Project/Track/Fun car.... £2500 max budget, what do I buy?

[Zona]

Hey guys,

Going to be looking at getting a second car in spring2018 and will have a budget of £2500 to play with.

These are the cars I'm thinking of:

• EP3 Honda Civic Type R
• R53 Mini Cooper S
• Mk6 Ford Fiesta ST
• Mazda MX5/Eunos Roadster MK1
• VAG 1.8t (Audi A3/TT, Golf MK4, Seat Leon Cupra R etc)

I want something that has a huge aftermarket available and is relatively easy to work on. I'll be using this car for road trips, track days and shows. What would you lot suggest?

Cheers,

Z.

 

[Tornado]

An R53 Cooper S or 1.8t VAG product for £2500 sounds a lot like you having to spend £2500 again in six months.

 

[Zona]

An R53 Cooper S or 1.8t VAG product for £2500 sounds a lot like you having to spend £2500 again in six months.

Hahaha Yeah.... My mate picked up an R53 S for £2500 last year and the only issue he had was when he slammed it on coilovers and hit a hole in the road causing his shock absorber to snap in half..

 

[Tyger]

MX5/Eunos all day. You could pick up a reasonable second-gen one for £2.5k. Other options are an MGF (or TF at a push but might be a little tatty) or a 3rd-gen MR2, but again, not sure how nice a one you would get for that price.

 

[Danoff]

E36

 

[SVX]

Save more money and get a tidy MX-5. I can't remember word-for-word but I recall @homeforsummer stating that at around 2500 pounds, they're a bit of a shed. I could be wrong, but with the way rust and the NA chassis go over there - tidiest is best IMO.

 

[homeforsummer]

£2500 is probably enough for a tidy-ish MX-5, but I'd not drop too much lower than that. Even at that price, there'll be plenty of maintenance to do in the first year of ownership, so even if it's not rusty it'd probably need some kind of attention to its running gear.

Had a look on eBay recently to see what models similar to mine were going for. The ones over £3k generally looked okay - albeit with a few modifications here and there - but the one at nearer £2k needed a set of tyres, a panel respray and some other bits and bobs. While mine's one of the special editions and probably priced a little higher than standard cars, I'd expect similar attention to cheaper examples of any MX-5 - tyres, brakes, suspension, rust repairs, a thorough service, etc etc.

 

[TenEightyOne]

MX5/Eunos all day. You could pick up a reasonable second-gen one for £2.5k. Other options are an MGF (or TF at a push but might be a little tatty) or a 3rd-gen MR2, but again, not sure how nice a one you would get for that price.

My dad just got rid of his mint TF (fsh, 30k miles) for £1800, could barely give it away. That was with all the usual TF stuff done too (head gasket, electrics, rear window), had a smart hard top too.

If that's the sort of thing you're after I reckon you'd pick one up cheaply enough. Go for the MX-5 though