Motors Buying my first sports car - advice/thoughts?

I met a woman at scoobyworld (UK) that had 3 of them, See absolutely loved them, even though they cost a small fortune to maintain.

They've always been interesting to me but i wouldnt call them a sportscar really, more of a distance cruiser imo.

 

I've seen some recent designs from Toyota's drawing board, of cars that look alot like futuristic versions of the last celica. At least one of them was a hybrid design, dunno about the others, or if any of them will ever be produced?

As for having two cars, that's expensive I'd be tempted to just get a towbar and trailer, either for a lil go kart or something like a 1972 celica drift/track car. No insurance or rego costs this way, you can get away with a very low initial purchase price, and alot more fun.

I like the 72 a bit better, nicer tail and head lights imo, was tempted to buy one for a first car

 

Well IMO It's the same thing as having a car and a motorbike, which lots of people I know do (your name suggests that you do as well?). There are fewer that own two cars, but still a few. Mostly track cars and such, but I think this type of car is a good starting point for me.

 

*whimpers*

How awesome to find a Celica owner among us! Could you post some Pics? And full(er) details on how she runs! Also, if you don't mind me asking, what's your tax and insurance like? PM would be fine

 

An MvAgusta is a bike I'd like to own as a toy, but i've just got a cheap old fzr I'd like to have a nice sports car aswell... and use it at the track... rx7's are very sexy aswell... it's easy to waste a lot of money on stuff like this, I'm looking forward to when I'm free to do so

 

I don't plan on wasting any money on it. I want something fun to drive, mainly at the weekends when I'm not working. Like I've already said, I love the Clio for practicality and economy, but I also love driving, and it's hard to have much fun driving a 1500 TDi Clio Whatever I choose to buy, I'll make sure that it's money well spent and I love every minute of driving it.

 

Thanks so much for posting those. She's a stunner, and looks to be in mint condition! Insurance for me on a GT-Four or a VVTLi GT is going to be triple that and the rest :/ I've no no claims any more after the accident at Christmas, although have no points or anything. Tax will be over £200 as well. Oh well, all worth it for an amazing car in my opinion Is that your daily car or do you have something else on the road as well?

 

I'm swaying slightly more towards the gen 6 now, but anything can change in a year. The price of the gen 7 GT's might come down a lot or I might even get a raise! I'm not making my mind up on anything at this point obviously, because a lot of the other suggestions that have been made do appeal to me as well. Nothing will be set in stone until I actually come to buy the car, but I really do love the look of gen 6 Celicas more and more with each one I see


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Web trawling/web-window shopping is a very dangerous business sometimes. I started pricing up after market parts for a 'four about two hours ago and now have a comprehensive list of parts for performance and styling that would be great on the car Oh well, I'm just gonna have to put in an exceptional year to make sure I can afford it all

 

Gen7 GTs look like garbage to be honest. Gen 6 Celies. those are beauties.

 

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I definately don't share yours on the Gen 7 GT. I think it looks badass - especially in black. How can you argue with 190 BHP stock and easily upgradeable to 250 with a little tuning and a few aftermarket parts?

I still like the Gen 6 GT-Four more though

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And here's why, for the most part. DAMN that guy can build and drive a GT4

 

All of the celicas are very nice looking cars I think.... except for the ~1980 shape
The gen 7's aren't as curvy on the outside, neither are the late 80's, but they are all still quite nice, and look tough. The gen 7's interior is one of the nicest looking dashboards i've ever seen in a car, short of some of the leather clad europeans. Late supras and late rx7 dashboards are very nice too, any of these three jap dashes nicely retrimmed with leather would be epic

The earlier 70's and 90's models are the curviest, I wouldn't mind spending some time with one of them in a garage, with some axle grease on the exhaust tip and a nice bottle of red wine

 

I totally agree with you on the Gen 7 interior. The VVTLi GT has an amazing interior, probably as you've said the nicest mainstream production sports car interior around. Nicely designed and finished dash, and awesome "GT" embossed seats with red stitching and accents. If I'm buying a Celica at all, that alone would draw me to buying a GT over a Gen 6 if I can afford it when the time comes, but if I end up going with a gen 6 GT-Four I'll have equally as much fun with it and it'll be very upgadeable. There are countless project logs on enthusiast forums where people have taken GT4's to dizzying heights performance wise, some reaching 400 BHP without even breaking the £2000 barrier (on upgrades that is) and others topping out at 600+ BHP with drag prepped cars (Case in point: Tufy's red beauty). There really is a lot drawing me to both Gen 6 and Gen 7 Celicas, and if I want to upgrade in the future, the G6 is the obvious choice. I'm not sure what performance enhancing options are available for the gen 7 GT. Chances are they're not as exciting as those readily available for the gen 6 2.2 JUN stroker kit anyone? Yesplease

 

Which is why I drive a Micra as my daily driver. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense.

Most people put all their eggs in one basket, compromise, and have one car. It ends up not being the car they really want due to running costs. A friend of mine loves Alfas, and really wants the big V6 147, but he says he can't because it will cost too much to run. He ended up getting the 2.0 version instead. I suggested he get a small, economical car that's very cheap to insure AND a 147 GTA as a weekend car, but he ruled it out because he "wouldn't be seen dead" in a micra or whatever. So instead he compromises because he's scared of having people see him in a Micra.

Not only that, his Alpha, being his daily drive, now has dents from car park door damage, a few scratches, and of course lots of miles on it. If he'd swallowed his ego, he could have a Alfa 147 GTA, with no scratches and dents, and nice low miles. What's the big deal with going to work in your best car? Driving to work you do the same route every day, usually in heavy traffic... what's the point? Any old piece of crap can do that.

Same here.... I drive around 150 miles a week to work and back. It's all in heavy urban traffic, and my average speed on my commute is 18mph. If I was like the guy above there's no way I could use the Mustang for that, plus, it would be frustrating. Instead, I use a Micra (55mpg and group 2 insurance) and keep the pony for weekends. The Micra already has dents and scratches that have happened since I bought it. They'd now be on the Mustang if I didn't have a daily driver. As a result, the Mustang only has 11,000 miles on it after 3 years.

Sports car for weekends, and the most economical piece of crap you can find for work and shopping.

It makes perfect sense. In fact, I don't know why everyone doesn't do it. It's cheaper too in the long run, as my daily only needs £15 a week on fuel. Plus, despite having a Mustang, I actually use less fuel than someone who runs a 1.8 etc as a daily driver... so it's actually a greener option.

Win win!

 

Agreed ^ Pook.

Have 2 cars. For example my dad, he's got a 1991 Toyota Pickup for work.

And a Mercedes S430 for the weekends. Not terribly exciting, but it's literally a pillow on wheels.

 

I've love to have 2 cars, but I haven't got to that stage in my life yet - its bad enough paying for one.

You do make a lot of valid points though.

 

It's prettym uch a decision I made when I sold the Golf V GTI of mine:
Get a good daily driver, something that's affordable to run, and not shite to drive.
Pay that off, then get another car, one for weekends.

So that's my plan. Wait for a few of the upcoming small 2-seater-rwd cars that look to be coming

 

Agreed!

Neither have I, but it's closer than ever. If I hadn't crashed the old car I could probably afford to do it this summer, but it's gonna have to wait another year. It's a pretty big decision though, and I'm glad to have another year to seriously think about what I'm going to buy and what I'm going to do with it after I get it.

Snap! This is exactly what I thought too