MB

mikey k

I did Oulton twice last year, have done it once this year and have Anglesey booked as well.

chilled

http://www.neweraimports.com/carDetails.jsp?carId=270

MarkB

I can see the point. I used to regularly use the S2000 on miserable trackdays and of course on the road when I had the racer. Sometimes you don't want hardcore, you want fun and/or convenience. or you can't be arsed to tow the car the length of the country but you want to drive at Knockhill

E30 is a good choice for a relatively depreciation-free road car, though I dread to think how much you'll spend keeping it in good nick - the're 20 years old now and will need a bit of TLC. Expensive to buy thanks to the halo effect and Journo's reverence for them (not that they're not good, but they have benefitted from the adulation in terms of price).

E36 M3 doesn't have the halo, is quicker but maybe not quite such a handler and at the moment are tarred with the chav brush, but much cheaper to buy and a well looked after one shouldn't be too costly as a road/occasional track car.

Alternatively, the E30's natural rival, the Merc 190 Cosworth is a fair bit cheaper and reputedly every bit as potent.

MB

Ah, enough to warrant an M3 then

I worry about taking the Exige on track, and might do the odd one in a BaT thingy. Might be a good option if you don't want to use the S.

The one Chilled linked will no doubt be good knowing New Era. never the cheapest, but they do have a reputation to uphold. Threatened to use them several times.

gaddafi

Mark's right about the halo, and that the E36 is quicker (in a straight line). It will muller an E30 in that situation, but of course that's not what the E30 is about really.

Whether it's SO good that the lack of grunt would be outweighed, I'm not so sure. The E36, whilst being unloved, is not exactly the worst handling car on the planet. At launch, and subsequently, it was criticised for lack of feel (and not much else), which to be fair, is something you can say about most moderns.

The big problem with the good idea of a getting a cheap E36 M3, is finding one. If you decide to go that route, consider the 3.0 pre EVO. It's single Vanos and problem free on that score. Five speed, which helps to offset the relatively small power disadvantage with the EVO (286bhp vs 321bhp claimed figs) and is supposed to be easier to tweak.

Look out for the 3.0 GT - there were only 50 rhd made (I destroyed one) and they have lots of goodies, including handpicked engines. I'd say one of those would make a better base than a boggo EVO. The so-called EVO GT was just a run out model.

B0ZWELL

BMW E30

http://www.racecarsdirect.com/

Nick Graves

That's one of the things I mean when I describe most german cars as good, yet overrated.

ge2

Thanks again people.

I've been looking around and I had no idea how cheap the E36s were. A lot of the ads look very dodgy but at those prices you could build a cracking car for 10k. Thanks for the tips Gad, I'd choose reliability over power every time for this sort of thing

But, 'feel' is everything so if I didn't go for an E30 I'd probably start looking at Elises. 10k buys a lot and I've even seen a couple of 135s for under that.

Bozwell, I've already drooled over that E30 racer at Geoff Steel. Their website suggests they hire their cars so that might be a way of getting what I want without the hassle and maybe the cost of owning one for a while.

MarkB

MX5 + turbo?

Feelsome drive, practical(ish) and an easy 250bhp for less than the price (and upkeep) of an Elise.

And powerslides on demand