What would you do?

[pretzel]

Excuse me... age has nothing to do with it, I am on my fifth and I started in my thirties... you are forgetting build quality and reliability which is improving year on year...

>Martini...LB

No, I guess that was unfair.  I suppose I mean it's a bit Captain Sensible for what I'm after at the moment.

Great feedback chaps.

The other vehicle in my sights is a Z car.  Few and far between over here but still possible with relatively few miles on the clock for the money I have.  The only Boxters I've found are years old in my price range, even from Germany.  Narac (Rouen) has one, for example but it is 15 years old with 100k on the clock. - not to mention the fact that it's a truly revolting colour (I try not to be girly in this department but honestly - who ordered bright metalic green when it was new, ffs?)

Debs, if you want any info on the 350Z, I had one from new for 5 years before I bought the Cayman :-)

[termietermite]

The more I know, the better.  AZ has(d) one too, I think.  On the plus side, I am very happy with the Nissan dealer for servicing etc.  Plus of course, I've run Nissans for 10 years now without a hitch - well apart from when I broke one .

[pretzel]

The more I know, the better.  AZ has(d) one too, I think.  On the plus side, I am very happy with the Nissan dealer for servicing etc.  Plus of course, I've run Nissans for 10 years now without a hitch - well apart from when I broke one .

Yes, I believe AZ has(d) one too - we discussed it at the time of his purchase if memory serves me correctly.

Pluses:

Cheap to buy, especially now.
Servicing costs quite low.
Quite a bit of torque.
Fun RWD handling and fitted with an LSD as standard (I thought it was really quite good until I bought the Cayman, but that's probably an unfair comparison).

Minuses:

Luggage capacity - rubbish! The rear load area is split by a huge strut brace making what available space there is difficult to use.
Fuel consumption quite poor if you drive it hard.
Build quality typical of a mass market manufacturer with some pretty cheap plastics here and there (and certainly not a patch on the Porker.)
Driving controls quite heavy to operate - mine was a manual. Steering quite heavy too, but pretty 'feelsome'.
Slight 'chest wig' image :-)

Still quite a good motor and there are still not that many big engined RWD cars around. More of a GT than a sports car though in my view.

[termietermite]

Thanks - just what I need.
The Cayman of course is twice the price.   Nice idea but really just far enough out of my budget for it to be a real no-no.  I'll cry in my soup I guess but that's life.

The Z car's luggage space (if I can call it that) does put me off, I admit.

Totally silly and off the wall I also found these:

http://cars.trovit.co.uk/index.php/cod.ad/what_d.left%20hand%20drive%20porsche/id.1V1q1F141U6UT/pos.1/pop.0/

Daft but quirkily appealing.

[mulc99]

Aahhh. A subject close to my heart. I had 911s for years and I have to say they are quite bullet proof. So much so, It is quite an experience watching a 911SC with 220,000 on the clock keeping up with Carreras on the Autobahn. Friends of mine used to get theirs (New ones) serviced at main dealers in Germany at a fraction of the cost of the UK. I recently bought my misses a Boxster S, and have to admit, rather enjoy driving it. I use indies PCT (Coventry) for servicing and it really is not that expensive.
May I suggest that you consider a 993. Last of the aircooled. Fantastic car and what a shape!!!! Not sure of prices over there, however they are on the increase here. Keep well away from early 996. Engines were prone to detonating at relitively low miles.
Whatever you choose, get a PPI done on it.
Now, you can get a Ferrari 348 for about £23K. A good indie will charge about £300 for a service and the later ones only need their belts changing every three years. Appreciate that there is not a vast amount of room in the boot, however there is a fair bit of room in the cockpit and behind the seats. Insurance is not that bad either. Used to cost me £180 from Saga.
Whatever is chosen, I hope that you both enjoy. You both deserve it.