Recommend me: A new daily - £1000 budget!

[Zeldoz]

So, im sick and tired of the 206cc i somehow interhited from the mother. I bought it cheap and sold it for more. Happy days.

So, im on the hunt for a new car, budget £1000.

Im undecided between RWD or just FWD. Mainly, so in the winter i could potentially take it to drift days ant not hurt the 200!

So far iv looked at:

Audi A4 - 1.8t
VW Golf - 1.8t
Audo A4 2.5 T-diesel.
BMW e46 & e36.
Some beastly sized jags.

Im just so torn between what i should buy! - I just dont want something boring! It needs to be relivately reliable as its my work horse to and from work.

Im not fussed on diesel/petrol. - I do minimal mileage less than 10 miles a day on most weekdays!

Throw some suggestions at me!

[Clint]

You'd get a nice Saab for that budget. 2.2 petrol turbo. Serious machine

Or a slightly ratty MX-5 for cheap sideways fun

[Si]

For a grand you can't be too fussy. Decide what's most important. You say you want something fun and then your first three suggestions are super dull boxes! Then you say you want something reliable a suggest a grand's worth of jag

Just buy an MX5 with a solid shell and fall in love with it.

Or a Clio 172 and prepare to put a bit of work in every once in a while.

[Clint]

Ooh, 172 is a great shout

[Zeldoz]

For a grand you can't be too fussy. Decide what's most important. You say you want something fun and then your first three suggestions are super dull boxes! Then you say you want something reliable a suggest a grand's worth of jag

Just buy an MX5 with a solid shell and fall in love with it.

Or a Clio 172 and prepare to put a bit of work in every once in a while.

Clio isn't a bad idea... hmmmm. - EDIT: Having looked they are over £1k...

The jag was more of a laugh. The electrical faults are endless!!!!

MX5.. unsure. The 200 is at a MX5 restorers and the rust on the MX5's isnt far off how bad 200's get!

I found an awesome subaru! - http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...96-2-0/3759359

In all fairness, i'd like something with abit of poke, and im not embarrassed to drive around in!

[Yakko]

Jeep Cherokee.

If you've already got a 200, why get something remotely similar?

[Zeldoz]

Jeep Cherokee.

If you've already got a 200, why get something remotely similar?

Fun in the winter. - The nissan is weekends/summer use only.

I am really pushing towards an E36 E28i. - But, they obviously are being snapped up almost instantly for drift use! This one is lovely, but im not sure! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-328-E3...item2a4e357768

[AdamRPS13]

I'd be getting a saab 9-5 saloon, not biased because i have one or anything, but its awesome

[Zeldoz]

I'd be getting a saab 9-5 saloon, not biased because i have one or anything, but its awesome

I'll have a ganders.

[Dr Bob]

I'm now on my second Puma.

Jag-wise, a 4.0 V8 S-type would scrape into that budget and actually might not be too much of a money pit if you bought right, they were well built generally

[Dan@DB-Power]

Might be selling my 9-5 Aero estate soon, 250bhp on tap and generally reliable. Just smokes on start up

[AdamRPS13]

Might be selling my 9-5 Aero estate soon, 250bhp on tap and generally reliable. Just smokes on start up

Mine does too, the gm engines suffer from valve stem seal faliure unless yours is turbo seal, mines been smoking for a year now and still going strong with a oil top up every now and again lol. 156k miles too. Best £275 I ever spent.

[Jonnay]

I have a 323 e36 coupe that I threw some coilovers on, welded the diff (was a 1.8 so small shafts kept snapping trying to spin one wheel), full m-tec kit etc. etc., owes me about £600 all done, it's ok, drives quite quietly and nicely compared to my s14.

I've also just bought a 528 sport (e39) 2.8 manual with an m50 inlet manifold, full leather, nice wheels, stereo, bilstein suspension, that'll be taking over from the e36 and it is awesome to drive around, would fully recommend one.

These 6 cylinders return reasonable mpg too for what they are, in my opinion.

[Zornyan]

Personally I'd be wary of sub 1k 328s. They'll most likely need a fair bit of work. Sports are fetching 3k easily now if in good nick.

Mine cost me 1400 I think, for a fairly rust free (little bit of scabbing on the arch) and was auto needed a manual swap. It's in excellent condition, but still needed/doing new front arms and bushes, trailing arm bushes, ccv valves need replacing, oem suspension is mostly screwed by now etc..

It's. A nice car, good cruiser, but fairly bland until I recently did all the suspension and m50/remap. Much much better now though.

[frisbee]

Less than 10 miles a day, pushbike.

[Zeldoz]

Less than 10 miles a day, pushbike.

Hell no. I get enough exercise running cabling daily.

[Zeldoz]

I have a 323 e36 coupe that I threw some coilovers on, welded the diff (was a 1.8 so small shafts kept snapping trying to spin one wheel), full m-tec kit etc. etc., owes me about £600 all done, it's ok, drives quite quietly and nicely compared to my s14.

I've also just bought a 528 sport (e39) 2.8 manual with an m50 inlet manifold, full leather, nice wheels, stereo, bilstein suspension, that'll be taking over from the e36 and it is awesome to drive around, would fully recommend one.

These 6 cylinders return reasonable mpg too for what they are, in my opinion.

Wanna sell the E36? - Inbox me if so!

[Jonnay]

Wanna sell the E36? - Inbox me if so!

Sadly I need it for a few more months, I've messed around changing my second insurance policy from car to car quite a bit this year, and I'm going to miss out on a years ncb if I get shot of it now

Would recommend one though, I bought the 323 motor and box from work for £150 and threw it in in a day, to buy a 6 cylinder car is twice as much with their newly found "drift tax"

[Zeldoz]

So just an update to what I bought...

Audi S3 Quatro.







Will post a spec tomorrow!

[Chriscooke]

How was that within you 1k budget??