Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

If you are putting them on the roof, then you don't need an estate. How about a vauxhall vxr8? Or a monaro vxr?

I'm not saying i wouldn't love one in my garage, but if i was looking at options for a car that was going to be pressed into regular use to carry bikes to and from the trails, it wouldn't be a z3m coupe.

Yeah, forget about roof racks:
https://www.vauxhall.co.uk/microapps/vxr/vxr8-maloo/index.html

oh, absolutely - I was speaking in general terms.

An m135i/m140i must be of similar size to a z3m coupe, with a much more modern chassis and drivetrain. With a few tweaks they can be devastatingly effective across a b road. Again, just minus the soul, but also minus the cost of entry

Ive been looking at the 140i but they are also very expensive around here and are hard to come by with a manual transmission :/

2 door estate car. Name another one, that you can buy today, that has around 300 bhp.

Ferrari FF?

It's a pretty niche car type. Why not just a 2 door hatchback? Or coupe?

Boxster and a bit of welding and filler

Why? I’ve always wanted one.

I’ve got an estate which almost never has anyone in the back, but the boot and the roof see heavy use.

Why? I’ve always wanted one.

In that case there is no better reason to buy a z3m coupe. They are super cool. Do it.

Do they all have the same bodywork? For e.g. would an LHD 2.8 have the same shell/wings as the M version?

According to Wikipedia:

Compared to the standard Z3, M models featured a limited slip differential, a wider rear track,[14] and larger brakes (that are shared with the E36 M3). Z3M models were available in M-specific colors, they feature more aerodynamic wing-mirrors as well as redesigned front and rear bumpers and bespoke "Roadstar" Style 40 wheels, revised side gill and quad exhausts. The interior can also be differentiated by the voltmeter, clock and oil temperature gauges in the center console, leather-wrapped center console and door pulls, as well as unique M-styled seats and interior color options.

I don't really know where to look for used lhd cars, but the only manual non-M on car and classic is 24k. You'd get an s50 engined z3m coupe for that.

I had an m3 evo with that engine and its great, but the s54 from the e46, and later z3m, is on another level!

https://youtu.be/BziDXDrg3Sg

Having done the timing belt on the Astra, and spotted how ducked it looks underneath I’m having doubts as to how many more MOTs it’ll pass. How much do you need to spend to get an estate that is reliable and likely to last for 50k+ miles without breaking the bank in maintenance?
Ie, Skoda Octavia estate with 50k on the clock (this is a very rough starting point). I’m not really fussed on the car, but reliable and cheap have to be a priority over looks and performance 😢

Suggested that back up thread already!

What's your budget?

Mondeo estate is an option worth considering:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201905178050465

Trying to figure it out really. Probably £6k max, £5k more realistic. Mainly just trying to figure out what’s an optimum budget - no point saving cash at point of purchase if it’ll result in a shorter working life/higher maintenance costs etc.

Does £5-6k for an estate that’ll be good for 5-8 years and 50-80k miles sound reasonable? With standard maintenance obviously.

They’re not what you’d call cheap

Woah woah woah, cheap wasnt in the original criteria

You are kind of between two price points there:

Sub £5k: pick up a cheapish car and run it for as long as you can before a big bill comes in; with a bit of luck, 3 years is not unlikely, or could go on longer but you are getting into end of life.

£8k - £11k: you can find a newish car that may have 6 plus years of trouble free life in it.

These are quite cheap and supposed to be fairly reliable:

http://www.cargiant.co.uk/vehicle?reg=DS66TBY

These are just cheap:

https://www.arnoldclark.com/used-cars/ref/ARNCI-U-50380?utm_source=autotrader&utm_medium=autotrader&utm_campaign=autotrader

Ah that’s interesting. I don’t mind having to drop [some] money on it each year, but have I been lucky running the Astra for 7-8 years? It only cost £3k, 7 years old, 56k on the clock. Had a couple of £500 bills, but has generally been really cheap, doing 10k miles a year.

Why not keep the Astra until it fails an MOT? Buying second hand is always gonna be gamble, might get a 20k mile car that's shagged from doing short town journeys or a 100k motorway cruiser that's asked for nothing (or vice versa).

have I been lucky running the Astra for 7-8 years

A guess a fair number of cars make it 15 years old / 120,000 miles plus without handing out any huge bills.

My concern would be that a more modern car is more likely to suffer a fault that is costly to repair, as they are more complex and have more stuff on them to go wrong.

All just my opinion, (based on the cars i've run) obviously.