Donate to Remove ads

Got a credit card? use our Credit Card & Finance Calculators

Thanks to johnstevens77,Bhoddhisatva,scotia,Anonymous,Cornytiv34, for Donating to support the site

Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

Passion, instruction, buying, care, maintenance and more, any form of vehicle discussion is welcome here
zico
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 2139
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 12:12 pm
Has thanked: 1074 times
Been thanked: 1086 times

Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419092

Postby zico » June 12th, 2021, 6:46 pm

I'm planning on getting a new (to me) car, and thinking about getting something with a bit of style, yet practicality that won't break the bank. We only need 2 seats, but would also ideally like a reasonable bit of boot space for Europe trips. (Maybe a 2 + 2 tiny seats would do the job for occasional storage capacity).

I've had a Lexus IS 250 (2.5 litre engine) for the last 14 years, which has been great, very quiet and smooth, as majority of driving is motorway, with very little country roads.

Quite fancy the idea of a convertible, but there doesn't seem to be much choice. I'm not impressed by Audi shapes, or Mercedes, so BMW may be a possibility.
Budget around £20k-£35k. Wondering whether it's worth looking at an older, but more stylish car within my budget, or whether those kind of cars could just be expensive unreliable money pits.
Definitely want automatic tranmission.

Would appreciate any thoughts/ideas to narrow down the field before I go looking in earnest.

scottnsilky
Lemon Slice
Posts: 255
Joined: November 9th, 2016, 8:07 pm
Has thanked: 91 times
Been thanked: 53 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419153

Postby scottnsilky » June 13th, 2021, 1:12 am

Out and about the other day in central Lancashire I saw a beautiful little Daimler SP250 with its lovely Edward Turner designed V8 engine, how about that, 1964 possibly. Ten minutes later a Triumph Stag, another V8, troublesome in the day, but now reliable enough. An hour later an Aston Martin, all with their goods down! Possibly not?

A quick look on Auto trader, amazing how many were German at £30,000! But what is more practical than a Mazda MX5? A 70 reg for just shy of £30,000.

Happy motoring....

servodude
Lemon Half
Posts: 8271
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 5:56 am
Has thanked: 4435 times
Been thanked: 3564 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419155

Postby servodude » June 13th, 2021, 1:23 am

I have a friend with a VW EOS that's seems easy to live with
- comfortable size wise

- sd

AF62
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 3499
Joined: November 27th, 2016, 8:45 am
Has thanked: 131 times
Been thanked: 1277 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419177

Postby AF62 » June 13th, 2021, 9:37 am

scottnsilky wrote:But what is more practical than a Mazda MX5? A 70 reg for just shy of £30,000.


As someone who bought a Fiat 124 Spider recently, which is based on the latest Mazda MX5 ND platform, I can tell you it is great fun but practical - not in the normal sense of the word! Seats are low at under 50cm from the ground so you have to climb down into it and the boot is about 150 litres, so enough for two Easyjet carry on suitcases (50x40x25) with space around for coats, camera, handbag, etc. Fine if you can either pack well (we can do a week or more 'hand luggage only') or are only looking at using it for a few days away.

As for a 70 reg MX5 being £30k, my 18 reg Fiat was significantly less than half of that and was the top of the range version with all the toys and bought from a main dealer. However that was before the summer increase in price of all convertibles - buy a convertible between November and February, not once spring/summer arrives.

For other choices I am not a fan of the convertible versions of cars like the Audi 3 or 5, BMW 2 series, etc. as they just look ungainly compared to the normal versions, and although they are more practical than a MX5 with the seat height being that of a normal car, the boot space is inevitably compromised with the folding roof.

One car that does look reasonably stylish but is a lot more expensive than the MX5 is the BMW Z4, with barely used 21 plate examples of the newest version being around £30k. Although like the MX5 the seats are low down, the boot is far larger at around 280 litres so more suitable for longer trips.

servodude
Lemon Half
Posts: 8271
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 5:56 am
Has thanked: 4435 times
Been thanked: 3564 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419181

Postby servodude » June 13th, 2021, 10:08 am

AF62 wrote:As someone who bought a Fiat 124 Spider recently, which is based on the latest Mazda MX5 ND platform


So not a Lada these days?
I've seen a few of the Abarths about; they do look like fun!

