggage and be reliable then it's the
Honda.
If you're not so bothered about the fun then the Jag and if you'll trade a little comfort for economy then the MX5.
If you want an adventure keep the kit.
adrian
Define touring?
Anyway my European tours include several thousand miles of mountain passes and tunnels so for me the Elise was the car of choice. No problems driving
one of them for 7-10 days.
One of my friends has been on the same routes with an Elise and now he's married his wife has an S2000. He finds the S2000 more tiring to drive
if your trying to keep it on cam all the time.
If you were driving more sedate routes then the S2000 would probably make more sense for comfort and the occasional blat.
[Edited on 25-8-10 by bimbleuk]
XK8, but thats what I have 
Crusie control in at 70 mph then I get 30mpg+
There is an ambiance about jags that you will not get with any other car, its a very nice place to relax in.
nb/ I would look for a pre aug 2001 car (I think thats when the tax rules change), car tax is then fixed, anything later the tax could rise like
mad...
Regards Mark
[Edited on 25/8/10 by mark chandler]
I dont think you will get a Tuscan for £12k. You cant get a good Cerbera for that - a Chimera will set you back about £7k.
Same goes for the Elise - you would be looking at a high mile S1 for £12k.
So that leave the Jag - so thats my choice!
I put TVR but after reading the original post properly ...touring?...hell no...XKR all the time
Ghibli
quote:
Originally posted by TimC
Ghibli
The question I ask is do you want a gt car or a sports car ? Although I have the seven my touring car is a porsche 928, completely different cars
for different purposes.
ChrisS has now got a chimera 450 and you are welcome to have a look at either. Neither are track cars end expect 22mpg on a long motorway cruise
But if pressing on down country lanes I'm lucky to see double figures.
However for use as gt cars they are very good.
Strangly though we are now looking at masarati's ?
Roger
Go the whole hog and get a Ferrarri!Autotrader has some Mondials for less than 15K.
Hi
Can't fault the sentiment that the Jags the best tourer - however for the 40 plus weeks a year you're not touring the Elise wins hands down
- trust me
Regards Mick
TVR, just for the noise is a good enough reason to buy one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSlkKO-ERD0&feature=related
Other....
I would save up a little more and get one of these.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201032365301314/sort/priceasc/usedcars/body-type/convertible/model/alpina/make/bmw/page/1/radius/1500/po
stcode/ox117qr?logcode=p
Although horrible in Z4 guise, the Alpina version is actually quite nice....
2nd the above
Or if you're feeling like a car thats going up in value a BMW z3m coupe.
quote:
Originally posted by franky
2nd the above
Or if you're feeling like a car thats going up in value a BMW z3m coupe.
I've actually owned three of these. The 160 MGTF was excellent, balanced handling, obviously extremely cheap and not losing any capital value
now. The down sides were too little power and the visibility in the wet on a motorway was very poor, The other thing was the hood was manual, so
needed to get out of the car to put it up.
I swapped it for the Honda S2000. This car was great for normal driving around, electric roof was so quick you can put it up at a set of traffic
lights or whilst driving upto about 10 mph - this makes a massive difference to the user experience. The engine only livens up after about 6200 rpm,
so you end up ragging it everywhere. The handling was OK, but not as balanced as the MGTF. Lovely build and easy to drive by the wife.
I had the original XKR, (370bhp, 4.0l supercharged). The performance in a straight line was amazing, I'd liken the accel to a plane taking off -
auto box so easy to drive, but with J gate you can get some control. Running costs were quite high, and I found the pirelli tyres were poor in the
wet. (Also crap in snow - HAVE to turn off traction control). I ended up swapping them to Good Year Eagle F1 GD3s - much better wet performance. The
handling was relatively poor, very heavy but I believe the facelift model (2004?) makes a big difference. You get a lot of car for your money and a
big boot and the 2+2 rear seats for plenty of luggage space. I took this to Le Mans (with my wife) and it was fantastic.
I’ve also test driven a few of the others:
The MX5 (1.8). The car was nice, but underpowered and bland in my opinion. Suffers from manual roof too.
The Elise does have excellent handling but the S1 has very high sills which my wife did not approve of!
The Chimera is very aggressive – you will end up in a hedge at some point, even more so for the Tuscan. I took a Griffith 500 for a test drive and
almost lost it on some mildly damp road which was underneath some overhanging trees – and I thought I was being careful! The turning circles are poor
as is the reliability. However, the tuscan is in my opinion, the most beautiful looking car.
The only one I haven’t personally experienced is the MR2, although I know a number of people who have enjoyed them and you get the reliability and low
running costs.
Given your description of use, I would suggest the XKR if you can put up with 17mpg and generally high costs (£250 for a rear tyre for instance). If
costs are a big factor, then the S2000. It’s easy to drive, fun, reliable, electric roof (think sun as well as rain). Proper air con is a must.
Btw, my sig pic is of my R500 (Kevlar seats) driven to the alps - so practibility isn't everything. Needless to say, my wife didn’t come with
me!
I voted for MGTF mainly cos 3 of us toured the south of France 2 years ago in them and really enjoyed it. We had plenty of luggage space (unlike an MR2) and none of us broke down!!
Thanks for all the replies, I know the Honda S2000 makes sense but the Jag and the TVR are still very tempting. Once again cheers, Barry