WhyOne?
21-07-2006, 12:21 PM
Time to say hello properly!
It is now a good few weeks since I sold my S2000 and I now finally have the keys of the replacement in my sweaty paws. I actually started looking for a replacement car back in November last year so it has been a long old haul. I recognise many of the names here from S2ki (where I post under the imaginative name of 'ianl'!) Without turning this into an Oscar acceptance speach, I would like to thank both Richard for selling the car to me (and being a gent throughout a slightly fraught purchase process) and Simon for pointing me at it in the first place and offering words of advice / councelling along the way!
So here is the story........hope you have got a little time and plenty of patience!!!!
I am married and have 2 kids, however my wife is sufficiently understanding to allow me to run a 2-seat sports car, but draws the line (not totally unreasonably) at me owing a ‘beater’ in addition to ‘my’ car. My car needs are therefore somewhat conflicting /compromised. The car has to both be a commuting workhorse - 50 mile round trip each day, the 1st 20 miles on entertaining ‘B’ and ‘A’ roads, the last 5 miles often a stop-start urban crawl - it also has to be an interesting car for me to own. Budget for this little adventure, ~£30k.
As I mentioned the search began several months ago, and over this period I have looked at a good few cars – few, if any, will be of a surprise here – they really are the ‘usual suspects’ for an S2000 owner undertaking the invidious task of finding an interesting and worthy replacement for the S without spending heaps of money!
I have looked at the TVR Tamora and T350. Both are fantastic value at the moment, largely I suspect due to the uncertainties regarding TVR’s future (though recent news from Blackpool seems more hopeful). Whilst I love TVR’s – the looks (interior and exterior) and sound are fantastic. As of course is the performance. I am a firm believer that the world would be a significantly poorer place without them and was actually on the verge of buying a Tamora back in December but was beaten to the car by another punter. Ultimately, I decided that being damned with an ‘eye for detail’ as I am, TVR’s are not really for me - I like everything to work all of the time. I am assured by TVR owners that this is an unlikely occurrence with most TVR’s – little niggles are a fact of TVR life.
Pros – Performance, looks, value for money (though further depreciation is a concern)
Cons: Potential for both big and niggly problems, build quality not 100%, running costs.
So onwards to the dark side. I had a good look at both 911’s and M3’s (including the CS and CSL).
I surprised (worried?!) myself by being quite smitten with several of the Teutonic options possible within my budget. I seem to be in a minority in liking the look of the gloopy eyed, water cooled 996. With the recent release of the 997, there are some great 996 bargains currently available. My preference was for the 2WD coupe (in Seal Grey), I found it much more fun to drive at sane speeds than the 4WD variant. However I ultimately decided that I was not quite ready for Porsche ownership yet – too common and too sensible.
Pros – Build quality, engineering excellence, performance, depreciation likely to be low? Very comfortable and reasonably practical if rear seats used as storage space rather than instruments of torture.
Cons – Too sensible, too many of them on the road, image.
Similarly story with the M3 and variants really. These were the most sensible cars I considered – 4 seats and very comfy. Whilst lovely things to drive (though the CSL was somewhat less lovely – the one I test drove on a 30deg.+ afternoon didn’t have a/c and really was very uncomfortable. I certainly can’t honestly claim to have noticed the performance advantage gained by loosing 10kg’s worth of a/c system! I also found the CSL suspension less than ideal on bumpy ‘b’ roads – all very skittery! It did make a lovely noise though. M3’s, whilst they have definite road presence, for me they were just too sensible and uninvolving – more ‘grand tourer’ than sports car.
Pros – very quick, very comfortable.
Cons – not involving, the image thing, depreciation on M cars is high, and likely to remain so on a discontinued & common model, cost of extended warranty, looks – it undoubtably has road presence (esp. in darker colours) but not a good looking car IMHO.
Nissan 350Z…….just because I thought I ought to have a look. It never got off 1st base due to the most incredibly bad dealership experience I have ever had (and I have owned Ford’s in the past!!!!!) Ancaster Nissan, Croydon should be ashamed of themselves.
