[Closed] Beautiful car

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A friend had an import Turbo one of those Saxonrider, had fiddled with it rather a lot 330bhp reliably & sorted brakes and suspension too, they're pretty quick.

True story - I very nearly crashed a colleagues MR2 (of that generation) within 5 minutes of being allowed to drive it. Greasy car park, young idiot with no concept of how to drive a RWD mid engined car. I've never liked them since

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Hot hatch!

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Emphatically "non super" but as far as modern cars go I always thought the second generation Saab 9-3 looked spot on. No matter what angle you looked at it from it was just "right". Maybe not the most distinctive motor out there, maybe all it's proportions and features were so, erm, just so that it ended up lacking that bit of character but it worked for me (IANAD). *EDIT* Ended up a bit more nose heavy in the 2008(?) facelift, still a good looking motor but lost some of that perfect sense of proportion.

Also an MR2: [img] [/img]

I've always loved these

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No love for the original one?

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What [b](non-super car)[/b] would you nominate?

Although the above are indeed nice to look at...

What (non-super car) would you nominate?

Not hard really, is it?

Edit - 22 seconds too late!

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Does this count as a supercar? Always blown away by how cool they still look on the rare ocassions I see one.

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Mine aren't super cars.

They're 60 years too old to fall into that category and not very fast 🙂

I very nearly bought one of those in about 2000, a quite old import one, for about £2k.

My picks of 'normal but nice' cars:

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risible in France because it's called the Toyota Merde

Always wanted one of these when was a teenager!

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I loved my MK2 MR2, they still are a great looking car IMHO.

There's a guy around the corner from me has an 8 series, bought brand new as a Sunday car, with IIRC 25k on it. It is immaculate and still looks fantastic.

I can't say Alfa Romeo Giulia GT as I am biased having owned three,

So it has to be:

Fiat Arbarth 1000 coupe

(Sorry image linky no work on my tablet for some reason)

Drove a Alfa Spider in Italy, brilliant fun (well except the throttle sticking open as I approached a zebra crossing with people on it 😯 )

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I always preferred the MK1 MR2. Smaller.

From jimw's post, above:

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I had an Mk2 MR2, it was shite, but that was the fault of the previous owners, not the car - fundamentally they're fantastic.

Really underrated in the UK, for years they were considered "hairdressers cars" like the MX-5, real men drove Hot Hatches, but really they're much better as long as you don't need to carry much.

Like a hot hatch they're cheap to buy, £2k used to get you an amazing condition UK car, like most hot hatches of the era they've got a 2.0 16v engine so no more thirsty, the later ones had 176bhp from memory and are pretty quick, but when it comes to driving they're light years ahead, and I don't mean throwing it around roundabouts at 90 like some dickhead - but the seating position, the feel of it, etc, no fwd family hatchback can compete with that, yes they can do some clever things with them now to make them very fast etc, but you can't get the same feeling as a rwd mid-engined little car.

Like I said at the start of my rose tinted opus, I had one for a very short time, it had been badly abused, crashed badly repaired and in the end I cut my losses and sold it "spares or repairs" nowadays I don't have the room for one and if I did it wouldn't have the room I need in it, but maybe when the kids are a bit older I buy one again, it's not like dropping £20k on some leaky old classic, it's cheap fun.

MK3's are good too, if even less practical.

I had an import Turbo version (GTS model) that had been fettled with and had over 300 BHP it was extremely fast and fun but had lowered go-kart suspension, rattled like there was no tomorrow and was lethal in the wet.

Always had a soft spot for a E30 325i convertible for some reason. And I really don't like convertibles as a rule, but I'd still like one of these now:

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Thanks saxonrider

I had a Mk2 MR2 Turbo for 3 years and loved it!

Reasonably quick, and as mentioned above the feeling of driving a nicely balanced mid-engined car is always a bit special compared to even the fastest of hot hatches.

Add in Japanese reliability, the ability to carry 2 bikes on the roof and pop up headlights and it really was a great little car.

Still miss it.

Mini Marcos

That's not a scale model, it's a sports car based on a fiberglass monocoque and mini subframes.