AF62
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 3499
Joined: November 27th, 2016, 8:45 am
Has thanked: 131 times
Been thanked: 1277 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419194

Postby AF62 » June 13th, 2021, 10:43 am

servodude wrote:
AF62 wrote:As someone who bought a Fiat 124 Spider recently, which is based on the latest Mazda MX5 ND platform


So not a Lada these days?
I've seen a few of the Abarths about; they do look like fun!


Definitely not a Lada!

It is a fun car to drive, and slightly more practical than the MX5 ND as it has a turbo engine not the normally aspirated engine in the MX5 that needs to be wrung to death to get the performance.

Although the Abarth 124 is 30 BHP more powerful than the Fiat 124 (168 vs 138), and has a limited slip differential and updated brakes, I thought the paint colours (contrasting matt black bonnet and red mirrors and trim) together with the louder exhaust, a little too 'try hard'. Coupled with a substantial price premium for the Abarth I went for the more understated Fiat.

But neither the Abarth or the Fiat are that numerous as they stopped selling them in 2018/19 (there was a 'parts bin' special with the left overs in 2020), with around 1600 Abarths in the UK and around 2800 Fiats.

Time will tell how the styling ages, but maintenance shouldn't be an issue with the Mazda underpinning.

zico
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 2139
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 12:12 pm
Has thanked: 1074 times
Been thanked: 1086 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419305

Postby zico » June 13th, 2021, 5:27 pm

Thanks for replies. I'm starting to settle on a BMW convertible, either Series-2 or Series-4. The Series 2 looks more fun to drive, and the Series-4 just looks a bit too big.

Next step tomorrow is to take my golf clubs and trolley along to a showroom, and see if/how I can fit them into the cars!


Lanark
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 1321
Joined: March 27th, 2017, 11:41 am
Has thanked: 595 times
Been thanked: 582 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419558

Postby Lanark » June 14th, 2021, 8:49 pm

2CV ?

The only downside is the safety aspect, if you think you are about to be in an accident the best policy is to throw the door open and jump - better survival chances than if you stay inside the car when it crashes!

Mike4
Lemon Half
Posts: 7084
Joined: November 24th, 2016, 3:29 am
Has thanked: 1637 times
Been thanked: 3791 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419568

Postby Mike4 » June 14th, 2021, 9:51 pm




An EXCELLENT set of suggestions if I may say. My own first thought was a Bentley Continental or if too large, an Aston Martin and those are in your first three suggestions too! The only prob with those two is perhaps the running cost, i.e. fuel consumption/service costs. Maybe why such wonderful cars are so reasonably priced.

(Edit to sort out my html.)

DrFfybes
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 3731
Joined: November 6th, 2016, 10:25 pm
Has thanked: 1171 times
Been thanked: 1964 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419582

Postby DrFfybes » June 15th, 2021, 12:12 am

Mike4 wrote:
DrFfybes wrote:Stylish, practical, 2+2, up to £35k(ish!)?

Well, you could go for a repmobile with the roof missing :) , or any of the following will have similar total running costs over 3 or 4 years...
[...]

Paul



An EXCELLENT set of suggestions if I may say. My own first thought was a Bentley Continental or if too large, an Aston Martin and those are in your first three suggestions too! The only prob with those two is perhaps the running cost, i.e. fuel consumption/service costs. Maybe why such wonderful cars are so reasonably priced.

(Edit to sort out my html.)


Thanks Mike.
I would have included a 911, but they look so much like a Boxster these days people might think you were in a budget version ;)

The Bentley isn't really that large, but the rear seats are cosmetic. The Aston ones are also very poor, but the Maserati is a proper 4 seater and is a similar size to a V70 volvo.

The running costs will be higher than a 2 or 4 series, but Zico has had a 2.5L Lexus for several years which I gather need coaxing over 30 mpg, so fuel economy isn't top of the agenda. Servicing costs will also be somewhat more expensive, but some quotes from Indy specialists can make it palatable.

The real winner for many of those is depreciation, or lack of it.

Looking on autotrader 35k gets a 3 year old 440i which looks like it will lose 10k over the next 2 years, and these are retail prices. A 12 month old 420i for similar money seems to hold value slightly better, but still over 4k per year. OK, so depreciation tails off after 6 years old, but they will still fall in value, whereas the others seemed to have plateaued.