I wandered into the showroom one afternoon and prodded and poked around the 350Z they had on display. It was locked so I went to the sales desk where 3 salesmen were chatting. After lurking in an ‘I would like to spend £30k on a car please’ sort of way for a minute or two, I finally had to interrupt their conversation (about horse racing) with an ‘excuse me’. I was glared at! Eventually – once the conversation was finished, one of them said ‘yes…..can I help you’. I asked if he would open up the 350Z so I could check out the driving position. He huffed, and puffed and eventually found a key and opened the car……and the battery was flat! I asked a few questions re. the facelift and it was quite apparent I knew significantly more about the car than he did (him: ‘facelift was just cosmetic……no change in the mechanical components’ me: ‘what, no increase in power?’ him: ‘no!’) I asked if it was possible to arrange a test drive later in the week and he said ‘probably not’. I asked about delivery, he said, ‘ don’t really know…..12 weeks at least’
Con: Dealership couldn’t give a toss about selling me one. Heavens knows how I would get on if I did contrive to buy one and then had a problem which required rectifying.
On to the inevitable Lotus possibilities. I drove both the S2 Elise 111R and the Exige Of the two, I much preferred the Exige – this is a very, very dramatic car to drive - the handling / steering feedback are just sublime, and it goes like stink! Ultimately however, I doubted I could live with one as a daily driver – much I would love too, they are just too impractical for my needs.
Pros – performance, handling, looks, low running costs / low purchase price (there are some wonderful cars available at ‘give-away’ prices – I looked at a privately advertised 2004 Exige, ~4000 miles, no track use…..no wet weather use!!!!..... balance of Lotus warranty, ‘touring pack’ (sound proofing, a/c, leccy windows) advertised at £24,250, which I am pretty sure I could have haggled it down to £23,500 (this, plus the outlawed ‘beater’ would have worked well for me!)
Cons – sadly, just too impractical for my needs - wonderful car, but too focussed and lacking in interior space for me on a day-to-day basis. Shame!
The ‘off the wall’ idea which very nearly materialised into a purchase: 2003 Noble M12 GTO 3R.
What a car!
I looked at a low mileage, untracked silver car and fell in love. I didn’t drive it – I went away to do some research into the costs of running one of these beasties (not cheap – similar to a TVR really, 6k service interval and typically a £400 / £800 alternating minor / major service cost, insurance is quite expensive and fuel consumption scary if you get the turbo’s involved…..and lets face it, it would be rude not to!). Whilst I was doing this research, the car I looked at (within a couple of hours of being advertised) was sold. Realistically, not a terribly practical car – for example, the front splitter would struggle with some of the speed bumps I have to negotiate on the way into Croydon. Still, I have been bitten by the Noble ‘bug’ and when the time comes for my next change, an M12 (or who knows, if the finance fairy is kind, an M15) will be high on my list of possibilities.
Pros – Dramatic appearance, stunning performance:£ ratio, build quality – I was amazed how well this was put together.
Cons – running costs, practicality.
I of course ended up buying an NSX - this is the now sitting proudly in my office car park bay:
It is probably more ‘sensible’ and grown up – booooo! - than some of the cars I looked at and liked (notably the Exige and M12) but a little more ‘off the wall’ and rare than the Teutonic alternatives.
You guys probably know more about my car than I do but basically it is a 2001 3.2 ltr. 6 speed manual. It was one of the last (very small) batch of pop-up headlighted (which is a boy-hood ambition achieved!) cars brought into the UK by Honda.
I waas pleasantly surprised to find that the insurance is the best part of £100 cheaper per year (I’ll put this aside to help satisfy the cars appetite for rear tyres!) Whilst the purchase was from a private seller, the car has the benefit of a transferable Honda extended warranty until Feb. 2008, so I have some insurance from catastrophic failure.
Some proper comments (and if I can work out how) pictures, once I have got to know the car properly.
