Is it just me that’s deeply curious about the Escort? Is it a late Mk3 or an early Mk4? Pics?

Late Mk3: on eBay here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266167253771?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=Y9EMCMXWTr-&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=Y9EMCMXWTr-&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Forget about all the cars mentioned, if it fun your looking for, then look no further than a Abarth , I’ve recently got one, it’s the most mental fun I’ve ever had

MR2 is fun, I’d have another one if I could have an impractical car. Less cramped for the driver than an MX5 of the same age too.

@PZ_Steve, thanks for the insight – that’s really good stuff to know and definitely helps frame a decision.

Fiat Barchetta would be very cool, but haven’t seen any within 50miles of me and I’m not sure they’d be worth travelling for over a more local MX5 or Boxster. If one came up locally though I’d definitely take a look.

Mx5 I don’t know much about them other than the major rust issues but do they all have a lsd?
Z4 e85 has to be one of the best looking so I have 3 all with Mot.
A 2.0,2.2 and a 3.0, definitely go for a 6cyl preferably a 3.0i or si, other than the 3.0si they can be bought so cheap just now , not good for me currently wanting rid of the 2.0

@redmex, what Z4 engine sizes have the flat 6 in? Are all the 2 litres units 4 pots?

A £5k Boxster is going to be a nail I’m afraid (with some biggish bills to come – yes, coolant pipes I’m looking at you).

I’ve been watching the prices for a long time and they’ve doubled over the last 12 months.

2.0 is a 4 pot, the 2.2 and 3.0 are an inline 6. You don’t want the 2.2, you get the same fuel economy but worse power. The 3.0Si is a nicer, but heavier car than the 3.0SE, but then it also has a bit more power and is a bit more comfortable. depends what you want.

The 3.0Si Coupe/Convertible is, in my opinion the sweet spot in the range.

I picked up my 2.2 for less than 2k, I just wanted to get the heated seats, the headlights and the unmarked new wheels and premium tyres but it’s too good to break up
Ok it doesn’t have the torque or induction growl of the 3.0i not the 6speed but for the money it’s a great car Maldives blue. I’d much rather drive it than any unreliable ’70’s Triumph Stag or fume filled cabin Mgb roadster with no heated seats if you want the roof down
The 2.0 is good if you’re not too interested in engines and just enjoy the wind blowing in you’re hair if you have any

My default answer for all car threads – Mini R53. Utterly fabulous things and £5k will get a really good one. Reliable, brilliant to tinker with and make faster/handle better, the way they drive etc is addictive. Had 2 and will definitely get another at some point. Every drive was an event (which is why I’d also go Boxster over an MX5).

I have a 3.2 986 and can confirm it’s an absolute money pit! It’s a great car to drive, feels like you are always going so much faster than you actually are which is fun, and sounds great, but I’d be very very wary of one costing 5k

My clutch went at 60k. By the time they took the rear end off to replace it the bill was 3 grand. That said they did the IMS at same time as a precaution, 600 quid for one bearing!!

You could run one cheaper if you took your chances and only fixed stuff when it broke, but if you want to keep it running sweetly it’ll be expensive. 700 quid for 4 new tyres for example

Things will go wrong at that age, steering rack needed replaced last year, now need to do the front bonnet catch, and only yesterday I had to rip out the alarm as it was playing up. Not so long ago the exhaust went, luckily managed to get one second hand from the breakers otherwise you are talking 1500 quid. Design 911 do cheap aftermarket parts for most things however, original Porsche parts are daylight robbery

That all said, it’s a far nicer car than an mx5 if you can afford it

My clutch went at 60k. By the time they took the rear end off to replace it the bill was 3 grand.

….. which is why I’m thinking maybe an auto is a good choice!!

(yeah, I know they go wrong also)

I used to have a Cayman 987, they are great, but I wouldn’t go near one for £5k, it’ll cost you a fortune in the long run. Mine was £12k on 100k miles and needed the suspension all replacing, and some other bits- not cheap on a Porsche.

After having a 370bhp Lotus, I’ve realised it’s not all about power and have got a Renault Clio 200 cup, which is a right giggle. Reasonable weight, little car, enough power, revvy engine, short-ratio gearbox, amazing steering, fits the bikes in the back, and you feel like you can actually push it on public roads. You can pick them up easily for £5k. Similar cars e.g. fiesta ST’s, supercharged mini, civic type-R etc worth a look.