I bought a 30k Maserati and it depreciated by about 12k in 8 years. Service costs averaged about £1200-1300/year, and that was main dealer alternating minor and major every 12 months irrespective of mileage and all the odds and sods going wrong with a decad+ old Italian GT built when there was less emphasis on reliability than more recent ones. We're still pondering the replacement. Head says Audi R8, heart says Aston. MrsF fancied a McLaren but TBH at that pricepoint I'd prefer a Lambo. Need to persuade her to part with her Z4M first though.

Paul.

88V8
Lemon Half
Posts: 5768
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 11:22 am
Has thanked: 4097 times
Been thanked: 2560 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419648

Postby 88V8 » June 15th, 2021, 11:52 am

The Triumph TR6 has a good-sized boot, and first-rate club/forum/spares support.
https://www.tr-register.co.uk/
Injection models, like ours, are quite sprightly.

We owned one for five years, and if I wanted another convertible, that would be my first choice by far.

Caveat... over 6ft tall, probably not. And it's, ahhh how can I put this... not a wide car.
I've never seen one with an auto, but I suppose it could be converted by a TR specialist.

As an option the MX5 was rated tops for reliability by Which. I won't mention it being a hairdressers' car, after all you might be a hair-dresser :)

V8

ReformedCharacter
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 3120
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 11:12 am
Has thanked: 3590 times
Been thanked: 1509 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419668

Postby ReformedCharacter » June 15th, 2021, 12:50 pm

I have a soft spot for old Mercs, relatively simple, elegant and built to last, such as this 1976 350SL Sports Convertible:

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1350405

A car that I would expect to appreciate as long as petrol cars don't get banned from the roads.

RC

Clitheroekid
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 2856
Joined: November 6th, 2016, 9:58 pm
Has thanked: 1384 times
Been thanked: 3771 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419825

Postby Clitheroekid » June 15th, 2021, 11:17 pm

I've owned a series of Merc SLK's over a 20+ year period, and they've been brilliant cars. The most recent ones I owned were 350's, and although not a sports car in the same mould as a Boxster they were quick and handled pretty well while at the same time being comfortable enough to drive hundreds of miles at a stretch.

Even with the roof down there's enough storage for two people, and with the roof up the boot's quite capacious. They're also fairly economical - around 35 mpg on a long run - and maintenance costs, even at main dealers, aren't excessive. Maybe I was just lucky, but I've never had a breakdown in one and they've been a very easy default choice each time they upgraded.

Unfortunately, they've now stopped making them, and I'm therefore in a similar dilemma to you regarding the choice of my next convertible, especially as they're a dying breed.

There is the SLK successor, the SLC. Most of them have weedy little engines, but the 43 is OK - https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/11817354 However, it's basically just a reheated SLK, and I think it's time for a change. In any event, you say you don't like the looks of Mercs, so I guess you've already considered and rejected them.

What I really want is a Ferrari California, but I've been scared off by the horrendous cost of fixing them if anything serious goes wrong, which it seems is all too common. I'm waiting till the later models (when the problems had been fixed) come down in price to something I'd consider paying, but it's a long, slow process!

DrFfybes
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 3731
Joined: November 6th, 2016, 10:25 pm
Has thanked: 1171 times
Been thanked: 1964 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#419887

Postby DrFfybes » June 16th, 2021, 10:24 am

Clitheroekid wrote:What I really want is a Ferrari California, but I've been scared off by the horrendous cost of fixing them if anything serious goes wrong, which it seems is all too common. I'm waiting till the later models (when the problems had been fixed) come down in price to something I'd consider paying, but it's a long, slow process!


First, if you really want one, and can afford it, do it. There are a lot more things in life I regret not doing than wish I hadn't done.

Loads of buyer guides out there for these, and a very good forum. A well used and well maintained car is usually a better bet than a garage queen. Go and look at one, check the load space out, particularly with the roof down (in which case the rear seats become luggage space.

If you find one, get an inspection independant to the vendor - an honest seller will expect this.

If you are serious, find an Indy specialist near to you and talk to them - they'll know of good cars in the area and can put feelers out. Obviously beware of internet stories of catastrophic failures, they tend to be reported much more than the untroubled ones. Whatever you fnid, get it inspected first.

