Death of performance ICE Coupes/Convertibles?

[Motorsport3]

I'm getting an Alfa 4C. I always liked it and I was waiting to see how it will evolve. Now out of production and with the most hype after Alpine A110 (pretty good too), I'm getting one. This will be my 2-seat sports car and will accompany my QP which i have decided to keep as it is too nice to just give away. I think they were made in the same factory too so that should make them siblings!

 

[Andyk]

If you don’t require rear seats buy a 981 Cayman S, GTS or GT4. They’re fantastic and reliable, and should depreciate little as they’re the last of the NA 6’s.

This....They certainly seem to be holding they price more than most.....Great drivers cars as well....GT4 is a gem...

 

[rockits]

I'm with you on this. Very few bits of metal I would spend money on (even if I had the cash). I'd maybe look at a lambo with that budget or an Cayman r.

Outright speed may be lost in the EV wars, but there is so much more to the experience in ice that you dont get, the interaction, the sound, the smell, the feel.

100% agree back. Modern Porsches do nothing for me. I'm with you on a Lambo or maybe even an R8 V10 as an extreme possibility of I had the cash. Maybe a V12 E Type. I'm not lusting after a MacLaren of any model even though they all look the same and I can't tell which is which.

The TVR Chimaera 500 is a pretty naff car compared to many especially modern cars but I have one and still want one. Says it all to me.

 

[Nayf]

I'm getting an Alfa 4C. I always liked it and I was waiting to see how it will evolve. Now out of production and with the most hype after Alpine A110 (pretty good too), I'm getting one. This will be my 2-seat sports car and will accompany my QP which i have decided to keep as it is too nice to just give away. I think they were made in the same factory too so that should make them siblings!

Alfaworks have just got 400-odd BHP out of the engine on the dyno...

 

[Hawk13]

The TVR Chimaera 500 is a pretty naff car compared to many especially modern cars but I have one and still want one. Says it all to me.

This to me is what car ownership is about. Unless you are lucky enough to have a bottomless pit of money to buy whatever you want whenever you want, then you should buy what you like - not what everyone else says is the best.

I consider myself lucky enough to have some spare cash and I chose a GT because that was what I wanted. I test drove cars that were quicker and more technologically advanced but none felt as special.

 

[FF1078]

Dare I suggest a California T?
It's got back seats which can only be used for a couple of small flight bags really.
**** of a feeling everytime you drive
The only thing missing is the exhaust sound I'm afraid. Sounds like a 4 cylinder.

 

[Wack61]

Not only are the days of owning a performance car coming to an end, the days of driving fast on public roads are too, it's not police or cameras that are likely to be the problem, it's knobbers that use the dashcam footage to report you that are.

Buy whatever puts a smile on your face even when you catch a glance of it through the window

 

[AT3200AC]

Having just ordered my first company car EV I have already accepted that anything with a ICE is effectively a classic car now. What I look for in my drivers cars is that intangible sense of specialness and character and its why I will never sell my TVR Griffith. Its also why my car shopping list includes Lotus Esprit S1, Austin Healy 3000, Porsche 356 and Ferrari 308/355. I'm not one of those doomsayers who thinks that the nanny state will ban all cars (well - not in my driving lifetime anyway) but the days of buying something interesting for day to day transport are definitely gone for me.

 

[zagatoes30]

I do like the Lexus LC although you can only get a new Hybrid version over here in Ireland, not that I would be buying new regardless

 

[dickygrace]

I do like the Lexus LC although you can only get a new Hybrid version over here in Ireland, not that I would be buying new regardless

I do too, but it’s a Lexus. I’ll admit I’m a badge snob, still wouldn’t even consider a Skoda either.

 

[zagatoes30]

I do too, but it’s a Lexus. I’ll admit I’m a badge snob, still wouldn’t even consider a Skoda either.

Agreed but we had a Skoda and it was remarkably good

 

[hashluck]

Agreed but we had a Skoda and it was remarkable good

They are. Done 50K miles in a Fabia and it is brilliant. Recently sourced a Yeti for a client (Yeti the car not the wild man) and it is brilliant at the kids, dogs, shopping, light off-roading thing (if all that is your thing). Not that easy to find one as people are keeping hold of them in the absence of a new alternative.

 

[dickygrace]

Agreed but we had a Skoda and it was remarkably good

I don’t deny they’re remarkably good cars, but I still wouldn’t own one.

 

[zagatoes30]

We had an Octavia SE Estate, 2.0 satan fuel with a DSG box. It was superb, , handled well , went well, carried everything we needed it to but it really showed its skills in the winter when I fitted winter tyres it just gripped onto anything the weather could find to throw at it would have an other tomorrow.

 

[safrane]

Quite telling, and shows people are more interested in a 'fasion' statement than 'saving the planet'

1/4 more co2 to fuel the ego of an SUV owner over a streamlined coupe, saloon or estate?

Rise of SUVs 'makes mockery' of electric car push

Exhaust emissions from new cars have been increasing for the past three years, research suggests.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[safrane]

Loving the new Ferrari V8 featured in todays EVO... at c £170k it may be above your limit... but a front engined V8... hmmmm

 

[dickygrace]

Quite telling, and shows people are more interested in a 'fasion' statement than 'saving the planet'

1/4 more co2 to fuel the ego of an SUV owner over a streamlined coupe, saloon or estate?

Rise of SUVs 'makes mockery' of electric car push

Exhaust emissions from new cars have been increasing for the past three years, research suggests.

www.bbc.co.uk

The comments show that the vast majority of the population simply don’t give a toss. I’m all for recycling our rubbish, and not littering, saving energy etc. CO2 emissions is a global problem and it needs a global solution, which won’t happen til (arguably now) it’s far too late. Drive a V8/10/12 and enjoy it.

 

[Nayf]

I do too, but it’s a Lexus. I’ll admit I’m a badge snob, still wouldn’t even consider a Skoda either.

As much as I’m a fan, for the £96k they cost new (or £56k nearly new at Hatfield Lexus when I stopped by for a perv), I had exactly the same thought. I’d probably buy something relatively cheap, reliable, and economic for daily duties older than 2006 for daily duties (like my old, dearly departed 166 Ti 2.0) and put the extra £94k into a 612 Scaglietti/GranSport/any number of things, with money to spare for running costs.

If you try to separate the daily driver from having to be a performance car, you can find characterful interesting daily drivers. Personally I believe there’s a sweet spot for daily drivers that runs up to around 2005 - after that MoTs are a bit like sensor bingo, and the individual parts costs of certain things outweighs the value of the car - after all, this is when the era of ‘build a car to last three years’ came in...

 

[Nayf]

They are. Done 50K miles in a Fabia and it is brilliant. Recently sourced a Yeti for a client (Yeti the car not the wild man) and it is brilliant at the kids, dogs, shopping, light off-roading thing (if all that is your thing). Not that easy to find one as people are keeping hold of them in the absence of a new alternative.

Plus one for the Yeti. While for work purposes I have to be open minded to all makes, I struggle to resist a ‘meh’ for VWs, but the Yeti is absolutely brilliant, a modern-day Land Rover Defender. No, not quite the off road billy goat, but wonderfully unpretentious, spacious, do it all.

 

[rockits]

I've never had a Skoda but would have no problem having one. I really don't give two hoots about number plates, age of car, mileage or the badge. I buy cars and enjoy them on their individual merits. I don't really care what anyone else thinks.