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In keeping with the Toyota theme.. I owned one of these, my second company car. Put 45k on it in the first year and had to go back to the MD and tell him why I'd stuck 20k of that as private mileage.. He then offered me his Supra but that was pig ugly so I opted for another Celica GT4.. In white again... It was damn quick BTW

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What's that white car you posted a pic of Molgrips? I like it and I have no idea what it is (which makes it even cooler).

I always thought the Peugeot 306 GTI-6 looked very pretty.

No stupid embellishments, ridiculous spoilers or over the top styling cues - it was just the right shape to start with.

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What's that white car you posted a pic of Molgrips?

I'm going to guess that he used a picture of a recent Audi A5 coupe.

A5 coupe and jag of some kind XF I think

Yep.

Although Google didn't throw up pics of A5s as nice as I'd been seeing in real life, so either it's car photographers being weird or they've changed it recently.

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Classic lines and gorgeous colour. Loving the discrete wheels and subdued sports car looks too.

I have a soft spot for a couple of Jap classics...
The Celica - Slightly modded, but maybe not as much as this.
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240z Rotson/RatRod/Roadkill look
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These two are on my short list along with Mk1 Escort Estate and a Volvo Amazon. My friends will hate me when I call in my favours. 😆

*narrows eyes* - Can't tell if sarcastic or not - regarding the yellow estate that is...

Yep.

Although Google didn't throw up pics of A5s as nice as I'd been seeing in real life, so either it's car photographers being weird or they've changed it recently.

D'oh! I really should've guessed it was an Audi this being STW 😉

I'm not a fan of A5's, and think the A7 is a proper dogs dinner..

A controversial choice maybe, but I like it.

.... a modern interpretation of a retro classic. Unmistkable for anything else unlike many nondescript euro / jap cars.

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Saw one of these last weekend - looked exceedingly pretty, although it also looked exceedingly wide. Also stupidly expensive (about £65k), but I guess than comes with being hand-made by Maserati and being built around a full carbon tub. [img] [/img]

perchypanther

One Man's meat is another man's poison - they come joint first in my "worst looking car" man list with the Rover 75 ha ha.

I saw this in the Lakes on Sunday. You can't really see what it is, but it was a Volvo and very nice...

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Classic Volvo, Tilberthwaite[/url]

tonyplym - Member

Saw one of these last weekend - looked exceedingly pretty, although it also looked exceedingly wide. Also stupidly expensive (about £65k), but I guess than comes with being hand-made by Maserati and being built around a full carbon tub.

They are amazing looking things aren't they!

I know what you mean about the price - I like their thinking - a bit like the GT86 - 21st century thinking - why have some shouting V8/12 6mpg thing in it with 1000bhp that you'll never, ever use all of - not even on a track - make it smaller (perhaps not narrow enough), make it light and efficient and fun to drive - all brilliant things but I think people look at it and think "it's only got a 1.7 from a hatch back and it costs £65k!!!!"

What they should be thinking is, Italian, mid-engined, carbon tub - and ONLY £65k - it's 25% the price of a Ferrari

205GTi - Pininfarina, nuff said.

One Man's meat is another man's poison - they come joint first in my "worst looking car" man list with the Rover 75 ha ha.

I think 90% of the problem was that it looked kinda like a Rover 75. In isolation I'm with perchypanther, it's a nice looking car. But it looked a bit like a posh 75.

Then there's the 75, which again, wasn't bad. But it was a Rover. Look at it, there's nothing inherently wrong with it.

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But it was a Rover 75, which is a bit like having the surname Hart and calling your kid any first name beginning with S. So however good it was, it was always cooler to say it was crap.

What they should be thinking is, Italian, mid-engined, carbon tub - and ONLY £65k - it's 25% the price of a Ferrari

But it is double the price of an Elise.

Lotus or Italian, Lotus or Italian...................Either way you're going to need AA membership :-p

Then there's the 75, which again, wasn't bad. But it was a Rover. Look at it, there's nothing inherently wrong with it.

Until they ruined the front lights, that is...

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My mate arrived in this the other day....I quite like it actually.

[url= https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1613/25325699822_81b7db4e37_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1613/25325699822_81b7db4e37_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/EzWQdW ]matescar2[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/58162507@N07/ ]SGMTB[/url], on Flickr

I have a soft spot for a couple of Jap classics

Not sure you're allowed classics or actual expensive sports cars in this thread.

