I have a dilema

[mobile chicane]

should I sell my supermoto thats worth about £2k and my mx5 which is worth about £1k get some finance and buy a propper sports car i.e a lotus elise.

cheap ones seam to be about £6k but would I be better off with a newer mk 2 mx5 for less ££ 's or would I enjoy the lotus more ??????


any other sugestions for 2 seater sports cars in the sub £6k price range ?

( I havent driven a z3 yet but I suspect the 1.8 will be gutless and the 2.3 will be thirsty and expensive to run as for an s2000 I wish ! )

[Lee]

Loads
Of
Trouble
Usually
Serious

Saying that i did have a look at an Exige at the weekend

[Rich D]

I had one for 3.5 years, never had any serious problems whatsoever.

Dont buy a nail or one that has been thrashed to death on track, go for one thats been owned as a third car by some old boy from new ! it makes more sense to initially lay out more for a decent example than to pay a fortune in repair bills to keep a nail on the road.

Most fun car i have ever owned and like Lee, will probably own the "new" Exige in the not too distant future. I have just temporarily lost the desire to blow such vast quantities of cash on one toy alone !

Pic of my Elise - sold about 3 years ago now

[Answer-RC-Pete]

A mate picked up a S1 Elise at very good money recently. It has a few stone ships to the front end but mechanically is sound (so far!) for very reasonable money. It puts one hell of a smile on your face when you look at it and everyone had a good smile at my 6`6" frame trying in vain to get in with the hard tp on there!

[Lee]

That was like me in my mates porsche, im about 6`3 and my head was against the roof, but it serves him right he should have bought a proper porsche instead of a pretend boxster

[Northy]

Originally Posted by Lee

That was like me in my mates porsche, im about 6`3 and my head was against the roof, but it serves him right he should have bought a proper porsche instead of a pretend boxster

Did you actually fit in the seats properly though?

G

[jimmy]

I had a bit of dodgy him when I tried to get in pidges exige - getting out was the real trouble tho - it was nearly impossible! shame
I'd have one

[Rich D]

Originally Posted by Lee

That was like me in my mates porsche, im about 6`3 and my head was against the roof, but it serves him right he should have bought a proper porsche instead of a pretend boxster

My mate lent me his 997 Turbo. Fastest thing i have ever driven by a mile, traction control cutting in at 110mph in the dry. Unreal. Pulled into the garage and fitted my number plate to it for my pc desktop pic

[Lee]

Originally Posted by Northy

Did you actually fit in the seats properly though?

G

Yup

he had a special name for the nob on top of the gear stick though, i think he called it graham

[Rich D]

Originally Posted by Answer-RC-Pete

A mate picked up a S1 Elise at very good money recently. It has a few stone ships to the front end but mechanically is sound (so far!) for very reasonable money. It puts one hell of a smile on your face when you look at it and everyone had a good smile at my 6`6" frame trying in vain to get in with the hard tp on there!

Yeah theres a bit of an art to getting in and out. Im a short arse 5ft 9 and even then it wasnt easy. You sort of drop into it via gravity lol.

[Spoolio]

Depends what you want from it mate. Will you be using it every day as your main mode of transport? If so, I guess the Elise would start to grate after a while - most peeps I know that had/have one have also had a company funded crate to trundle about in and use their Elises as weekend toys.

That being said I'd definately have one over a Mk2 MX5 as I had a 2001 1.8i (not an S though) for 3 years and compared to a Mk1 it felt fat, flabby and generally quite boring to drive which is why we sold it, we got absolutely zero buzz out of the experience and ended up using our Polo diesel nearly all the time instead.

Bear in mind insurance for the Elise can be eye-watering.

Why not look at a later Mk1 MX5 instead? If you must have a Mk2, at least go for an S-spec car with the slippy diff and make sure it has proper wheels (not aftermarket ones that eff up the suspension geometry).

Oh yeah, and get a move on, the summer's nearly finished...oh hang on, my missus says its never actually started .

[Lee]

Right now im torn between a few cars, i really like the A4 soft top it just looks smart but they are slow unless you spend big money, £35k+, the exige is the ultimate plaything, especially if you go for the "new" one, again £30 odd k, but then if im going to get a "toy/sunday blast car" do i get something really mental

[Rich D]

Originally Posted by Lee

Right now im torn between a few cars, i really like the A4 soft top it just looks smart but they are slow unless you spend big money, £35k+, the exige is the ultimate plaything, especially if you go for the "new" one, again £30 odd k, but then if im going to get a "toy/sunday blast car" do i get something really mental

Go for the Exige mate - i cant imagine that you would ever wish for more power for the road. It will be a useable fast road machine. Refrigeration doesn't pay as well as the oil industry or else id have a white one in a shot !

[mobile chicane]

I have a works transit conect with free private milage and swimbo has a v plate focus with a tow bar for my track bike.

I didnt realise the mk 2 mx5 was flat that bad although I've never driven one.

my mk 1 is only a 1.6 so it only has 100bhp its getting a bit tatty now maybe some new seats from ebay and a mild tune woll pep it up then I can sell the motard and the gixer track bike and buy another vtr1000 sp1 track bike with a v5 and a plate for sunny days and test runs.

hmmmm audi tt I wonder ( wanders off to ebay and autotrader )

[mobile chicane]

hmmmm it apears s2000's are in my price range


Couple on ebay for £6k

[Spoolio]

Originally Posted by mobile chicane

hmmmm it apears s2000's are in my price range


Couple on ebay for £6k

Watch out - early S2000's apparently had ummm "sharp" handling characteristics but I confess I've not driven one. Peach of a motor though, and if you are coming from a fast bike you'll not be scared of revving the crackers off it to get into the power-band. And they have a factory fitted "Engine-Start" button which has got to be worth 10mph on the top-end .

[Spoolio]

Originally Posted by mobile chicane

my mk 1 is only a 1.6 so it only has 100bhp its getting a bit tatty now maybe some new seats from ebay and a mild tune woll pep it up

Don't sell it short, if its a pre-1994 UK car shouldn't it have 110bhp? Why not go daft and stick a 'charger on it?

Originally Posted by mobile chicane

hmmmm audi tt I wonder ( wanders off to ebay and autotrader )

Not my cup of tea but engineered to outlast everything else - obviously the pick would be a 225bhp one (2 exhausts), not the 180.

[mobile chicane]

Originally Posted by Spoolio

Don't sell it short, if its a pre-1994 UK car shouldn't it have 110bhp? Why not go daft and stick a 'charger on it?


its a 1990 jap import with a big exhaust and an induction kit ( they came with the car)

I was tempted by the charger but I like my vehicles mostly standard


Not my cup of tea but engineered to outlast everything else - obviously the pick would be a 225bhp one (2 exhausts), not the 180.

the s2000 has blown the tt out the water.

[JayUK91]

Remember the insurance...

I heard the s2000 is in the same class as most 'proper' (lol) sports cars (Ferraris etc)

[mobile chicane]

32 yr old 1 yrs ncd tft £550


fully comp is £1400 but that only from my current provider