Personal preference for me is lighter = better, n/a, manual, and a revvy engine, so when I have space for another car, I’ll be getting an Mx5 or BMW Z4 for around £5k. You cant beat front engine rwd, but they’re normally far less practical than the hot hatches.

As far as driving entertainment goes, I prefer the Clio to the Porsche. You just end up going too fast in something with as much power as a Cayman/boxster to enjoy it for long. And at £5k it’s not like you’ll get the Porsche poser image either!

Also +1 for what PZSteve said!

Honda S2000??

S2000 over budget unfortunately, and new Mini’s just don’t excite me.

A bit as feared with a Boxster – just because they exist at £5k doesn’t mean you should buy one at £5k.

Considering TT, Z3 and Z4 based on the above comments. Although as good a car as a Z4 might be, again visually it doesn’t excite me. Although a Z3 does a bit more (but rust would be a factor).

My friends cheap boxster ended up as a money pit when it needed clutch doing. Wouldnt put me off them.

But i think it really depends on how or when you use it. Not sure I’d want to daily any as they’re all getting on a bit.

I quite like Z4’s and theyre relatively simple… I like my BMW’s though.

Massive mx5 fan here. My wife is on her 4th.
Mk1 very much had the ‘classic’ feel, the early 1.6 before it was hobbled is an absolute peach. Love it. The 1.8 is definitely less frantic.
Mk3 2.0 is a great car but definitely not as ‘pure’ to drive. A lot more refined though.
Mk2 kind of the middle ground. 1s and 2s are absolute rot boxes, so be careful! Hood drains block up and fill the sills with water, often not caught soon enough. If you see one with ‘a bit’ of tinworm on the sills, then walk, unless you are a proficient welder!
Mechanicals are very strong though. The reason engines are so cheap is because they rarely die so they’re are loads of them!

Favourite of my wife’s collection was the mk1 Eunos R Ltd. Shorter final drive, uprated diff, which we then caged and tweaked a bit. It was just so much fun. At the time I had a 200sx I spent a lot of money trying to make as satisfying to drive. In the end I just gave up an bought a ‘big mx5 with a rotary’ but they’re significantly out of your budget now.

Rx8 is a lovely chassis, and the engines are wonderful when they work, but I don’t think they’re quite what you’re after tbh. More of a quirky daily.

My neighbour was raining a relative’s early Boxster for a while, and he seemed to be forever trying to sort bits on it.

A lot of price related scaremongering on here, my 3.2 was £4k at the start of winter and when fuel was more expensive.
Full history, facelift rear lights, factory Litronic headlights, sports exhaust, GT3 wheels and a few other nice bits.
Expenditure has been on servicing (9 litres of oil!) as well as a Bluetooth head unit and new speakers. Service parts are cheap although Porsche dealer parts are crazy money.
They can be expensive to run but that’s not completely why the cars are so cheap to buy. They made loads of them, they are at the bottom of their depreciation curve and they are forever seen as not as good as the 911.

Don’t be afraid of them 🙂

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QtnYv34h1JtEKdJYA

Cheers Murf – great to hear it’s not all horror stories.

I feel like a Boxster at £5k is a gamble, whereas an MX5 at £5k is a far safer bet. I’m not too worried about usual running costs, it’s more that a big repair bill out of the blue could be a real nightmare!

A lot of price related scaremongering on here, my 3.2 was £4k at the start of winter and when fuel was more expensive.

So you’ve had it for all of 3 months?

the other thing I’d add.. whilst jap sports cars do tend to rust, getting it sorted out even annually (which might be the case on a late-80s mx5) isn’t super-expensive. I got the sills patched (bit of a rough job) on the one I had for <£200 – for a grand you’d have a proper job done which would last years. Yes, its something to look out for, but it would probably cost less to rectify than anything that needs new parts on a boxster 🙂

MX5

I spent probably 2 decades dismissing them based on the notion they were a hairdressers car and didn’t have a “proper” engine (by that I mean “more than 4 cylinders” or “turbocharged” or both)…

How wrong I was!