Later ones will be more sorted than earlier ones, avoid stop/start systems, and have a budget. Set 200/month aside for general running costs, and have a 'bork budget' just in case. Expect it to depreciate, and expect quite a bid/offer spread.

Oh, and get it inspected first :)

Paul

zico
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 2139
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 12:12 pm
Has thanked: 1074 times
Been thanked: 1086 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#420008

Postby zico » June 16th, 2021, 5:27 pm

Clitheroekid wrote:I've owned a series of Merc SLK's over a 20+ year period, and they've been brilliant cars. The most recent ones I owned were 350's, and although not a sports car in the same mould as a Boxster they were quick and handled pretty well while at the same time being comfortable enough to drive hundreds of miles at a stretch.

Even with the roof down there's enough storage for two people, and with the roof up the boot's quite capacious. They're also fairly economical - around 35 mpg on a long run - and maintenance costs, even at main dealers, aren't excessive. Maybe I was just lucky, but I've never had a breakdown in one and they've been a very easy default choice each time they upgraded.

Unfortunately, they've now stopped making them, and I'm therefore in a similar dilemma to you regarding the choice of my next convertible, especially as they're a dying breed.


Mrs. Zico has a 2003 SLK that we bought back in 2007 which she absolutely loves. If I ever asked her to choose between me or the car, I'm not too sure who'd get the nod! Only problem is rust, so we spent £1,000 last year getting a couple of new body panels to extend its life by another few years - absolutely worth it for us, because she likes the particular style and car so much.

88V8
Lemon Half
Posts: 5768
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 11:22 am
Has thanked: 4097 times
Been thanked: 2560 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#420074

Postby 88V8 » June 16th, 2021, 10:47 pm

If you wanted the car primarily for European use, a lefty perhaps?
In which case the Mustang comes into view.
This model is what I have in mind https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203495581336?hash=item2f61482698:g:AV0AAOSwoGFglOBS
There are better examples.

Good parts support. Just make sure it's not rusty.

V8

Padders72
Lemon Slice
Posts: 318
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 7:53 pm
Has thanked: 123 times
Been thanked: 177 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#420082

Postby Padders72 » June 17th, 2021, 6:50 am

Give the 2 series a close look, it’s the sweet spot in BMWs in many ways. The convertible has a fabric roof rather than the more cumbersome and heavier metal roof the larger models have. They drive well and in 240i form are blisteringly fast (like 911 fast). Though perhaps the smaller engines suit the convertible character better in some ways. I am not a fan of the z4 styling so would skip those personally. A recent Mustang would also be on my list but the space inside bears no relation to the massive outer proportions it seems. Don’t overlook an older 911. A circa 2010 997 Gen 2 would be in budget and at that point they are reliable and feel very special. I haven’t tried the convertible (which being RWD always looked a bit odd to me) but my 997 coupe has been great. Knowing what I do about the Bentley Conti I would steer clear of a cheap one unless you have pals in the trade. Bentley basically make life very hard for independents and getting anything done at a sensible cost is tricky. There is parts overlap with the Phaeton and Touareg but any sort of under bonnet issue would be a horrific cost.

88V8
Lemon Half
Posts: 5768
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 11:22 am
Has thanked: 4097 times
Been thanked: 2560 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#420275

Postby 88V8 » June 17th, 2021, 8:28 pm

And of course if you want an older model, there's the Stag https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234055322205?hash=item367ec8ca5d:g:B3EAAOSw1I1gy3Xt

V8

ReformedCharacter
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 3120
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 11:12 am
Has thanked: 3590 times
Been thanked: 1509 times

Re: Stylish, practical convertible - does one exist?

#420288

Postby ReformedCharacter » June 17th, 2021, 9:25 pm

88V8 wrote:And of course if you want an older model, there's the Stag https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234055322205?hash=item367ec8ca5d:g:B3EAAOSw1I1gy3Xt

V8

The Stag is a lovely looking car of its type. It could have been a great success but never sold well. Poor design, poor build quality, lack of development money and a questionable choice of engine all contributed to it's lack of sales. If it had been better built and there had been sufficient Rover V8 engines it could have been a very good car, a disappointment like so many other British cars of that period. Pity.

RC


Return to “Cars, Driving, Motorbikes or any Transport”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests