[Closed] what entertaining summer sunny sunday driver - 5-9K?

Could go a whole lot lower ... a fully sorted supercharged/turbo'd mk1 MX5 would set you back 3K and would be a hell of a lot of fun.

Boxter convertible.

mk1 TT V6 - 250hp, quattro, and a lovely roooooooooar

Between 5k-9k

Honda S2000

I vote Elise - i've had 2xS1s in my time and they are really good to live with

It's like a modern old car - not much to go wrong but everything you need to have fun.

Some cost considerations and stuff to check:

If you go for a 118bhp standard K series car they have weak head gaskets and are sensitive to coolant temp
I'd always go for an S1 over S2 as I prefer the looks and lower weight

head gasket failure will set you back about £500 to put right at an independent specialist (assuming you pick up on it early and don't warp the head....)
the bonnet cable release can fail and is a pig to replace £100 try it out when you test drive
tyres last quite a long time even with lead foot as the car is light - ditto brakes
bodywork damage can be quite expensive to repair and serious dings can mean replacing the front or rear fibre glass clamshell. Not something I had to do thankfully but will cost quite a lot to strip and paint etc

the front clam and sills get peppered by stone chips so you can use them as a bargaining tool

very early Elise had MMC brake disks and special pads which were very light but cost £££ to replace

When the S1 koni dampers fail you can buy cheaper better S2 series dampers (Bilstein) about £500 for all 4

118bhp is fun but the temptation to tune and upgrade is quite hard to resist
hope that helps some

Honda S2000

Or to be fair, the Elise is also very special. Went out as a passenger in one by my (racing driver) brother in law. He was driving roads he had never driven before, taking off camber bends (with a large drop into a quarry) at speeds *way* in excess of what I thought would be possible.

And he told me he was taking it quite easy 😯

(And I have been a passenger/driver in fast drives before at Silverstone, Harwood Hill Climb etc so had experience of what I could expect beforehand too).

TVR - Don't. when you come to get it out of the garage when the sun shines it won't work. Great noise and great fun when there are no problems. Which is never. I've had a couple but grown out of that now.

Get a Boxster. Fun, great dynamics and reliable. Reliability is so boring until you don't have it.

wondered about TVR, griffith was out but chimaera do-able.

S2000 seems more interesting than Boxster
TVR would take some balls to own given their rep for mechanical self destruction

My experience of Boxster ownership
Nice car, nice noise, great engineering, potential for big bills....(google RMS failure)
One day came back to carpark to find a nice big green blob of gob on the bonnet next to the badge - people don't like Porsche's

My experience of Elise ownership
People mostly react positively to the car, kids ask questions about it
great community of enthusiasts
if stuff goes wrong it doesn't cost the earth to fix
it feels a bit special and not like a dull, perfect, German sports car

Now i've got kids and drive a banger but OP you've made me dream a bit (;

MG Midget,I'm selling mine once the sun comes out, unless you want it for a bargain price now before I have to fork out for tax/insurance/MOT.

R reg (1975?), dark green.

Restored into a new chasis and body by it's previous owner. Engine was rebuilt at the same time (about 17k ago), gearbox shortly before that (judgeing by the histroy file of phots the impetus for restoration might have been the lack of any chassis to re attach the gearbox to!).

Mechanicaly everything works and servicing is uptodate and it's ready to drive/MOT. If I was being picky the springs need an overhaul/replacing. Not a huge job and they're relatively cheep. I did the ARB bushings and the tie rod ends not long ago and the rest of the bushes seem fine, it's just the springs have saged. Good excuse to lower it while they're off too.

£3500 as is, £4k in the summer with tax and MOT.

Gaurenteed smiles on faces without breaking the speed limit and losing your licence.

I saw an accident with an Elise once. One hit a Maestro (remember them?) and shattered.

No airbags, and a plastic chassis. Great if your a paid-up member of Exit

people don't like Porsche's

That's their problem. Haterz gonna hate etc.

Elise is a good call - but don't forget the Vauxhall VX220...

Either S2000 as has been suggested or...

...don't laugh

Vauxhall VX220 Turbo.

Should be around that money, Elise under pinnings so brilliant handling decent turbo engine so absolutely rapid

Hold the phone. You already have a Morgan? Keep that, find a new wife.

Chims and Griffs are not inherently unreliable but are getting long in the tooth now and you have to be wary of the chassis tubes rotting. they were manufactured by Arch IIRC ( the same guys who make/made the Cat7 chassis ) and there was a particular time period when the powder coat was flawed on them, so watch it. a re - bodied one rebuilt by a competent specialist would be worth considering but there is so much bull surrounding the reputations of garages in the sportscar world i would still be a bit leery.
FWIW i did over 45k in my chimaera. note service intervals are 6k. that's where the money goes. or at least that's where the painful money goes. TBH given the price of boxster 's' i'd probably go that way rather than consider a TVR again, if you really need the kind of 'shove' those types of cars provide.

S2000 worth investigating IMO.

if you don't care what other people think ( and WTF should you? ) you could do a hell of a lot worse than an mx-5. cheap. many, many to choose from at all price ranges, lots of specialist after-market suppliers. fun at ( mostly ) legal speeds. fit a front grill.

elise is a great choice unless you're very tall. I'd go S1 111s, but note they still run out of puff at 80-90.
the suspension geometry needs to be kept straight or you may as well not bother.
FWIW the chassis is not made of plastic 🙄
yes, if you hit something hard it'll shatter the body, but all GRP bodied cars will do that. front or rear clams ( could ) be had for ~750 quid but add paint and fitting. i don't think that too ruinous.
pretty good passenger cell though, i think.

however... they're nearly as impractical as a 7. in fact the 7 probably has a bigger 'boot' 😀

if you can stretch to a 7 and don't mind the safety aspects, or are prepared to get one with, or fit, the necessary metalwork to deal with a roll or rear wheel intrusion ( there's a reason some cat 7 owners walk with a limp ) then they have to be about the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

3.0L Z4??

