Possible alternatives to the Clio?

[vivid white]

Hi All,

I need to maybe think about changing the Clio soon and I wanted some suggestions on what I could possibly go for?

Part of me just fancies a change (even though I havent had the Clio a year yet) and part just maybe wants something a bit cheaper but that isnt a deciding factor.

Any suggesting on what I could go for? I like having gadgets and goodies on the car, also prefer 2/3 door cars (as I feel they look sportier).

I have looked at the Peugeot 407 Coupe because these seem to have everything on them but dont know a lot about them.

I would be looking at a maximum of £7000 really.

All suggestions would be. Thanks. James

 

[slime]

...you can get an earlyish Honda S2000 for that sort of money these days....most have lots of toys and more often than not, a leather interior....

 

[roystinho]

£7k gets you into loads of things. What exactly do you want or need the for/to do? If I had £7k at the minute I'd get http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3356445.htm

 

[Foxspeed]

...suzuki swift gti :thumbup:

 

[clio200cup]

s2000 has got to be a good shout! E39 M5? 400 brake horse, 5.0 V8.

 

[GrumpyTwig]

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3200500.htm

 

[RalphyBMW]

It does depend what you want, I quite fancy a Z4 / S2000 / Boxster, though none have 4 seats, or the Clio's awesome brakes, they are very nice cars, with similar MPG. M cars are a bit juicy for me and are likely to be more expensive if something goes wrong.

Late E46 330's shouldn't be too far off that budget, or as GT posted, an Elise if you don't travel long distances.

 

[mark_1873]

There isnt much to move to, I sold my 197 a couple of months ago and havent bother replacing it as theres nothing out there that I fancy. You really need to go 'up' a class in car to replace the 197/200 imo and that means the price range goes up too.

The E39 M5 is an amazing car, we had one for three years when it was the current M5. Running costs are scary, over £1k for tyres, BMW services are expensive but a must if you want to keep what would now be the extended warranty ( you dont want to be having to fork out to fix one of these beasts if you've not got a warranty ! ) Cost of renewing the warranty itself is on a sliding scale going by age and mileage. Then theres the fuel done 40k odd in it and it cost a packet...but it was so much fun :lol:

Lottery win my first purchase would always be an M5.

With your budget i'd stick with the 197.

 

[alan]

Honda Integra DC5 maybe?

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3358795.htm

Miss my DC2 so much

 

[Fernandez]

Im with Grumpy Twig on this, it has to be an Elise or perhaps one of these:http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3203552.htm

 

[DarrenM]

E39 M5? 400 brake horse, 5.0 V8.

Ditto this as being a great car but you'd be stretching it on your budget and with todays petrol prices, dont make it as much fun anymore.

I modded the crap out of my old M5 (sold it years ago) but still consider it to have been the best all-rounder i've ever owned. A simply awesome car with an engine note to die for, especially if you run a Tubistyle like i did. Heres a pic of the old girl.



It all depends on what you want to car for anyway, scratching around, long distance etc etc..

As someone mentioned earlier, what about a E46 330ci, you can get a tidy example with all the toys and they're a lot less hassle (and running cost)than big brother M3. Ok, still not exactly cheap in petrol but you dont need to ramp it everywhere and it'll hold its value if you buy wisely. Food for thought fella..