Thanks for your time.
:D
It is now a good few weeks since I sold my S2000 and I now finally have the keys of the replacement in my sweaty paws. I actually started looking for a replacement car back in November last year so it has been a long old haul. I recognise many of the names here from S2ki (where I post under the imaginative name of 'ianl'!) Without turning this into an Oscar acceptance speach, I would like to thank both Richard for selling the car to me (and being a gent throughout a slightly fraught purchase process) and Simon for pointing me at it in the first place and offering words of advice / councelling along the way!
So here is the story........hope you have got a little time and plenty of patience!!!!
I am married and have 2 kids, however my wife is sufficiently understanding to allow me to run a 2-seat sports car, but draws the line (not totally unreasonably) at me owing a ‘beater’ in addition to ‘my’ car. My car needs are therefore somewhat conflicting /compromised. The car has to both be a commuting workhorse - 50 mile round trip each day, the 1st 20 miles on entertaining ‘B’ and ‘A’ roads, the last 5 miles often a stop-start urban crawl - it also has to be an interesting car for me to own. Budget for this little adventure, ~£30k.
As I mentioned the search began several months ago, and over this period I have looked at a good few cars – few, if any, will be of a surprise here – they really are the ‘usual suspects’ for an S2000 owner undertaking the invidious task of finding an interesting and worthy replacement for the S without spending heaps of money!
I have looked at the TVR Tamora and T350. Both are fantastic value at the moment, largely I suspect due to the uncertainties regarding TVR’s future (though recent news from Blackpool seems more hopeful). Whilst I love TVR’s – the looks (interior and exterior) and sound are fantastic. As of course is the performance. I am a firm believer that the world would be a significantly poorer place without them and was actually on the verge of buying a Tamora back in December but was beaten to the car by another punter. Ultimately, I decided that being damned with an ‘eye for detail’ as I am, TVR’s are not really for me - I like everything to work all of the time. I am assured by TVR owners that this is an unlikely occurrence with most TVR’s – little niggles are a fact of TVR life.
Pros – Performance, looks, value for money (though further depreciation is a concern)
Cons: Potential for both big and niggly problems, build quality not 100%, running costs.
So onwards to the dark side. I had a good look at both 911’s and M3’s (including the CS and CSL).
I surprised (worried?!) myself by being quite smitten with several of the Teutonic options possible within my budget. I seem to be in a minority in liking the look of the gloopy eyed, water cooled 996. With the recent release of the 997, there are some great 996 bargains currently available. My preference was for the 2WD coupe (in Seal Grey), I found it much more fun to drive at sane speeds than the 4WD variant. However I ultimately decided that I was not quite ready for Porsche ownership yet – too common and too sensible.
Pros – Build quality, engineering excellence, performance, depreciation likely to be low? Very comfortable and reasonably practical if rear seats used as storage space rather than instruments of torture.
Cons – Too sensible, too many of them on the road, image.
Similarly story with the M3 and variants really. These were the most sensible cars I considered – 4 seats and very comfy. Whilst lovely things to drive (though the CSL was somewhat less lovely – the one I test drove on a 30deg.+ afternoon didn’t have a/c and really was very uncomfortable. I certainly can’t honestly claim to have noticed the performance advantage gained by loosing 10kg’s worth of a/c system! I also found the CSL suspension less than ideal on bumpy ‘b’ roads – all very skittery! It did make a lovely noise though. M3’s, whilst they have definite road presence, for me they were just too sensible and uninvolving – more ‘grand tourer’ than sports car.
Pros – very quick, very comfortable.
Cons – not involving, the image thing, depreciation on M cars is high, and likely to remain so on a discontinued & common model, cost of extended warranty, looks – it undoubtably has road presence (esp. in darker colours) but not a good looking car IMHO.
Nissan 350Z…….just because I thought I ought to have a look. It never got off 1st base due to the most incredibly bad dealership experience I have ever had (and I have owned Ford’s in the past!!!!!) Ancaster Nissan, Croydon should be ashamed of themselves.
