A message from Al to Lonesome Bob

Graham,

Total thread drift but I was thinking of changing my EVO 5 for one of these as my next mid life crisis car, fancy a convertible. Early ones seem really good value.

Heart says TVR Griffith head says Honda 2000 as she will have to live outside. Also been thinking Elan S2, Elise, VX220, MG TF 160, BMW Z4 TR6 Stag.

I would be interested in your thoughts as I hate revving the pants of cars just seems cruel, so not sure if I could live with the Honda.

P.S. I am also no driver so snap oversteer may be a problem.
 
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Graham,

Total thread drift but I was thinking of changing my EVO 5 for one of these as my next mid life crisis car, fancy a convertible. Early ones seem really good value.

Heart says TVR Griffith head says Honda 2000 as she will have to live outside. Also been thinking Elan S2, Elise, VX220, MG TF 160, BMW Z4 TR6 Stag.

I would be interested in your thoughts as I hate revving the pants of cars just seems cruel, so not sure if I could live with the Honda.

P.S. I am also no driver so snap oversteer may be a problem.

You will only get snap oversteer if you are seriously over brutal with the throttle. Even then, although it goes quick - it is still quite manageable, and you have to be a dickhead to get it in the first place by heavy power use in mid corner.

TVR Griffith - Lovely car but IMHO too unreliable
Elan S2 - Lovely car but not really a daily driver
Elise - great car, but I'm not a fan of the looks, nor the hood arrangement
VX220 - I'm 6ft 3" - no way!!!! Also a bollocks hood arrangement
MG TF160 - You're a good christian Nick, so don't even go there...
BMW Z4 - Nice car, but nothing says you're a wanker like a BMW convertible ;)
TR6 - Love 'em, bigtime. Will seem serioulsy underpowerd in this day and age though
Stag - Not really a sports car, not chuckable, but a good tourer. Avoid the Triumph engine though, unless it's a good one...

All of these are IMHO of course, and some may feel differently.

What I like about the S2000 is that it is two cars. Under 6000 RPM it is a doddle to drive. Even your granny could. Use all of the 9000 RPM, keep it on cam and it's a screamer.

Also, it is just anonymous enough for people to not form an opinion of you in two seconds of seeing you in the car.

Not that I didn't think long and hard about my choice either ;)

Cheers pal.

Edited to add - They are also largely bulletproof.
 
Love the BMW observation Graham. Funny how some cars just shout it out.

Nick, you mentioned the car would have to live outdoors That rules out anything old and British.

You should stick an air-cooled 911 on your list. Seriously reliable in my experience and not expensive to run. I used my '88 as a daily driver for ten years and when I did sell it, got near as damn it the same as I paid in the first place. You can't acheive that with many cars.
 
Love the BMW observation Graham. Funny how some cars just shout it out.

Nick, you mentioned the car would have to live outdoors That rules out anything old and British.

You should stick an air-cooled 911 on your list. Seriously reliable in my experience and not expensive to run. I used my '88 as a daily driver for ten years and when I did sell it, got near as damn it the same as I paid in the first place. You can't acheive that with many cars.


Mark. I couldn't agree more. Many on here hate porkers, but I've always "got" them. I've driven them for the last dozen years.

When I get back into pork, it may well be a 930... Yummy.

Nick. Mark is right - explore the option. They are very, very reliable unless you are unlucky...
 
You will only get snap oversteer if you are seriously over brutal with the throttle. Even then, although it goes quick - it is still quite manageable, and you have to be a dickhead to get it in the first place by heavy power use in mid corner.

TVR Griffith - Lovely car but IMHO too unreliable
Elan S2 - Lovely car but not really a daily driver
Elise - great car, but I'm not a fan of the looks, nor the hood arrangement
VX220 - I'm 6ft 3" - no way!!!! Also a bollocks hood arrangement
MG TF160 - You're a good christian Nick, so don't even go there...
BMW Z4 - Nice car, but nothing says you're a wanker like a BMW convertible ;)
TR6 - Love 'em, bigtime. Will seem serioulsy underpowerd in this day and age though
Stag - Not really a sports car, not chuckable, but a good tourer. Avoid the Triumph engine though, unless it's a good one...

All of these are IMHO of course, and some may feel differently.

What I like about the S2000 is that it is two cars. Under 6000 RPM it is a doddle to drive. Even your granny could. Use all of the 9000 RPM, keep it on cam and it's a screamer.

Also, it is just anonymous enough for people to not form an opinion of you in two seconds of seeing you in the car.

Not that I didn't think long and hard about my choice either ;)

Cheers pal.

Edited to add - They are also largely bulletproof.

