Post by racingteatray on Apr 20, 2021 16:57:29 GMT
Ok, so a friend of my wife's has got in touch as she wants a new car.
She currently has a 61-plate BMW Z4 23i MSport. It's a lovely spec in a dark metallic blue with a cream full leather interior, and dates from when "23i" still meant a six cylinder engine, plus it has a manual 'box (she likes driving).
However, she's had it for about seven years and now wants to change. Apparently it's had a few gremlins of late, including with the roof.
She paid about £22k for it originally when it was about three years old and would look to spend the same again on its replacement, which she would like to be another small nearly-new (ie up to 3-4yrs old) sporty convertible.
Having perused Autotrader, this is not an especially easy task. The obvious answer would be another Z4, but she's had two in succession already, plus the new model is still in entirely another price bracket. So...
Audi TT? No, her husband has one (albeit a coupe) and she doesn't fancy the "his and hers" look.
Audi A3 convertible in some sort of 2.0T guise - bit of a lump?
BMW 228i/230i convertible - barely any on Autotrader and mostly white (which she doesn't want)
Fiat 124 Spider Lusso Plus - might feel a bit low-rent after the Z4?
Mazda MX-5 - see above
Mini Cooper S - might not quite be what she's after.
The only thing I can think of is the Mercedes SLC300. I don't personally think it wins any beauty contests and the design/tech isn't the latest/greatest, but she may not care about any of that. Although, as mentioned, she does like driving and lives out in the sticks where she does actually get to drive all the time, so it can't be too much of a pudding.
Am I missing anything obvious?
She fancied an Alfa 4C (purely because she has seen a couple and thinks they look lovely) but I had to break it to her that they cost over £40k.
She currently has a 61-plate BMW Z4 23i MSport. It's a lovely spec in a dark metallic blue with a cream full leather interior, and dates from when "23i" still meant a six cylinder engine, plus it has a manual 'box (she likes driving).
However, she's had it for about seven years and now wants to change. Apparently it's had a few gremlins of late, including with the roof.
She paid about £22k for it originally when it was about three years old and would look to spend the same again on its replacement, which she would like to be another small nearly-new (ie up to 3-4yrs old) sporty convertible.
Having perused Autotrader, this is not an especially easy task. The obvious answer would be another Z4, but she's had two in succession already, plus the new model is still in entirely another price bracket. So...
Audi TT? No, her husband has one (albeit a coupe) and she doesn't fancy the "his and hers" look.
Audi A3 convertible in some sort of 2.0T guise - bit of a lump?
BMW 228i/230i convertible - barely any on Autotrader and mostly white (which she doesn't want)
Fiat 124 Spider Lusso Plus - might feel a bit low-rent after the Z4?
Mazda MX-5 - see above
Mini Cooper S - might not quite be what she's after.
The only thing I can think of is the Mercedes SLC300. I don't personally think it wins any beauty contests and the design/tech isn't the latest/greatest, but she may not care about any of that. Although, as mentioned, she does like driving and lives out in the sticks where she does actually get to drive all the time, so it can't be too much of a pudding.
Am I missing anything obvious?
She fancied an Alfa 4C (purely because she has seen a couple and thinks they look lovely) but I had to break it to her that they cost over £40k.
