What car next?

[Wobba]

I wont sell the Willy, as it's mine and an ongoing project...and awesome...but I always liked having to performance cars of different natures so with certain financial benchmarks soon to be reached (I hope) and yet anotehr payrise imminent I need to consider a new toy.

I've always loved my old Scoobies but sadly the image of the Impreza is pretty poor right now. I have been keeping an eye out for an old Legacy RS Quad Cam Turbo...they are old, and retro, but a wolf in sheeps clothing with the proper old school flat 4 burble...rare as **** too.

I also need to consider I have missed out a lot on the RWD cars, so I am also thinking S1 or S2 Elise...base spec to start with till I get used to it and stuff, then maybe go the Honda or VAG 1.8T route with it.

Another option is the Lotus Exige. I love the quasi-racer look of the Mk1 Exige:



It needs to be reliable of course, but the cheaper the base car is the easier time I will have of modding and rebuilding it etc.

I used to want Skylines but tbh massive power isn't the way forward for me just yet. The Noble M12 is just about an option, as is a VXR8 or Monaro or TVR Cerbera. Awesome sounds.

I love this little vid, so may go the Elise or Exige route tbh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nfK41KvzTE

Of course...I could just get anotehr Williams and go Banzai and use it at some kind of Slick 50 events....

[Daz.]

I plan on an exige next time - series 2 for me though.

Loving the Meg at the moment! :D

[Wobba]

I plan on an exige next time - series 2 for me though.

Loving the Meg at the moment! :D

I bet, I COULD go Meg route as it is a great car but I don't want to go FWD again just yet. Need to braodedn the horizons. Exige is an awesome car, and I did see an S2 for sale that looked good and possible a good donor car for the Honda Supercharged conversion:


http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3788810.htm


I think the S1 will hold value better though due to the look...time will tell.

[16v_russ]

I had a S1 Elise for a year, and have been on the owners club for years, so anything you wish to know just ask dude.

The basics are to get a half decent S1 you need at least £7000.

Biggest thing on them is suspension refresh - double wishbone F&R means 16 wishbone bushes and 8 ball joints - plus wishbones can bend if whacked and rear tie rods are renound to bend with hard track work.

Some are still on Red shocks (Koni's) which are rubbish - the later S2's ran Bilsteins and are great for road use - a kit which uses the S2 susension (S1 needs 2 different brakets to fit) can be purchased for about £600 and make a great difference (Thats what mine had)

If the Elise needs a suspension refresh, then you won't get any change out of £2000

Head gaskets are a worry - it is luck of the draw, some go on 25k, my old one was getting close to 100k on the original - if it goes, get it to a specialist who know what they are doing - it will cost about £700 to fix properly and you will never need it done again (Another good trick is to add another £250 on and get a remote thermostat)

There is a lot more but basics are they are not a cheap car to own - most members budget circa £2000 per year for maintinance to keep them tip top.

fantastic fun, i had mine out on track and was brilliant (Search my username on Youtuube for a vid - RussBSE ) and on most normal roads are just epic - but very expensive.

For Honda/VAG conversions, to pay someone to do it will cost you around £10,000, you can DIY it, but the instilation kit is circa £3500, then you need to buy an engine and gearbox on top, plus management and loom, then mapping.

It is much cheaper to buy an already converted one, they usually sell for £10,000-£15,000 depending on spec.

My mate has a Supercharged, cammed Honda S! - ****ing awesome, 330bhp @ the wheels, and is stupid quick - 0-100 is well under 8 seconds, but it is well over 30k's worth of modifications in it and he did half the work himself!

Exiges will be a minimum of 20k - great fun but i can never get over the price of them!

Anything else you wish to know just ask dude, hope that helps a bit

[p4cks]

If you're thinking about an S1 or S2 Exige, have you considered a VX220 Turbo? Much cheaper to buy, and easily tuned to more BHP, torque and handling than an Exige.

[will.i.am.s2]

The elise/exige is nice but depends what you are after i guess. Personaly il be going for a E39 M5 or E46 M3 by the end of the summer. The M5 is suprisingly good on petrol for a V8 and devastingly fast

Depends what you like im a bit biased to bmw..

[MG1980]

The elise/exige is nice but depends what you are after i guess. Personaly il be going for a E39 M5 or E46 M3 by the end of the summer. The M5 is suprisingly good on petrol for a V8 and devastingly fast

Depends what you like im a bit biased to bmw..

You can do much worse than an e36 M3 at the moment. Surely the performance bargain of the decade. £4.5k will get you in a tidy Evo with around 80k miles and they have bottomed out, so you Won't lose much. Great performance, easy to mod and a fun way to learn your craft in RWD. As for an e39 M5, my friend drives ones with straight through pipes and carbon airboxes. Devastatingly fast, but a heavy car. M3 makes the far better purchase for me for fun factor! M5 and M3 are both my wingmen for Le Mans as well!

That said, I'd love an S1 Exige! Values are on the up. Sure they will be worth a pretty penny in 10 years!

[Daz.]

I plan on an exige next time - series 2 for me though.

Loving the Meg at the moment! :D

I bet, I COULD go Meg route as it is a great car but I don't want to go FWD again just yet. Need to braodedn the horizons. Exige is an awesome car, and I did see an S2 for sale that looked good and possible a good donor car for the Honda Supercharged conversion:


http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3788810.htm


I think the S1 will hold value better though due to the look...time will tell.

Yep liking that S2!

To be honest this Megane is wierdly the most un front wheel drive feeling front wheel drive car I've had - feels almost 4wd!

After getting married and the odd debt I couldn't really find anything else within MY budget I wanted. I think the next car I own will be deffo in the Exige style.

Still this isn't exactly a slouch with STG1 and a modest 255 BHP (for now) :D

[sideways danny]

I would go for the latest Elise/exige you can afford that uses the toyota engine. So much better than the rover.

Worked on a fair few engine conversions too, the Honda K20/24 conversion makes the elise/exige an animal

[stevie_b]

The elise/exige is nice but depends what you are after i guess. Personaly il be going for a E39 M5 or E46 M3 by the end of the summer. The M5 is suprisingly good on petrol for a V8 and devastingly fast

Quite different types of cars but all great in their way - the Beemers are probably double the weight of the Lotii, but double the power. The Exige is probably the closest to what you have now Dan, in terms of raw and exciting. I have a mint E39 M5 and I wouldn't say it feels nimble in the same way a Williams does, but it is very quick, comfortable and practical, so if I could only have one car then that is the one I'd keep. I'm a Scooby fan too so see where you are coming from there. All very nice cars mentioned so far so a good dilemma to have