Having said that, I saw one of these in Asda, does it count? The heir to the MR2:

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Nobeerinthefridge, I had a Mk1 Astra GTE. Silver, completely stock apart from fast rd cam, stainless exhaust and some airflow mods.
Even had the bag to put the sunroof panel in if you wanted to take it out.
Was a hoot, like driving a silver bread bin it was so tinny but it handled pretty well.
Mine was quite rotten though & the sills crumbled to nothing.
Sold it on to be a parts donor for a rally spec one.

I had a Rover 75 for a year or so after a knee injury meant i could ride my motorbike and needed an auto. It was the only car that has ever made me chuckle everytime I got into it!

I've had a soft spot for one of these, garnered by a mate buying one new back when they were G redg..

I know they've got lots of issues, and maybe the Mk1 looked better, but it's probably the combination of Navy Blue and leather interior..

X19

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Cougar, I preferred the MK1 AW11 version

And actually as a daily driver. The Celica is pretty pretty too

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They're ugly enough to come back around to being quite good looking

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OK I realise the C6 might not be everyone's idea of beautiful, but that concave rear window...!

That's a singer Rorschach you cheat!!!

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Yup - it's a Rover, but love the Coupe. I had a Nightfire Red 2.0 NASP which I converted to a turbo - rapid car.

All things Toyota ... me. 😆

OP, that MR2 is very nice and that engine is commonly used for modification in the far east. i.e. the GT version.

In the best STW tradition of posting what you owned I would nominate the 124 Sport

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slammed squareback... choose any.

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This and the G4 are two fav car shapes for me but so many cool cars above!

And yes, I too had one of these, Alfasud ti 1.5 boxer engine. Bloody loved it. A simple play thing bought off a family friend and driven around the lanes of Shropshire. It rotted away in a heap, sadly the engine struts gave way on a road out of Newport heading through Shifnal on my way home to Ironbridge. My GF at the time called her Mom from a Pub and left me to get the car home on my own, luckily Dad was home and he towed me the 12 miles back with me trying desperately to correct very random steering.

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I absolutely love Audi A5's, I think their proportions and lines are perfect. There's a black one that's usually parked down inside road near where I live, no identifying badges on it at all, just a pair of zorst pipes out the back, so I assume it's an S-Line, but it's very subtle.
I like that yellow Octy VRS estate as well, the latest VRS 230 is rather tasty.
My personal favourite non-supercar what I have owned, is the Puma. Still looks good, the styling hasn't aged at all, it was always a hoot to drive, the Yamaha developed 1.7 Zetec always sounded great when really given the beans, and on top of that it fitted me perfectly, the seats were really comfy, and everything was in just the right place.
Given the money to be able to afford to run one, I'd have another in an instant, an FRS would be even better.
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I'm always going to be biased but for me this is the best looking non-supercar out there:
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Agree with the old Celica and the RX-7 but I've always wanted a Karmann Ghia.

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Citroen Traction Avant
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Toyota Crown Majesta S150
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Going back to the OP that MR2 was always styled on the Ferrari 328GTS so not surprising it looks so good.

The biggest surprise was the third version of the MR2 which was such a disappointment.

One of my mates had a Toyota Crown chewkw, we used to call it the train. Because it felt like you were travelling in one.

Had to check the original post didn't feature my old car!

I had a Mk2 MR2 Turbo for a couple of years. A great car, loads of power and the later models had more predictable handling than the earlier ones. Still the only car I have managed to spin on the road 😳 You didn't see many of the turbo charged ones, so people didn't expect them to be as quick as they are.
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Eventually sold it to buy a Westfield, and also a Mk1 MR2 as a run around. Never really took to the Mk1, it was fun to drive but lacked the comfort and speed of the Mk2.
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*narrows eyes* - Can't tell if sarcastic or not - regarding the yellow estate that is...

Irony died on this forum a long time ago... 😐

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And I have a soft spot for this, cos it's mine...

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for the OP

Welshfarmer, that is stunning

Bit worried there might be some accidents...

(in your pants, not on the road)

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'69 Chevrolet Camaro SS

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'67 Pontiac Firebird

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'69 Dodge Charger R/T

My parents, sadly sold before I was allowed to drive it, Toyota Celica Mk4 - The GT4 version. Beautiful car both inside and out.

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Fact 1:

My brother's Alfa Giulia GTA Stradale

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