Serious fun cars that you can buy for less than $20k

Tuesday, 10 January 2017

Buy Kiwi! Exocet kits start at $12,500. You will need: one Mazda MX-5. Some assembly required.

Let's say you are a car enthusiast on a budget. There's one area of car ownership you really want a specialist car for and you have just $20,000 to spend on it. What to get? We set ourselves only two hard and fast rules for our search - it had to be bought for $20,000 and it had to be as new as possible; that way even the mechanically inept can join in the fun. Here are our five picks for enthusiast vehicles for $20k. We welcome your suggestions for other possibilities, but remember to stick to the rules!

THE TRACK DAY ENTHUSIAST: EXOCET (KIT)

Suzuki Jimny is still one of the best off-roaders you can buy. Brand-new and still gives change from $20k.

Okay, so this one actually took us by surprise. We were searching for used Lotus 7 replicas for this list when we stumbled across this New Zealand-based kit car! Licensed from MEV in the UK, Exocet kits are engineered to meet local standards and are produced here, because the UK company couldn't keep up with demand.

Not only does the Exocet have the more modern looks of something like an Ariel Atom, it also can take two full-size adults and, because the donor car is a first or second-generation MX-5, it's also brilliantly affordable. Kits start at $12,500. Throw in a cheap MX-5 donor car and you could have a complete, road-legal track-day fun car for easily under our $20k cutoff.

Third-gen Mazda MX-5 is the awkward one in the family. But it's still a fun family.

THE OFF-ROAD ENTHUSIAST: SUZUKI JIMNY (NEW)

So you want something that will go almost anywhere, is as tough as nails, has been built forever (so there is no shortage of spares when it gets older), comes with a full new car warranty and costs under $20k? You're outta luck, right? Suzuki would beg to differ there, as the Japanese company will happily sell you a brand new Jimmy JX manual for $19,990.

People fell out of love with Falcon a long time ago. Cue a hard-charging bargain, the 270kW XR6 turbo.

Okay, so the JX comes with power steering, a CD player and, um, a fuel gauge as standard equipment, but it has a seriously rugged 4WD system, complete with low ratios, a proper ladder chassis and a nuggety little 62kW/110Nm 1.3-litre petrol engine that is more than willing to dig deep and pull the Jimmy's minuscule 1060kg curb weight across pretty much anything.

THE BACK ROAD ENTHUSIAST: MAZDA MX-5 (NC)

It's not hard to turn the Nana-generation of WRX into something special.

Let's say you want to enjoy a spirited drive on the backroads in the weekend, but aren't really interested in hitting a track day. Our favourite new cars for this sort of driving would have to be the Ford Fiesta ST or the Toyota 86, but neither of those have quite dropped to our $20k cutoff as second-hand examples yet.

Fortunately, another of our new faves has - the Mazda MX-5. For around our $20k mark you should be able to score a third-generation NC model. While this is actually the fattest, least exciting MX-5, it's still an MX-5. And the fattest and most unexciting MX-5 is still a million times more invigorating and involving than most other cars.

THE POWER ENTHUSIAST: FORD FALCON XR6 TURBO (FG)

Depreciation can be a wonderful thing! While you would have to go old to get much with serious power for $20k, thanks to the soul crushing reality of depreciation (for the seller, that is), an FG Ford Falcon XR6 turbo can be yours for our target price.

This is a 270kW/533Nm hotrod of a car that can blow away V8s with ease. With not a lot more expenditure and help from an aftermarket wizard, it can also produce seriously stupid amounts of power. Just in case 270kW isn't enough for you.

THE RALLY ENTHUSIAST: SUBARU WRX/STI (THIRD-GEN GE, GH, GR, GV)

While our first thought for this category was the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, our as-new-as-possible rule soon tipped things towards the Subaru Impreza WRX. Depreciation has been a far harder mistress to the Subie. Whether this is down to Subaru's tendency to make some odd-looking cars or not, it sure has helped. Depending on condition (and this varies wildly) anything between 2004 and 2011 can be found in WRX form, with a few STi models popping up for good measure.

While the first of the third-generation WRXs were a bit dull and softly suspended, they were still damn quick. Because of those first two things, they're cheap now. A set of decent shocks and springs and you would have yourself a road weapon disguised as a granny car. We actually like the idea of that.