I wandered into the showroom one afternoon and prodded and poked around the 350Z they had on display. It was locked so I went to the sales desk where 3 salesmen were chatting. After lurking in an ‘I would like to spend £30k on a car please’ sort of way for a minute or two, I finally had to interrupt their conversation (about horse racing) with an ‘excuse me’. I was glared at! Eventually – once the conversation was finished, one of them said ‘yes…..can I help you’. I asked if he would open up the 350Z so I could check out the driving position. He huffed, and puffed and eventually found a key and opened the car……and the battery was flat! I asked a few questions re. the facelift and it was quite apparent I knew significantly more about the car than he did (him: ‘facelift was just cosmetic……no change in the mechanical components’ me: ‘what, no increase in power?’ him: ‘no!’) I asked if it was possible to arrange a test drive later in the week and he said ‘probably not’. I asked about delivery, he said, ‘ don’t really know…..12 weeks at least’
Con: Dealership couldn’t give a toss about selling me one. Heavens knows how I would get on if I did contrive to buy one and then had a problem which required rectifying.
On to the inevitable Lotus possibilities. I drove both the S2 Elise 111R and the Exige Of the two, I much preferred the Exige – this is a very, very dramatic car to drive - the handling / steering feedback are just sublime, and it goes like stink! Ultimately however, I doubted I could live with one as a daily driver – much I would love too, they are just too impractical for my needs.
Pros – performance, handling, looks, low running costs / low purchase price (there are some wonderful cars available at ‘give-away’ prices – I looked at a privately advertised 2004 Exige, ~4000 miles, no track use…..no wet weather use!!!!..... balance of Lotus warranty, ‘touring pack’ (sound proofing, a/c, leccy windows) advertised at £24,250, which I am pretty sure I could have haggled it down to £23,500 (this, plus the outlawed ‘beater’ would have worked well for me!)
Cons – sadly, just too impractical for my needs - wonderful car, but too focussed and lacking in interior space for me on a day-to-day basis. Shame!
The ‘off the wall’ idea which very nearly materialised into a purchase: 2003 Noble M12 GTO 3R.
What a car!
I looked at a low mileage, untracked silver car and fell in love. I didn’t drive it – I went away to do some research into the costs of running one of these beasties (not cheap – similar to a TVR really, 6k service interval and typically a £400 / £800 alternating minor / major service cost, insurance is quite expensive and fuel consumption scary if you get the turbo’s involved…..and lets face it, it would be rude not to!). Whilst I was doing this research, the car I looked at (within a couple of hours of being advertised) was sold. Realistically, not a terribly practical car – for example, the front splitter would struggle with some of the speed bumps I have to negotiate on the way into Croydon. Still, I have been bitten by the Noble ‘bug’ and when the time comes for my next change, an M12 (or who knows, if the finance fairy is kind, an M15) will be high on my list of possibilities.
Pros – Dramatic appearance, stunning performance:£ ratio, build quality – I was amazed how well this was put together.
Cons – running costs, practicality.
I of course ended up buying an NSX - this is the now sitting proudly in my office car park bay:
It is probably more ‘sensible’ and grown up – booooo! - than some of the cars I looked at and liked (notably the Exige and M12) but a little more ‘off the wall’ and rare than the Teutonic alternatives.
You guys probably know more about my car than I do but basically it is a 2001 3.2 ltr. 6 speed manual. It was one of the last (very small) batch of pop-up headlighted (which is a boy-hood ambition achieved!) cars brought into the UK by Honda.
I waas pleasantly surprised to find that the insurance is the best part of £100 cheaper per year (I’ll put this aside to help satisfy the cars appetite for rear tyres!) Whilst the purchase was from a private seller, the car has the benefit of a transferable Honda extended warranty until Feb. 2008, so I have some insurance from catastrophic failure.
Some proper comments (and if I can work out how) pictures, once I have got to know the car properly.
Thanks for your time.
:D