Fastest car for under £2000 challenge...

[Midnightclub]

I'll believe it when I see a graph, blud

Who needs graphs when you have access to 18% of your brain capacity.

Unlucky dude, everyone else has 82% more than that

[silverzx]

I'll believe it when I see a graph, blud

Who needs graphs when you have access to 18% of your brain capacity.

Unlucky dude, everyone else has 82% more than that

Damn those stupid sci-fi films!

[THE_Liam]

Liam, only problem with that is that all the tuning is just burning money, if I buy something that's fast as standard then it'll hold its value.

Yeah but it's not a lot of money is it? and 500bhp+...

My mate had his up to 170mph on the autobahn and it was still pulling hard but he bottled out. As you would doing 170mph in a 25 year old Saab

[Kezzieboy]

Plus insurance for a modified, 500bhp car! Ran a couple quotes through, I can insure a stock saab HOT aero for a little over £400. Time to go test driving!!

[Piggy]

What about a Celica GT4? The ST205 one. Stock they do 150mph. Very tuneable.
Quite a few under £2000 out there too.

Seriously thinking about one for meself for a while

[paulgtt]

ST205's get expensive after around 320bhp.
and one for under £2k will need the same again spending on it very soon.

[Piggy]

300bhp for a little extra boost and exhaust system.

Ive seen loads for 1800-2000 with the fig8s and wishbones and diffs all sorted.
Just tatty panels

[paulgtt]

Its the lower no1 arms and clutches that cost the money on a 205.
300bhp is easy on one but they are heavy cars, my old one was stripped out with around 315bhp and was good fun to drive.

They are well worth alook but don't expect to be blown away by a standard ish one, you can really feel the weight of them.

[Piggy]

Yeah. If I had one or you were wanted a top speeder you would strip it and lose the huge WRC spoiler
They are 1440kg standard. But it has 4wd which is likely most of that!!

[paulgtt]

My old one, I also had a standard 205 aswell which felt very slow compared to this one!

[Kezzieboy]

This thread, and the subsequent couple weeks of browsing eBay, Autotrader and Pistonheads, along with running some insurance quotes (with even 300BHP+ stuff coming in a little over £400) has got me sold. I'm buying a silly car.

At the moment I'm really liking the look of a Saab (9-5 Aeros look bloody lovely, and very good value) or Volvo (T5 or T4 of some description), unless anyone has any bright ideas? I like the idea of a cheeky Q-Car, and turbo stuff has better tuning potential for when I get bored. Also the 'states look better, and are practical for when they need to be.

Anybody got a reason not to buy either of those options? Or anything that they think is better?

[Poodle]

See now, first you say silly car, then you say saab/volvo estate.... Sorry to piss on your fire, but you're doing it wrong.

[7057sam]

Fastest top end or acceleration?

BMW 735i definitely for top end.

[jammapic]

Saab 95 aero. Pick one of those up for sub 2k. 250hp out the box, and over 300hp for a few quid. Alternatively, dig a little deeper and buy a straight 6 supercharged jag XJR, or dig even deeper and buy a 4.0 v8 supercharger XJR. I've owned both and they are both excellent.

A v8 XJR with a reduction pulley and map will hang with anything on the road, no problem. Various footballers round here in exotic machinery used to get a surprise with ours

After that, smaller engine, go light... The list is endless. You can also pick up a Scooby turbo for that sort of money, not that fast, but might be your cup of tea...

[Kezzieboy]

See now, first you say silly car, then you say saab/volvo estate.... Sorry to piss on your fire, but you're doing it wrong.

Think what you want, but personally an unassuming estate that does 0-60 in less than 7 seconds, and goes on to over 150mph is pretty win! And definitely silly, as a dedicated hot hatch or sports car makes sense, a fast estate is daft.

Fastest top end or acceleration?  

BMW 735i definitely for top end.

Acceleration, I'm not stupid enough to speed anyway  not at license losing speeds, anyway. Doesn't have to be 0-60 though, 30-70 is far more useful!

