Hi everyone

I'm after a new car with an odd list of requirements and thought where is the best place to come and ask for inspiration and advice on cars, here obvs!

Over the last few years, my car choices have been all over the place, currently leasing a Seat Leon Cupra, before that had another Leon, before that some Megane RS sports, lots of hot hatches mainly.

My current lease is about to come up and I was looking at larger engines cars with power, and had tested both a Kia Stinger GTS or Audi S5 sportback, which I was thinking about, but then Covid struck.

Due to Covid, my requirements have now massively changed, and I will now be working from home with the odd drive into the office maybe once a fortnight and the odd journey to the kids school and shops, but otherwise I will have no real need for a car at all, I expect my mileage to be circa 2k a year, if that!

So am thinking with a slightly sensible head on the budget but not with the car, I'm thinking max of £5k, but other than that: go old, go niche, go weird, go top less, go classic, etc

My only real requirements are:
- must have 4 seats and back seats for a 6 and 8 yr old
- must be reliable (well as reliable as £5k gets you)
- must look good
- fast is nice, but not a must
- I am veering to a convertible, maybe!

So any inspiration, I can change anytime from now until October.

Thanks y'all

So for roof off fun...

A Big Old Mercedes

A Quirky Renault

From the VAG stable you have the Audi A3, Golf, Beetle or the older Audi A4.

There are loads of BMW's to choose from, as well as the Mini or you could take a chance on an old SAAB or a classy Volvo C70

i ve got a 1995 Toyota Celica GT 2.0 liter convertable that will be up for sale in July when i can get back to it next week

Oh my goodness, it's none other than JimO, it has been a long tine indeed, what are you up to these days...

Some good suggestions from Bob there, in a similar vein to the Megane there is the VW Eos (my wife's current car) you could get one within that budget, I'm not keen on the round headlight original version but you can get the later 2011-on second version for £5k albeit with high-ish mileage (you didn't specify a limit?)

Or Fiat 500C, Golf cabrio, or others like BMW 1 series or Mini...?

Hi Dave and Bob.

I'm all well. Dave - I'm still working in Kew at WP, well just W now, 13 years now! So that included it's all just same old, life seems to fly past. Kids are growing up, etc etc.

I jumped into lease cars a few years back and swap every 2 years now, easy motoring - but with my new working life, an expensive garden ornament for 90% of the time!

That Volvo is a great spot Bob I've dropped him a note, that's exactly the sort of thing, I've also got my eye on an Eos 3.2 v6 and a Focus CC, same engine as the Volvo (I'd share a link but ive forgetton how to do it )

How usable are the rear seats in the Eos Dave?

Let's see who responds (and what MrsO let's me buy!)

An early 500 Abarth ,not convertible ,but great fun !!

Been Scandinavian for my 3 post coop cars so might as well fly the flag. GM running gear for all the late ones so whilst might not be top of the reliability list, availability is fine.

Slightly above budget but there are plenty others about with smaller engines for cheaper. This particular one looks the dogs danglies though (albeit not a colour I'm fussed about)...

These are getting down into budget. I have a manual petrol one of these. Probably tick none of your boxes but I'm putting it out there anyway. It's the first post coop car I've had that I actually like the look of, the others were purely practical/timing considerations.

Hey Jim, I'm still at FW although we got taken over by Amec and then Wood, so we are are now "Wood dot" ie: wood. (notice the full stop)

Like rear sets in most convertibles, the leg room in the Eos is limited but it depends where the front seats are positioned, our family are pretty short so we can all fit in for short journeys and you can get a bit of a buffeting at speed, but it depends on the kids, the fun factor of sitting in the back with the roof down varies inversely with age. I expect that the C70 might be more spacious in the rear, but it would be good to take the lids along for a trial fit, not forgetting that they'll keep growing for a few more years...

I've always liked the look of the Volvo C70, just a shame that when the roof is off it fills the boot.

Another large convertible is the BMW 6 Series. I really like these and a few do seem to be close to budget.

Seems to be a few B7 Audi A4's and V8 S4's about. so it might be easy to find a nice one of those.

When Audi moved to the B8 A4 the convertible was moved to the A5 model, I'm currently running my second 3.0 Diesel A5 coupe and love the car. If you do go seeking A5's stay clear of the 1.8 & 2.0 petrol cars. The early - pre 2012 cars had some significant oil drinking problems. Many have had warranty re-builds but it's no guarantee they're problem free.

So many Mercedes models fall into the price window This one looks nice on the outside

The rear seat requirement precludes a 939 Alfa Spider - but it does have two small "benches" behind the back seats for anyone who wants to practice human origami?

Here are some old Dad options but not convertible
Honda Accord
Mazda 6
Both can be had for low money and with decent engines plus all the bells and whistles.

My first thought was the Mazda6 MPS. I liked the look of these when they were released and it seems a decent enough car for sensible money now. Reliability isn't great though but you'd have change out of 5k for that.

How about a Mk 5 Golf Gti?

Though might be too similar to your Leon.

Failing that a nice Saab.

Or.... Something fun like a Mini Cooper S....

Jim, I bought a 2007 TT v6 3.2 for just over £3,600. 90k FASH & it’s faultless, can get kids in back and great to drive - lovely sound - fast & 4wd
Mine ain’t a convertible though - sits well alongside the 20vt plus which I can’t let go off oh and the NA

Wow, first Whatmoretyres now cjh. It's a pleasure to behold.

It's a cracking car the 3.2 TT but it's the one most specialists advise buyers to avoid Stories of V6 cam issues, early DSG problems and high road tax combine to keep people away from them, little do they know what they're missing out on.

I also own 2 coupes an NA and a plus - nothing compares to what the Coupe has thrown at me over the years. The TT is a tank and well maintained - so no comparison with the paranoia of 20vt.

I've just sold my MK3 Focus RS and bought a TTRS for reasons being to JimO. I'm now going to be working from home for the foreseeable future and couldn't really warrant having £27ks worth of car sitting there and only being driven occasionally at the weekend. The TTRS cost half what I got for the Focus and to be honest, it's a lot more thrilling to drive!

JipO, get yourself a 3.2 TT ragtop, cracking cars and the sound they make.......................

So I’m now down to a choice of 2 cars. I’ve looked at a fair few over the past few weeks, cars in this price bracket really move quickly, but the below is sort of where I am going..

Saab

Audi A4

Neither will set the world on fire, but based on the traffic round here, it matters not, in 2 years my average speed on the Cupra is 16 mph

Anyone any experience on either of them, I prefer the look of the Saab, but found the pedals funny, clutch pedal very far to the left, with no resting space, and that may make me look for an A4 instead..

I need usable back seats tho Bozzer, we aren’t all old enough to have grow up children

My youngest is 19 now

Hope you and yours are well Jim?

Go for the A4

Well I bought one. After much looking and finding out that most convertibles, for some unknown reason, are all for sale bloody miles away..

I got myself a pretty sweet A4 convertible..

Pic

The chap didn't really know what he had, since buying it I've found I could sell it now to webuyanycar for £500 more then I paid. But he was a true gent and after being offered a substantial amount more than what we'd agreed by a trader, we'd shaken hands (virtually) and he held good to that.

So a 58 reg. 50k miles. 2 owner. New tyres, new MOT, hood motor and hydraulics, plus all 5 alloys recently powder coated. its the 2 litre tfsi engine, so won't set the world alight, but has "some" poke with 197 bhp. But it's just a solid, hopefully mechanically sound car that came in under my budget

So just one problem with it tho, where has the bloody sun gone now