snapper

there's your answer, if you're hankering for a KE, get that on on club K for a grand. you got a grand for suspension and rubber, and still have change.

you were all thinking I was gonna say 850-T5, weren't ya? 

.... which you could almost find for $3k for one needing a lot of love..

man, for $3k, you've so many options it's not funny. 

looks like he's going for some LV certification.  very impressive, I like the toolmakers approach with jigs.

sadly this one doesn't meet all of the criteria, but it has been described as the perfect car:

Mk5 Golf GTI! Ticks all the boxes except needs some tuning for the 1/4 times, but they are very responsive to tuning so it's easy to do. Not quite MX5 handling but pretty close, much closer than a Falcon. Just doesn't have tons of space for 4, so if you were doing every day then I'd look bigger. But if it's for 1 or two most of the time and 4 on weekends or something, no probs.

great car, however I would not ride to auckland in the back of a golf.

cool!  my predilection for 850s is overcome by that image of the s40 with flames issuing from beneath the rad. thanks for sharing!  (no wonder Volvo shelved the 850 in favour of the S40 as a racing platform; not enough flames per lap with the 850)

this man is clearly a viking, and likely has norse god dna.  well, maybe he's from norsewood or dannevirke anyway. 

can't be having that, mate. 

thanks for sharing your view, though!

Haha, do you know a guy called Peter Edmonds snapper?

 

nahp, who dat?

I wonder if you got one of the 4wd jappanese rally specials  ( STI / EVO / GTI-R etc) and converted all the body work back to base model spec, so no scoops wings etc.

 

Would be fast and fit 4 people and would lose all the look at me factor.

seems like an awful lot of work to make a fast ugly car into a fast really boring looking car.  you could save yourself the trouble and just buy a volvo!

Had a mate of mine do that with some version STi. 250kwatw, and he put HX Impreza stuff on it. Was hella lol cos it even had the HX badges and the 1.8 injected stickers.

I guy I knew in UK used to track-day his e30 with 316i trim and hubcaps, all for the loffles.  thing is this stuff really only works with the trainspotters, the other 98% don't know or care, and the ones who find it funny?  well that's probably 25% of the 5% of the trainspotters!

I only know of 1 Lotus Carlton/Omega in New Zealand, and I don't think it would be for sale. At NZ$30k ex-UK, plus a boat ride and registration etc they're probably out of the price bracket, as awesome as they are.

 

Not sure they'd handle that well either. Better off just picking up the next gen V8 M5 for less cash.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/m5/auction-613489372.htm

e39 M5 - great car!  if you're interested here's some blog entries from a car guy in the UK who was using one as an occasional car.  Amazing to think how 'cheap' they are to buy there now.  I guess being e39 the only way you could get one in here now is on the special interest category...

great video - awesome to see a helicopter operation, and that someone got something out that they seriously wanted.

e28 M5?  they're rare everywhere.  and maintaining that six will set you back serious money.

Thought about one of these myself till I found they were only available in Auto.

I thought about them too until I saw the way they were typically driven.  did not want to be identified with that driver group.  If I'm a-gonna be a lout, I might as well be proper loutish!

there is merit in that (GTT Caldina) suggestion.  small 2l class car.  are they comfortable on the 660km run? 

my impression is they're like an ST205 GT-Four celica in a wagon body?

rofl. they're a bit poorly built interior plastics-wise, but aside from that, they're pretty damn good.

Half of the suggestions in this thread I think of driving 4 up + luggage and cringe at the thought of how wallowy, bumpstop hitting and generally uncomfortable they would be, let alone a prick to drive whilst making good time and not feeling destroyed after pedalling them for a couple of hours.

as KK said, everyone thinks their idea of a dream daily is pretty much never going to have any competition.

nail - head - thwack!

I'm sure the BX would fit that, though it's really in the realm of enthusiast-only these days due to age.  my suggestion of 850 is approaching that too.  the Xantia KK's picking up *should* fit the criteria, largely.  Perhaps not the quarter mile times...

there are a few here who are open-minded....

I think there's one of the prime criteria that needs to be re-qualified.  Consider the clashing requirements of "handles like an MX-5" yet "seats four adults in comfort".  Hmmmm - what four door comfortable four seater handles well?  Well, I think my e46 BMW handles pretty well and comfortably seats four - but is it likely to handle as well as an MX-5?  Nope; the M3 does, but it's a two door and out of the price envelope. 

Can anybody suggest a comfortable four(adult)-seater that handles like a small two-seater open-topped low c-of-g sports car?  Hmmmm.

Me, I'm with Cam - in my view (for my utility at least) the car needs to be able to make Auckland with one pee-break, four passengers and luggage - and I still need to feel good at the end (you know, that breeze into your friend's house after a cruise up the island and be pleased to be there, break out the vino, smiles...).  For that, I'd compromise on a couple of second on the quarter.  then we're looking at e39 BMW sixes... e series Mercedes - a W124 would definitely merit consideration, with refreshed suspension, konis and decent tyres they're surprisingly nimble and cheaper on parts/maintenance than a VN Commode (vacationer/executive/corned-beef).

so my second choice with a slight modification to MX5 and 1/4 mi times, I'd take the BMW e39 528i or 530i.  or if less round town, a 540i.  third choice - a Mercedes W124 E320

I saw it (the vidjo) yesserday and am still grinning like a grinning thing caught in assembly like a schoolboy who just doesn't give a shit. sounding good to me, looking forward to seeing progress from 'I think I can' on hills to 'Baby I know it'.

the Aussies recognise great work, period.

then they call it australian. #; )

I'd argue that there's not a hot hatch that will seat four adults comfortably.

the skoda diesels are awesome, sadly not likely to meet the low-cost criteria set by the OP.

If I wasn't Scottish, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

/but its a honda

I know this might sound funny coming from a volvo owner, but yes, couldn't agree more!

 

Handle like an MX5 (or similar level of handling), - perhaps not like an MX5, but surprisingly sticky!

850-T5 #8 )   or better still a T5R

Hah, an 850 does not handle like an MX5... They handle like an overgrown FWD whale that loves to do one-wheel skids everywhere. 

I agree it don't handle like an MX5, and said so above.  "whale"?  nope.  loves corners (compared to other similarly sized FWD cars), and particularly so on high quality rubber.  putting the power down savagely the traction control is somewhat primitive; better to maintain momentum so that one is above 60 for TRACS.

I've been thinking lately, about what I'd like from a car. And as I'm pretty narrow minded in the cars that I like, if the perfect car does exist, perhaps it's escaped me because of my tunnel vision.

So Ideally I'd like a car that,

 

I realise I'm probably asking too much. But does anyone have a car that springs to mind which fits all, or most of those criteria? 

Can seat four adults comfortably, - check!

Handle like an MX5 (or similar level of handling), - perhaps not like an MX5, but surprisingly sticky!

Not ride like an RX2 on cutties, - check! (nothing like anything with cutties)

Cut a sub 14 second 1/4 mile, - - check (a little bit of fettling to get sub-15)

Not have a loud exhaust, - check!

Not attract the attention of the law enforcement, or car thieves, - check! (theft proof, never looked at by plod)

Be able to take a good thrashing often without breaking, - check!

And not cost as much as the deposit for a cheap house. - check! - (under $10k)

And return good fuel milage when being driven sensibly. - check! (9.8l/100km on a trip)

850-T5 #8 )   or better still a T5R

no worries

mate, if you need a timing light and dwell tach, you're welcome to borrow mine.  great to hear you've come so far!