Cheap older Q-Car for a dad who should know better

The message from "Ebodsky" contains these words:

Shame you said "Nothing that rots" 'cos the turbo MG Maestro would give many things a run for their money.

Audi coupe quattro turbo (original one), Old Merc V8s (cue Pete M!), in fact any decent old V8/V12, Or perhaps a nice twinspark Alfa (PeteM and SteveH can fill you in those more than I can), Or maybe a Saab turbo (MeatballTurbo or Matt (**.**) could elaborate on them).

So I don't really know that much! Sorry :-)

Peter

Yep, Alfa 145/6 or 155 is a top idea . I'll have a trawl through autotrader

Toyota Celica (3rd Generation) Excellent fun and reliable if looked after. Al

In news:Vq0sc.33$9g1.4@newsfe6-win, AstraVanMan decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

*AVOID*

Good fun, cheap to maintain, expensive on fuel, mega stupidly well built, not exactly Q cars

75 2.0 are nice, but nice ones are rare

Not exactly high revvers, but mega torquey. Some bits for earlier Turbos getting scarce.

Q car? Hmm, my recommendation would probably be

....

Answers on a postcard eh?! :P

In news:40b0bfab$0$6330$ snipped-for-privacy@mercury.nildram.net, Max Hamlet decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

D'oh...

suggestions for quick Q car..

Mitsubishi Galant V6's drive well Peugeot 406 V6's are subtle and quick Merc 500 SEC , fast but not subtle Widebody 155 2.0 :-D

For a really oddball, but cheap Q car, Fiat Marea 2.0.. They're actually rather good, and sound great..

3.0L 24V Carlton or Senator. Maybe a 3L 24V Alfa 75? All very cheap, RWD, and handle surprisingly well.

JB

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A Toyota Celica GT4 turbo meets that criteria. An '88- '90 ST165, or '90-'93 ST185. The later ST205's are considerably more expensive.

ST165's can be picked up for less than £500, whilst rustfree, good nick, low mileage ST185's can be as cheap as 2k. As for ST205's you'll be lucky to find one for less than 5k. Most are considerably more.

190 to around 240bhp, but can be fairly easily tweaked to give near 300bhp, or over 400 if you have deep pockets.

I have a ST185 myself. Completely rustfree, perfect interior and mechanics. Being red, there is a very slight fading on the bonnet, but apart from that the paintwork and body is near perfect. Similar ones to mine are fairly common. They seem to age very well. Given good maintenance the engines seem bulletproof. Excepting the highly tweaked ones of course. Mike.

OMG - what a choice...

Great motor, shame about the rest of it - say, is the cambelt change as bat as the 20v coupe?

Lancia Delta Integrale? Although they do rust a bit...

Why? they are great. A friend of mine has one one a D plate. Still looks and drives amazing.

Would be good if you could get a 24v Alfa 75..... it's the 12v fitted to

75s.

I've just spotted one type of motor on Autotrader that I would trade in one of my kids for..

I've always liked the look of the Nissan 300 ZX targa twin turbo. I'm sure the experts would quickly dismiss, but I personally think these cars 'look' better than Porshes. I don't know whether they can go round bends better , but for £2½ > £3½K . The nearest equivalent car which features in fast&furious is the Supra, but they are £6K+ for even the K/L reg ones.

My standard day-to-day work car is a 99 Laguna dTI and only need it because I work 35miles from home. If I ever got a local job, I'd dump it straight away in favour of a ZX.

BTW , for any of you under 25's , I'm 35 with a clean driving record. On Tesco.com I just got a TPFT quote for £470 for a ZX. Thats less premium than I paid for my last 2door coupe in the mid eighties...my Capri Ghia....lol :-)

Pricey - Do you live in Beruit? - 41 yo, rural postcode ?214 fully comp...

I'm just inside Greater Manchester so yep, Gaza strip is a bit cheaper.

I assume you are saying £214 on a ZX300 ? I'm interested to see where I can find cheap specialist insurance for non-commuting , weekends/eves low mileage usage.

For some reason, my insurance prices always seem good - I must just fit certain criteria well - at the moment, I'm sure it will all change soon enough.

#

Fiat Tempra? Quite quick as standard and open to modifications, galvanised underneath, well equipped and surprisingly reliable, and by coincidence I have one for sale very cheap.

I am not a web designer.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@karoo.co.uk, Tim S Kemp decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

They're not that bad, they're not fabulous cars, admittedly, but for the £6-700ish quid you can pick up an R/S plate for they're not bad. The cambelt will be a pig of a job, but for this money the bloody thing is disposable. They're quick, quiet, handle quite well in a subtle manner, and other than the anti roll bar bushes at the front not lasting long, they're a bit of a bargain..

Buy one, run it for a year, flog it before it needs the belt doing. Someone will always pay £600 for a quick car that's not that old..