Hi all,

I'm thinking well ahead of myself here but I'm gonna need to replace my S in July/August as I will have to start commuting from then and I can't justify the expense

So car hunting starts again - test drives
Basic criteria are:
lower insurance group , maybe 15-16 max
fun to drive, obviously
perhaps 4 seats
approx 12k
no older than my S (2002)

From a quick scan of pistonheads the RX8, A3, mini coop or a beemer pop up a lot
RX8 appeals but having never been in one I thought I'd ask for opinions.

Cheers,

 

mpg and oil consumption will be worse than an S2000

more than offseting any insurance premium saving I would have thought

also likely to keep depreciating, whereas a good S will 'stop' at around

 

They get through starter motors quite quickly as well. Really not holding their value well. mpg is atrocious for the class of car. normal driving will see <20mpg.

 

I was going to say an old model TT but then I noticed you said fun to drive.

 

RX8 have tremendous appitites for oil/fuel, depreciate like it's going out of fashion and there is a new, better? model on the horizon. Liked driving it though, but I bought an S.

 

 

I had a good thrash in one a oouple of years ago .... really smooth but didn't feel as quick or anywhere near as appealing as an S. Oil and fuel are issues but otherwise I believe they are pretty good. Didn't quite do it for me but I don't really know the exact reason - maybe the looks ?

A mate of mine has had one for about 18 months and nothing has gone wrong and loves it - he does say it drinks though .... around 19-21mpg average.

 

I thought they were depreciating quite nicely until I saw what you can buy an M3 for! That's frightening.

The RX-8 is a lovely car to drive; sort of more MX5 than S2000, but with four seats.

It'd make a great garage companion for the S2000. Karen would like one in strato blue, for when she wears out the Civic. They should be about

 

not sure the reliability is there on the rotarys either.

could of been something completely diferent, but where i used to work, they had alot of ex-fleet vehicles; some of which were a handful of rx8's which they claim they'd have no end of troubles with them being towed in/out.

i'm only guessing, but i presume they never sorted the seals out, from the earlier wankels.

 

So I guess the issues are 1) thirst 2) depreciation 3) questionable reliability.

A3 2.0 tdi quattro should solve a lot of those issues, but I just can't see it being quite so much fun.

I'll get a nice pay rise with the new job, could well just keep the S and screw the costs

Thanks all