I’ve owned all sorts, driven plenty of exotica… Bought a 2009 MX5 2L sport with a few mods (mine was a little out of your range at £7200, but £5k will get you a tidy stock car no dramas) back in October and haven’t looked back! It is SOOOOO MUCH FUN!

Took it on track at Donington a couple of weeks ago, had an absolute riot in it!

All I can say is I genuinely wish I’d got on the MX5 bandwagon much earlier… I had a BMW M2 before this, it was a lovely car, went fast, made all the right noises, even had a pretty decent chassis compared to the M-Lite cars (M135i etc.)… But you couldn’t really exploit its abilities on the road, and on a track they tie themselves in knots pretty quickly unless you spend huge money sorting them out… MX5 is just way more fun to properly exploit, and at a fraction of the price too!

Do it, you won’t regret it… Mine has been to BBR for their Super 180 conversion (a 4 into 1 manifold and a remap, gives 25bhp, mine now dyno’s at 183bhp), has had coilovers and stiffer ARB’s fitted too so corners a lot flatter. Next thing is a brake upgrade as I was cooking them after 5 or 6 laps of Donington GP circuit…

On the road though… MX5 is perfect stock. Forget the PHRT folding hood models, the stock fabric hood is perfect simplicity, up and down on your own in seconds… And it’s lighter… The boot is big enough for a week away unless your OH demands you take the kitchen sink too, fuel economy is mid to high 30’s unless you’re thrashing it, get a sport model and it comes with an LSD and heated seats (both VERY important IMO!) stock too… The heater’s good too… Oh, and as Mazda developed the engine for Ford too (Ford owners know the MZR as a Duratec), spare parts are dirt cheap and as long as you check the oil level regularly, they will go on for big miles too…

And the gearshift… The shift on the 6spd in my car (stock fluids have been changed for Millers, which makes a big difference to feel and performance) is probably the best shift feel this side of a Honda S2000 too… In fact, my car is now only 55bhp shy of an S2000, but also 200kg lighter, so it’s not far off performance wise but is much easier to live with and much cheaper to buy and run!

Only real worry about NC (mk3) MX5’s is rust… Same as with any generation of MX5. But buy a good one that has already been treated properly, or find a clean one and get it treated and undersealed yourself, and you’ll be laughing literally every time you drive it! 😁

Mk3 2.0 is a great car but definitely not as ‘pure’ to drive. A lot more refined though.

I get why the MX5 cognoscenti say this, but coming from any other (heavier) car, an NC feels quite a pure sports car by comparison… They are also MUCH easier to live with as you say…

A couple of quick mods to suspension make the NC much more of a capable sports car too. And whilst they do suffer from tin worm if not looked after, it’s much better on the NC than NA’s and NB’s, and the 2L MZR engine is a much better place to be starting from tuning wise than the engines in the earlier cars too…

It’s odd that the NC is so hated amongst the MX5 purists, and that was a big consideration in the design of the ND returning to a smaller and less practical form factor… I want something I can get into and drive with some level of practicality. If I wanted something lightweight I could barely fit into, I’d buy a Caterham or some other similar type of kit car! 😂

“So you’ve had it for all of 3 months?”

Yep, and prior to that I had a blue 3.2S that I bought for £3.5k. it had been sitting in a garden uncovered for 5 years and I brought it back to being roadworthy, getting a fair idea of what their weak points are.

A bit as feared with a Boxster – just because they exist at £5k doesn’t mean you should buy one at £5k.

Not always. I turned down a 1999 Boxster 2.7 last week for £6k. 1 owner, 42k, dark blue with hardtop, garaged its life, F-in_L’s neighbour. I was tempted (REALLY tempted) but a 2-seat car wouldn’t work for me – I’m rarely driving anywhere without at least two passengers. Something like that’s never going to be worth less than £6k in future.

Downside to that is I’m now looking around at for whatever the 4-seat equivalent of a £6k Boxster is, and drawing a blank. There’s some really interesting bargains/moneypits available for that sort of price though.

Any chance of FWDing me the details and/or a contact @a11y?

I get why the MX5 cognoscenti say this, but coming from any other (heavier) car, an NC feels quite a pure sports car by comparison… They are also MUCH easier to live with as you say…

Exactly. Maybe I didn’t put that quite right. On it’s own merits the NC is a great car, it’s just that some of it’s older siblings drive that fraction better. Like you say, coilovers on my wife’s made a world of difference.