Slk 350 is my thinking, mk 2 comes in around 8k at the mo

the boring/safe/fun option is a mk3 MX5, surely got to be some for that money kicking around

or get a newish MR2 if you can stand the jokes

No airbags, and a plastic chassis. Great if your a paid-up member of Exit

I could have sworn that the big lump of aluminium next to my right leg was part of the chassis on my old elise, but hey ho you learn something new every day.

cheers chaps, pretty interesting.

tvr out then. elise top of the list, s2000 honda interesting - not a car i knew about but have a soft spot for honda (my dad built honda race bikes in the 60's, lifelong honda fan, mum had an s800 when i was a kid) and not only looks interesting but great prices for them.

boxter, maybe its a porsche!

Can get an old Boxster for 5k? Not sure on ownership with that though, any experiences?

My brother in law had an S2000. I'm not a big Honda fan but have to say it was an awesome bit of kit with fantastic grip and handling.... I think at the time it was claimed to be the most powerful 2L normally aspirated car around.

From the sounds of it, it's not a consideration in this case but it's also fairly practical for a 2 seater with a reasonable sized boot.

I've owned the following:-

- tvr cerbera 4.2
- lotus elise s1
- honda s2000
- caterham7 - still got this one (owned it for 13 years now)

for a weekend only car you want something that feels an occaision to drive, so IMO that rules out the s2000 (although it would be the cheapest to own/run).

TVR's are probably a bit pricey to service, but depends how deep your pockets are.

I'd go for either caterham7, or lotus elise. Caterham is more extreme, and corresponding;y more rewarding, but also more of a pain when all you want is an easy drive.

If the wife is a consideration dont get a caterham, the wife wont go in mine .

properbikeco - Member
the boring/safe/fun option is a mk3 MX5, surely got to be some for that money kicking around
or get a newish MR2 if you can stand the jokes
POSTED 15 HOURS AGO #

I love my MR2 and it gets no jokes unlike the MX5 it replaced. Sounds like the OP is after something more exotic though. I'd have an Elise S1, I will one day...

Someone else mentioned a VX220. I think that might be a very decent shout. Pretty much a Lotus Elise with the option of a turbo if you really fancy something mental. Not too sure on practicality should you need to transport other than yourself and a passenger though.

MR2 Turbo T-bar might also be considered. Unbelievable amount of grunt for the money, probably the most bhp/£ you can currently get. Old hat now though, and low prices mean the chavs have got hold of them.

Biased, and probably an unpopular suggestion, but an FD RX7 could be had for well within your budget. Stick the rest away for fuel and maintenance. I was out in mine this last Sunday, and it's simply the most thrilling car I've ever had the pleasure of driving. Embarrasses cars costing many thousands of pounds more, handles like nothing else, boot is a decent size should you be in the mood for a long weekend away. It most definitely feels like an occasion every time it's out, too. A *VERY* special car.

Motorbike?

What about an early Jag XK8?

Having had a Caymen, I'd say get a Boxter - couldn't believe how well they handle if not especially quick. A nice S would do me quite nicely.

A TT is surely a bit dull no? OK as a daily but not really a sunny Sundays type car. Similar with an SLK, I was a bit underwhelmed when I had a go in one.

S2000 - lovely but if you're tall they're a bit uncomfortable. And a bit of a handful in the wet, not that it matters.

How about a 350Z? I think you'd get a roadster for that sort of money, certainly you could get a late model coupe.

Depends what you're going to use it for. If its just B road blast on a sunny day, then it probably should be a convertible. Are you planning track days?

Having had a Caymen, I'd say get a Boxter

My understanding* is that the Cayman is a much better drive than the Boxster?

*second-hand, never driven either

TTs are far from 'dull'. The V6 and 1.8T do drive differently as you'd expect. Very nimble cars.

On tight, twisty narrow B-roads they stick to the road like glue...... which if you're after a Sunday car, is what I'd be after...

S2000
VX220 (dirt cheap to maintain) - driven one and its so much fun.
Caterham or such?
Of course an MX5

TTs are far from 'dull'. The V6 and 1.8T do drive differently as you'd expect. Very nimble cars.

I think in comparison to a Vectra or A4 they probably are, but compared to a Morgan or similar they might come across as not that special. I've had a fair few Audi's including a TT (briefly) and I found it to understeer like a mother hubbard and just not be that exciting. Lovely place to sit and be in, especially on a drive home from work in the dark but for a sunday blaster (for me) I'd go for something a bit more left field. In my opinion of course

I've only had the briefest of drives in a Boxter and liked it. But it was like a softer version of a Cayman

I feel sorry for the OP having to get rid of the Morgan!

Some potentials

£6k - but maybe not in yellow

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£12k but you can find them cheaper. And it's an Aston (albeit a shit one)

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£9k and its only done 18k miles

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£6k - the one I'd go for

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Can you not keep the Morgan for just another year and hope for sunshine in 2013?

Otherwise classic Midget, MGB, SAAB, Triumph TR etc? no idea what they would go for now?

I would do everything possible to keep the Morgan 😉

Hold the phone. You already have a Morgan? Keep that, find a new wife.

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