Graham,

Brilliant you confirmed most of what I thought, although a lot of people think I am a "wa%&er" these days, least not on this forum so that does not worry me to much. I console myself with the fact that at least I still can ;)

Sat in a BMW and dare I say it felt cheap and flimsy compared to the Boxster I then sat in. It's just for around £6k you seem to be able to get a nice reasonable mileage FSH early S2000, and you need double that for anything Porsche BMW TVR etc.

Love the BMW observation Graham. Funny how some cars just shout it out.

Nick, you mentioned the car would have to live outdoors That rules out anything old and British.

You should stick an air-cooled 911 on your list. Seriously reliable in my experience and not expensive to run. I used my '88 as a daily driver for ten years and when I did sell it, got near as damn it the same as I paid in the first place. You can't acheive that with many cars.

Mark,

Thanks for that, think we are getting soft only got rid of my wifes Riley Elf was because although totally reliable, she got fed up of having to scrape ice of the inside of the windscreen in winter, and the dreaded salt, attacking the bodywork.

Loved that car.
 
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Nick,

£6,000 will get you a very tidy S2000. Throw in the fact that your depreciation will be almost nil and you're laughing :)
 
Nick,

£6,000 will get you a very tidy S2000. Throw in the fact that your depreciation will be almost nil and you're laughing :)

:thumbsup:

That's what I thought great minds think alike, we will forget the fools seldom differ bit.
 
To be fair, the S2000 is a great car. I understand your creature comfort thing too. Even so, like Graham, a 930 has to be in my garage one day!
 

Dave Bilyk

Dave Bilyk
Supporter
You will only get snap oversteer if you are seriously over brutal with the throttle. Even then, although it goes quick - it is still quite manageable, and you have to be a dickhead to get it in the first place by heavy power use in mid corner.

Graham, agreed except for one exception, try entering a greasy / slightly damp corner with adverse camber slightly too quick. I know a few cases where they never saw it coming until they went backwards through the hedge:)

I once did a 180 on melted (literally) tarmac on a very hot day in an XK150 I had many moons ago.

As far as TVR's are concerned, I've overtaken one quite easily on several occaisions, and generally because it's already facing the wrong way on the grass verge:)

Ok I lusted after a Honda 2000 too, but more so after a TVR T350

Dave
 
Graham, agreed except for one exception, try entering a greasy / slightly damp corner with adverse camber slightly too quick. I know a few cases where they never saw it coming until they went backwards through the hedge:)

I once did a 180 on melted (literally) tarmac on a very hot day in an XK150 I had many moons ago.

As far as TVR's are concerned, I've overtaken one quite easily on several occaisions, and generally because it's already facing the wrong way on the grass verge:)

Ok I lusted after a Honda 2000 too, but more so after a TVR T350

Dave

Dave, I completely agree. I find that any pocket rocket (rear wheel drive) i.e. TVR, S2000, Lotus etc will bite you in the arse in the wet... All of these types of cars need to be given a degree of respect in dodgy conditions.
 
Actually, it's quite weird really. I've owned 911's for the last twelve years, culminating in a Turbo S, which was the dogs bollocks. I owned it for nearly six years and was gutted to see it go.

But then I bought the S2000 and it completely reminded me of how much fun a bog standard pocket rocket could be in the old fashioned front engined / rear driven configuration. Accepted that you wouldn't want to do a commute in it every day, but for 5000 miles a year it's a hoot and I have barely missed my 911 since.

Having said that, there will be a 911 GT3 on the cards in a year or so :blank:
 
I once did a 180 on melted (literally) tarmac on a very hot day in an XK150 I had many moons ago.

Dave

Dave,

You lucky lucky man.

Accepted that you wouldn't want to do a commute in it every day, but for 5000 miles a year it's a hoot and I have barely missed my 911 since.

Having said that, there will be a 911 GT3 on the cards in a year or so :blank:

Cycle mostly to work so I will be doing around 4000 miles a year, need the car for when it's snowy cold or feeling lazy and would like to relive my youth with a trip to the South of France. My wife hates the EVO is already refusing to go in the GT40 when it's finished, and it would not be the same without her. :(

Knowing me I may still be looking in a year so hurry up and get that GT3. ;)
 
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Having said that, there will be a 911 GT3 on the cards in a year or so :blank:

My missus keeps hankering after a car change. You should have seen her drooling over a red GT3 in the local dealership a few months back. It was embarrasing!

I keep reminding her how she sobbed when the old 911 went of into the sunset and how she didn't want to sell it, desperately trying to get her to agree to a 930. She won't have it though. She has become accustomed to the modern creature comforts we spoke about earlier.
 
I am giving myself an award for biggest thread drift ever:-

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