For us, She desperately missed her old 5s, and a change in job meant that they would fit perfectly. Off the back of two rather posh new C Class cabriolets through work, her standards were a little higher than previously, so the mk3 was the perfect compromise. (This is not to say she only like comfort, she had a DC2 as a daily for over 3 years!)

Any chance of FWDing me the details and/or a contact @a11y?

@abingham, messaged you.

Not always. I turned down a 1999 Boxster 2.7 last week for £6k. 1 owner, 42k, dark blue with hardtop, garaged its life

When I bought mine it was significantly newer, had similar miles and a fsh. It had to have 4.5k’s worth of work on it in first 12 months (it had a warranty that covered 1.5k of that). Ime around 45k in is when quite a few issues materialize.

Im not saying don’t buy one, I still have mine and love it. But go in eyes open, recognizing at some point in next 24 months you’ll probably be facing a substantial repair bill of one type or another. If that doesn’t bother you then bash on as they really do put a smile on your face

Also..you definitely want it to have a soft top!!

@tpbiker, oh absolutely agree with you on all that. The entry price can be attractive but once you’re in the ongoing costs can be a riot. Off the back of another ‘what car’ thread on here I’ve rediscovered Autotrader and I’m amazed at what £5-6k buys. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with this for <£5k? 😁

I recently gambled by using a 14 year old Aussie import muscle car as my daily driver for 4 years, so personally I’m OK with a wee bit of risk! First 15 months were cost-free but the 9 months after the less said the better.

I’d like another soft top – previously owned a Z4 – but IMO 4-seaters rarely work as soft tops, as Jeremy Clarkson once said.

Will you DIY repairs or paying a garage? That makes quite a difference in running costs.

A mk3 MX5 is probably the safest bet, but inspect it carefully, or get it inspected, plenty rotten ones out there (that look clean, until you realise you can put your hand through the sill). They are just good fun, not as interesting an engine/noise compared to a six (if that matters), but a simple, fun car you can just use. Could also buy a cheap one and budget to get the sills done.

MK3 MR2 can be made a lot more interesting if you remove the 1ZZ and fit a 2ZZ from a celica or corolla, gives you factory reliability and the performance it should have had (same engine as a Mk2 Elise).

Do you care about an LSD? You can get MX5s with LSD, Z4s dont (except Ms). EP3s and FN2s dont except 2011+ or special editions. Could also price it in to fit one if its a deal breaker.

Another thing to consider is road tax, 2006+ can be expensive, RX8s are £630 last time I checked (if thats an issue for you). I was looking at a few cheap/fun cars recently, but a £2k car, that is £2500 in road tax over 4 years is kind of annoying.

OK:

Repairs will be done at a garage – I’m keen but incompetent in the mechanics department.

LSD would be cool but being realistic I’ll very rarely push the limits of even a small sports car

Well aware of the rust issues, heart says Eunos but would be reliant on finding a good one. Mk3 would be the most sensible choice in terms of MX5 I think but it will depend on what cars are on the market at the time of buying (in the next month or so).

I’m really liking the idea of a MK3 MR2, they seem to be less prone to rot and the slightly left fuel choice which appeals to me. Also mid/rear engine is a very cool selling point.

What about a Mercedes slk?

That 5k merc on autotrader reminds me of a 2005 plate cl AMG I had a peak at when I bought my last (far more sensible) car. It was 5k, so less than a grand per 100 hp! As you say, what could possibly go wrong at that price 😂

Well, there’s LOADS of SLK’s about at well under £5k but most (all?) have a folding hardtop and I’d prefer soft top. And, they just don’t really do it for me like some of the alternatives discussed. In fact, Mercedes cars generally don’t really speak to me.

Is there anything Tracy’s daughter can’t do?

Two daughters.

Eldest likes her old cars. She has just won a competition for a 1939 Morris 8 Series E Tourer for a year.

Youngest dissappears tomorrow for up to 18 months riding her bike. Most of the first 12 in New Zealand and then into Canada on her way back.

@Tracey apologies for spelling your name wrong. 🤦‍♂️

I think either of your daughters is ahead of me in most things