Saab 95 aero. Pick one of those up for sub 2k. 250hp out the box, and over 300hp for a few quid. Alternatively, dig a little deeper and buy a straight 6 supercharged jag XJR, or dig even deeper and buy a 4.0 v8 supercharger XJR. I've owned both and they are both excellent.

A v8 XJR with a reduction pulley and map will hang with anything on the road, no problem. Various footballers round here in exotic machinery used to get a surprise with ours

After that, smaller engine, go light... The list is endless. You can also pick up a Scooby turbo for that sort of money, not that fast, but might be your cup of tea...

That Saab is looking like a really good shout, handsome cars, too.

I've had a look at the Jags, but the repair bills scare me a bit, as I can't imagine they're that cheap, stop me if I'm wrong though!

And scooby turbos for 2 grand look a bit ropey for the ones I've seen, and they're a bit too shouty for me, too. I sort of want to get away from the boy racer image, not make it worse  

[Niall]

Tbh i have to agree with Kez here. i had a 95 aero for a year. It doesn't handle like a 306 (course not, its 2 ton of car) but it bloody shifts, handles very well for what it is and is a lovely, comfortable drive. Plus you get so much for your money.

Kez i think you would be surprised at repair costs for an older jag. They ain't as bad as the scaremongers will have you believe!

[jammapic]

All the parts I ever bought for my jags were dirt cheap.

Brakes were like £100 for discs, £30 for pads.

[Kezzieboy]

It's more the potential for disaster, you know?

For example, service parts for my Dad's BMW are no more expensive than for any other car, nor are your normal perishable suspension bits. The difference is when his blew the turbo it cost over £1000 in parts and labour, and that's a BMW over 10 years old at a reasonably priced indy garage. I could swap my engine twice over for that!

Basically I don't want a 2 grand car that'll be a total loss if there's a non-service issue with it.

[Toms306]

Its labour that costs the money though, I bet the turbo was only half that amount - and probably new rather than used. Reckon you could do it yourself with used/recon for a third of that.

Don't compare the potential fails with a slow, old tech, diesel 306 though... If you want something faster/newer/premium branded you have to accept the risk that it will have more potential faults.

[Niall]

Tbh i don't really look at the potential of parts needing replacement (unless a particular brand has a really bad rep) as ALL mechanical parts WILL fail at some point. Like Tom says, chances are a lot was labour.
When buying new cars, you have to take it into account because second hand or refurbished parts may not be available but the sort of age cars you're looking at, you could repair pretty much anything providing you do it your self.

[Kezzieboy]

Its labour that costs the money though, I bet the turbo was only half that amount - and probably new rather than used.  Reckon you could do it yourself with used/recon for a third of that.

Don't compare the potential fails with a slow, old tech, diesel 306 though...  If you want something faster/newer/premium branded you have to accept the risk that it will have more potential faults.

It definitely wasn't a new turbo, and £500 for a turbo is still pretty bonkers, especially on a 10 year old car!  And yeah, but it's about risk management, isn't it. I probably shouldn't buy a car that'll bankrupt me if it fails, hence not spending £2000 on a very new, but lower spec car, because parts will be more expensive.

Tbh i don't really look at the potential of parts needing replacement (unless a particular brand has a really bad rep) as ALL mechanical parts WILL fail at some point. Like Tom says, chances are a lot was labour.
When buying new cars, you have to take it into account because second hand or refurbished parts may not be available but the sort of age cars you're looking at, you could repair pretty much anything providing you do it your self.

And yeah, but you'd hope a turbo, or something similarly substantial will either (a) last more than 10 years and 120k miles or (b) not cost the earth to get a replacement.

Labour around here is usually £30 per hour max, I'm pretty sure most was parts cost. And agree about replacement parts, as I said to Tom's point, that's why I wouldn't buy something less than 5 years old in my current circumstances, and why I was shocked at how expensive the repairs for my dad's car were.

And yup, I've got quite a lot of tools, and a few places I can work on it so it's keeping control of parts costs that is the issue really! For example, the saab uses pretty common turbos from other marques from what I've read.

