A pal just bought a mildly tuned S4 from PH for about 5K.
318 horse and cart, good fun and discrete.
The French lemon you had a spin in was only 12k on a 57 plate....

 

An Impreza will be more fun but it sounds like a Legacy would be a better option.

The Lotus is going to leave a big hole though and the Legacy won't fill it.

Is the M5 really out of the question?

 

Not sure what kind of thing your after. I think something like a 03 bmw 330 would be a better car all round, at similar money, or an S4 as previously mentioned..
I also had mine flood a couple of times, which was annoying to say the least. had to take the fuel pump fuse out and turn the engine over for decades untill it started coming back to life.

 

I guess the reason for the RX-8 as opposed to a bmw 330 is because I'd prefer something sporty rather than an all rounder.

I think!

My bloody purchaser for the Elise pulled out today, so may well bin changing car until the new year now anyway.

Oh dear, even more time to waste reviewing options!

 

That was precisely what I anticipated (you do drive an Elise) and why I would prefer the Mazda too, if I ever had to replace my Prelude. Or an Evora at a push, but even that's a bit too big & cumbersome for round here.

Sorry to hear the sale fell through. At least you get another month or so with the Elise.

 

350z > RX8

 

2 seats vs 4 seats.

 

Whilst a little off-topic, this RX-8 (with a triple rotor engine) sounds interesting...
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9erN5m8pMPs [/media]

 

Nice find.

I know there's a turbo kit for the 13B and the idea of a 20B Cosmo conversion has an appeal. Depending on what it does to mass distribution, of course.

 

In that case id get an Evo 7, when i had my rx8 it just seemed like the messing about with oil and fuel wasnt worth it for what little performance it had in the scheme of things. plus the obvious advantage of being able to get decent power from the 7 with reasonably little hassle. the rx8 was just too un-lairy for me in terms of driving experience.