Hi,
I am looking to buy a coupe very shortly, Which is the best to buy, the turbo or the non turbo? Also how much is the road tax yearly, Is insurance extortionate? I am 30 with a clean licence. Roughly have about 1-2k to spend. What sort of year/mileage am i looking at for around this price? what are they like to run ie; fuel/servicing etc.

I know there are alot of questions, SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks

Lee

Hi And welcome to the forum!

should you get a turbo? sorry only you can answer that one! the N/A is a great car. There still quite quick for what they are. and the insurance and running cost are much better. Mpg wise IMOP there is little between the two.

The turbo has higher running costs and the breaks, suspension, engine are more stressed than a N/A, your looking at around 500-600 for a turbo fitted and suppled 400+ on a fitted clutch, same again on the belts

so there not cheep cars to run. The 20vt is group 19 (possibly 18) im paying 480 a year fully declared 4 years NCB and 25 in a low risk area with a clean license

Best think you can do is read the buyers guide, have a look at the FAQ section and probably look to buy one off the forum for sale section.
There are many people like my self willing to help new members by going to look at there potential new car. (save you from buying a shed/money pit!)

Make sure all the big jobs have been done on what ever you get, clutch, turbo, belts (inc cam) and a resent suspension refresh, as this will cost 2k allown to do

Finally as regards budget, coupes are going for silly money now, but look to be spending the minumin of 2k on a 20vt

Tax is £190 per year, went up £5 after the budget

If you are 30, clean licence, decent enough postcode and a little no claims, around £400-£500 should be pretty achieveable on insurance.

IMO, the Coupe is now of an age where the 'I've got a budget of x, this should get me a x mile/x year car' doesn't really apply. Condition is everything with these cars and you'll find as many horrid late 'low mileage' cars as you will well maintained 100k+ earlier cars. Like Sam says, checking big jobs have been done at a specialist is a real plus point.

Keep an eye on here and Pistonhead's for sale section - I'd spend as close to every penny of your £2k budget on one if you can - you are taking a risk with those down in the £1k areas, especially the 20vts.

Never found fuel consumption to be an issue really, should be able to get around 30mpg from a standard 20vt if not thrashed everywhere. I'd budget at least £1k per year for servicing and maintenance.

As Sam says, let us know where you are and there are plenty of guys who can help your search

I will be selling my 20VT shortly.. I am looking for around £1800 for it and it has had the major jobs done like cambelt and clutch.

If I set aside a small amount of bias, as I've got mine up for sale (See the for sale section), my comments would be:

If you haven't driven performance cars before, start off with an N/A. The later ones with a VIS engine feel and sound great The insurance is cheaper, and the performance is plenty good enough for most needs. I'm only selling mine because I fancied a change in colour, and a Turbo came along at a good price

If you're used to performance cars, and you have enough of a no claims discount to get a good price on insurance, then you've got to go with the Turbo. They're generally slightly better looked after, and there are some very good ones around at good prices in the for sale section. The Brembo's make a great car look fantastic

I strongly recommend leather seats, as they just wear better and look better

My insurance is £265 a year, but I'm in an OK area, and have 7 years NCD and no points on my license.

Last week, I worked out the average cost of ownership of my non-Turbo over the last 3 years. It worked out at about 12p per mile for fuel, and 13p per mile on all other costs, doing an average of ~20k miles a year. This was probably higher than the average, as I blew up an engine

Hope this helps, and welcome to the forum

Ian