[Toms306]

Why is £500 for a new turbo unacceptable just because of the age of the car? The same process goes into making it now that did 10 years ago...if anything it should be more expensive with inflation lol. I assume its a VNT turbo, with very tight tolerances and fine balancing to make massive pressure and power etc...its not an agricultural old 306 GT15!

I don't believe labour is £30 an hour unless you're stuck in the 90s. Cheapest round here is £50 an hour.

Turbo's don't last forever, usually due to human error (not letting oil warm up and circulate before thrashing, not letting turbo spin down, poor servicing, etc). It's just something you have to accept can fail at some point, and hopefully not under your ownership. Tbh, this is why I didn't buy a car that was 10 years old with 130k this time...chances of killing a turbo by 50k are much less, but I'm well aware it could happen at any point, just have to accept the uncertainty tbh.

[Kezzieboy]

Why is £500 for a new turbo unacceptable just because of the age of the car?  The same process goes into making it now that did 10 years ago...if anything it should be more expensive with inflation lol.  I assume its a VNT turbo, with very tight tolerances and fine balancing to make massive pressure and power etc...its not an agricultural old 306 GT15!

I don't believe labour is £30 an hour unless you're stuck in the 90s.  Cheapest round here is £50 an hour.

Turbo's don't last forever, usually due to human error (not letting oil warm up and circulate before thrashing, not letting turbo spin down, poor servicing, etc).  It's just something you have to accept can fail at some point, and hopefully not under your ownership.  Tbh, this is why I didn't buy a car that was 10 years old with 130k this time...chances of killing a turbo by 50k are much less, but I'm well aware it could happen at any point, just have to accept the uncertainty tbh.

It WASN'T new, silly Thomas, learn to read  and also the age means the technology involved is far less complex. It won't be a GTB, it'll be something pretty simple compared to what is made these days. It's probably VNT, but that's seriously old tech now!

And I'm in Cornwall, the 90's still haven't arrived! And yes, you're exactly right, they do fail, so I wan't to know that it's not going to bankrupt me. I understand this is a complex principle, but hopefully you'll be able to comprehend it eventually

[Toms306]

No, I understand you want a performance car that never breaks or costs nothing to fix...eventually you'll realise this isn't realistic.

If it wasn't brand new it must've been recon...so the same applies tbh, its mostly new lol.

[Niall]

Buy a cheap car and chances are running costs will ALWAYS go over the cost of the car. Thats just how it is (which i think Tom has finally learnt ).
With a used car, you can never know when or why it will go wrong. Take your dads BM for example. 120k should be nothing for a turbo but you don't know whats happened in the past with that car. Some dick may have been working on it and dropped something down the inlet which its ingested.
Its like 306s. Some get them and never have to do anything other than routine maintenance. Some get them and have them on the back of a RAC lorry every 5 minutes. Buying used no matter what age is a risk. Like, i feel so sorry for who ever buys my kia from auction this time next year and that will only be a 3 year old car lol

[Kezzieboy]

[Piggy]

Bla blabla....

Wheres the 'silly' turbo saloon or v8???

[allanallen]

A good mate of mine recently got rid of an xjr v8 supercharged, he'd had it 4 or 5 years and sold it for £1700. He made himself some new charger pullies and it was silly silly quick, had shagpile carpets and a old school car phone on a coiley lead too! Cool as!

It did however handle like a boat and it was bloody dangerous with the traction control turned off. It had an insatiable taste for bushes at the front end, genuine ones are silly money and aftermarket ones just don't last.
The rear diff exploded but these are plentiful from breakers, he also had a bit of trouble with the lambdas (there's 4+ from memory), think these were damn expensive too.

Awesome car if you can afford the juice! My brothers 405mi annihilated it through the twisties

[7057sam]

Ok so it's a little over 2k but so worth it and delimited,god knows how quick it would be 190 mph? ??


http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motor...1093358302

[Poodle]

Lol you really do live on a different planet Kez.

Now you're talking about a silly car that won't cost you money, er contradiction in terms much lol. That last post was a joke by the way, not particularly funny, granted, but not meant as a slight either. Hahaha? Probably my fault, just resent having to put lol on everything so people don't get offended.