Scottish Elises

Is it possible to buy a supercar for £20k without kissing goodbye to all of your money, your credit rating and your relationship?

I'm increasingly drawn to DB7s on pistonheads .. I think after reading the ditty at the back of Evo. There are a few of them on PH for sub £20k and they're at 'reasonable' mileage considering their age.

I know nothing about the cars and thier reliability, but I'm thinking they've got to be better than old ferraris in terms of chasis rust and electrical failure (no offence intended to any older Ferrari owners!). Also, being front engined, the 'big' services shouldn't be as much as say, a mid-engined Ferrari.

Again, I've never driven a DB7 and it may be a dynamic disappointment after the elise, and a little down on power since the RS6. I'm guessinf

But - a 1995 car will have issues given its age - suspension components, brakes, steering, interior, trim etc etc. 12 cylinders will give more hassle than 6 and will be more expensive to service.

So, consideing DB7s or any 'supercar' (use your own definition) do you think its possible to buy one for under £20k and not be declared bankrupt within six months?

Others will be in a better place to comment; I have driven a DB7 vantage convertable; nice car, I was impressed at the time, but could not get away from it's Jag XJS underpinnings. Not really a tight sports car, but a very nice tourer. And still very pretteeee.

I'd say it's quite easily possible as long as you buy one that doesn't need anything/much done to it.

I'm pretty sure you can find the same 6 cylinder engine kicking about in £1500 Jags too, lots of parts will be shared etc.

Go for it

The_Rossatron wrote:I'd say it's quite easily possible as long as you buy one that doesn't need anything/much done to it.

That's the $600,000 question though, isn't it? 996s for example (I think I'm right in saying) can have engine mount failures that produce a several thousand pound bill. How can you predict which ones will suffer? Its like saying if you buy a K-series elise buy one that won't get HGF.

I should add that there are no purchases on the cards - its all about daydreaming

This much is true. Although I guess if you find out all the known issues of a particular supercar and buy accordingly. I.e. by a 111R rather than a K or buy a 993 over a 996 or a 996 that's already had refreshed engine mounts.

It's all a gamble and like any you have to balance risk with reward!

There was an interesting article in Autocar last week about used 996s, which are well under 20k now for the pre-facelift models. Apparently many suffer from major engine failure (dropped liners IIRC) without warning leaving you with a 10k bill No idea about DB7s, but I guess they could have pretty hefty bills too. The question you have to ask yourself is : do ya feel lucky, punk?

If I were to get a 993 I'd have to work a heck of a lot harder and save up for the turbo.

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I need a cloth.

A late 928 GT with a manual box... should get a bit of change to deal with any troubles.
190 mph and pretty quick off the mark, but smooth cruising and german build quality.
Galvanised chassis and non-interference engines too

Paul.A wrote:The Vanquish cost more than £20K in running costs

You still got it Paula?

On the 993 front (cheers, Ross) did you see that Kenny Dunn's got one?

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/www/ca ... 7352460690

I think that's the car the 911 HUL press car was on all of my posters, or was it that aqua buley colour?

How can nobody have mentioned the NSX by now? For 20K and no sleepless nights it has to be the number 1 contender.

Sure it only has 276bhp but it screams supercar to me and is as reliable as anything out there

It doens't work on the "it wont break front" but

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/731483.htm

StiflerMR2 wrote:How can nobody have mentioned the NSX by now? For 20K and no sleepless nights it has to be the number 1 contender.

Sure it only has 276bhp but it screams supercar to me and is as reliable as anything out there

I thought about posting it, but is it really a supercar...?

Is a Mitsubishi 3000 GT / GTO a supercar, or even the Maserati 3200...

Chris

Corranga wrote:Is a Mitsubishi 3000 GT / GTO

Chris

The NSX most certainly is (well it is in my book)...mid engined, rwd, cutting edge technology (when it was made) and sublime handling.

Supercar!