PORSCHE BOXSTER
With its engine in the properplace – and water-cooled to
boot – the 986 Boxster delighted
punters but upset purists. It was
temptingly cheap, too, and entry
to the flat-six club now starts at
as little as £3000, but watch out
- condition is king and Porsche
parts are incredibly pricey. The
replacement 987 starts at £8k and
adds more power and an upgraded
interior, while the rigid 981 was
larger, lighter and had electrically
assisted steering; it was the fastest
of the lot and immense fun.
BMW Z4
If the Boxster and the TT are a
little too sporty for your tastes,
take a look at the Z4. Prices cover
all bases. The more affordable
23i and 30i models have sweet-
sounding six-cylinder engines,
but after 2011 these were replaced
with efficient but rather dull four-
cylinder ones to cut CO 2 emissions.
Try an M Sport version before
committing to buy one because
it will have a punishing ride. Also,
some owners have experienced
issues with alloy wheels cracking,
so inspect them carefully.
AUDI TT
Buy the desirable Mk1 now and you
can get those Bauhaus-inspiredlooks and that radical interior
from as little as £1000 – and those
prices can only go one way. It still
feels pretty fresh to drive, too. The
Mk2 is the way to go if you want an
even better driving experience –
expect to pay upwards of £4000
for the privilege – while the Mk3 is
a peach in all its forms, although
you’ll need at least £10,000 to
join the party. TTs are tough and
timeless with proven mechanicals,
but beware – parts are expensive.
BUY A USED ONE,
FROM £1000 UP
BMW Z4 vs RIVALS COMPARISON
3 1 JULY 2019 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 45
Z 4 is equally at home (^) on B-road and motorway
aside, obviously). As such,
there’s a torque-vectoring
d i f fe r e nt i a l at t he r e a r a x le ,
a 2 0 m m d r op i n r ide he i g ht ,
active drivetrain mounts
and Porsche’s Sport Chrono
package as standard. Modest
weight-saving measures have
also been employed, and at
1350kg the T is the lightest car here.
Oh, and it’s also the only one with
a six-speed manual ’box, which is a
very good thing.
Compared with those two, the
A ud i i s a bit of a n o ddba l l. Fi r s t , it ’s
based on the same platform as a
Volkswagen Golf, and has been on
the receiving end of a few style-over-
substance-related criticisms over the
course of its 20-odd-year existence.
But even so, in RS guise the TT is also
one of the more fascinating members
of our trio. There’s a front-mounted
five-cylinder motor that churns out a
fairly ludicrous 395bhp. It’s also got
four-wheel drive and a seven-speed
dual-clutch transmission, and will hit
62mph from a standstill in a claimed
3.9sec. So in terms of straight-line
thrust, it’s the fastest car here.
It feels like the fastest car here
on these sodden Welsh roads,
t o o; a nd it s r id ic u lou s t u r n of
pa c e h a s a s muc h t o do w it h
its unf lappable willingness to
simply stick to the surface of the
r oa d a s it do e s t he e n g i ne. You
can brake later, turn in harder
and get on the power earlier out
of corners than you can in the
other two, and simply trust that it’ll
sort everything out for you without
coming a cropper.
T h at e n g i ne i s a m a s si v e l y
characterful thing, too, and the
a bi l it y t o ba sk i n t he f u l l g lor y
of its thuggish, off beat warble
transforming into a serrated howl
as you f loor the throttle with the top
dow n i s a n e x p e r ie nc e t o b e s av ou r e d.
It’s not the most responsive ◊
The Audi
is less fuel
efficient than the
BMW and the Porsche,
according to
the WLTP test cycle,
but only by the
slimmest of
margins.