Car for my wife. Ideas?

[Kazuya Mishima]

My wife is bored of her Micra, and wants to change to something fun, before we have kids (subtle hint for me?). She only drives at the weekend, when she drives over to her parents' house (56 miles there and back), so makes sense.

The maximum budget is £4000. Her criteria are it needs to be "pretty", fun to drive, fast, and it can't be an old car - or as she puts it a car that I would drive haha I suggested an Evo - but she said no

I have showed her a number of cars to see what she would like, and so far she has approved:

Honda S2000 (may be difficult to find one in budget)
Mazda MX5 Mk3
BMW Z4 (Again probably not in budget)
BMW E46 3 series coupe (She's not decided whether she likes this yet)

Any other suggestions?

[MEL]

bumper-car-art-car-paul-leduc-art-car-agency-photo-harrod-blank-main-bum6a.jpg

Or is it just my other half that likes to park in trees?!

[Kazuya Mishima]

What is that beast?!

[Chriscooke]

Lolz

Audi tt?

[Evilchap]

Boxster?

[thenextdk]

How fast is fast? Mx5s are great fun to drive but not what u might call fast? Also a fun car to drive is mk6 fiesta st- my mrs has one and is good to thrash on twisty roads but still nice to drive normally. Ours is on uprated springs which IMO is how they should have left the factory, much nicer ride and handles better!!

[Mark]

Clio 182

[Kazuya Mishima]

Lolz

Audi tt?

She likes the new shape, but sadly not in budget. I'm not a big fan of the previous shape, and heard that they're not a great drive?

Boxster?

Considered a Boxster, but £4k seems to be the very bottom end of the price scale. Plus servicing cost to consider. But mostly because she can't get a Porsche before I do......

How fast is fast? Mx5s are great fun to drive but not what u might call fast? Also a fun car to drive is mk6 fiesta st- my mrs has one and is good to thrash on twisty roads but still nice to drive normally. Ours is on uprated springs which IMO is how they should have left the factory, much nicer ride and handles better!!

I suppose anything is faster than a Micra , but fast in this instance is Mk4 Golf Gti 1.8T or better fast, if that makes sense? I think she would enjoy driving a MX5. I was going to suggest fiesta st, but as soon as the word fiesta left my mouth, she said no! haha

Clio 182

That's a good shout Mark. Are they as "French" as other "French" cars?

[Actual_Ben_Taylor]

Mercedes SLK, Alfa GTV Spider

[R3K1355]

Get her an MX-5.

Unless she's really into cars then just the sensation of being closer to the road will make it seem 'fast' for her, plus all girls love the attraction of a soft-top.

[Si]

My default suggestion would be a '5, but if any of her journey is a motorway or dual carriageway, they are pretty noisy, and the novelty wears off quite quickly!

[Delboy]

Clio 182 is a great shout and you'll get a good one well below your budget. As long as it's been looked after they're generally no more trouble than other cars. A friend of mine bought a very clean 2 owner, factory standard full renault history (including a brand new OE exhaust at an extortionate cost!) for £2k earlier in the year. Utter bargain.

If she's not fond of the clios what about an EP3 Civic Type-R?

[SXRORY]

My suggestion
toyota mr2 new shape roadster thingy. Smack bang in budget.

Pro's
Has the looks like a bit of a girly car that she would like.
when you get a go, revel in the elise like mwd chassis. Supposed to be very good handling cars.
Toyota reliabilty
not too old

Cons

No space to put stuff

[Kazuya Mishima]

Mercedes SLK, Alfa GTV Spider

She doesn't like the SLK, and the Alfa Spider isn't "pretty" enough

Get her an MX-5.

Unless she's really into cars then just the sensation of being closer to the road will make it seem 'fast' for her, plus all girls love the attraction of a soft-top.

My default suggestion would be a '5, but if any of her journey is a motorway or dual carriageway, they are pretty noisy, and the novelty wears off quite quickly!

The MX5 seems to be the front runner at the moment. Will have to let her test drive one, and see if she's ok with the road noise. That said, she used to drive my S14a up to her mum and dad's, and that about as refined as a hillbilly drunk on moonshine

Clio 182 is a great shout and you'll get a good one well below your budget. As long as it's been looked after they're generally no more trouble than other cars. A friend of mine bought a very clean 2 owner, factory standard full renault history (including a brand new OE exhaust at an extortionate cost!) for £2k earlier in the year. Utter bargain.

If she's not fond of the clios what about an EP3 Civic Type-R?

Tried so very hard to get her to consider the Clio, but it's not "pretty"

She used to have a civic, and doesn't want another (even though it was a 1.5.....) plus my brother made her promise not to get one, because he's on the hunt for one

My suggestion
toyota mr2 new shape roadster thingy. Smack bang in budget.

Pro's
Has the looks like a bit of a girly car that she would like.
when you get a go, revel in the elise like mwd chassis. Supposed to be very good handling cars.
Toyota reliabilty
not too old

Cons

No space to put stuff

Tbh I completely forgot about the MR2. It does tick the right boxes. I shall she what the boss says

[Jonny Wilkinson]

MG TF ?
Lotus Elan - the FWD Isuzu engined one (or is that too old and slow)
Brabus Smart car ? - There is one in Tiptree up for £3000. Don't know how good it is
Smart Roadster ?
Suzuki Cappucino ?

[Jonny Wilkinson]

In fairness, there isn't much hope for her if she doesn't think the Alfa and SLK are pretty.

Might be able to get an Alfa Brera I suppose at a push.

[arry]

Suzuki Swift Sport - funky looking, ace to drive round the lanes. Not that fast though - but quantify what you need from that as some of the others you list aren't? You'll get a 5-6 year old car with low ish mileage for your budget.

[Mike41288]

My mates bird got a mk1 Audi TT Quattro recently with a pretty good spec and in very good condition for about £3500 I think.

Early Honda S2Ks are known to sometimes be a bit of a handful. I think the later ones were a lot more refined, but probably out of budget

[Kazuya Mishima]

MG TF ?
Lotus Elan - the FWD Isuzu engined one (or is that too old and slow)
Brabus Smart car ? - There is one in Tiptree up for £3000. Don't know how good it is
Smart Roadster ?
Suzuki Cappucino ?

I'll show her the MG.

Could only find 2 Elan's in budget, and both looked as though they need a bit of work. All the other's were 7k+

After speaking with Paul last week about his roadster issues, I didn't really consider it to be honest.

Cappucino is a good shout.

In fairness, there isn't much hope for her if she doesn't think the Alfa and SLK are pretty.

Might be able to get an Alfa Brera I suppose at a push.

I guess what looks good to one person, may not look good to another.

She likes the new SLK and liked the GTV coupe, especially the Cup edition



Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Kazuya Mishima]

Suzuki Swift Sport - funky looking, ace to drive round the lanes. Not that fast though - but quantify what you need from that as some of the others you list aren't? You'll get a 5-6 year old car with low ish mileage for your budget.

I like the Swift

I guess Nippy is a more apt description than fast. She herself said anything is going to feel faster than her Micra

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk