Best Sports Cars for Under £30000

Everyone likes the idea of owning a sporty little number. As well as being far more fun to drive than a dull family box car, catching your reflection in shop windows is the only way to while away a traffic jam.

But proper sports cars are super expensive, right? Not necessarily. Confused.com has found a selection of sporty gems that will give you a buzz without leaving a hole in your wallet.

Best for seat-of-your-pants thrills - Caterham 7

OK, so there’s a little bit of cheating involved here. The Caterham 7 is the definitive, stripped-down sports car, in more ways than one: it has the bare essentials, some models don’t even have a windscreen, but the upshot is you get spectacular performance and handling for a relatively modest outlay.



The snag is, unless you pay extra, you have to build it yourself. But with the cheapest versions starting at £17k, you won’t find more fun for your cash anywhere else.

Best for everyday use – Ford Focus ST

Don’t be fooled by the familiar body shape, the Ford Focus ST is a real wolf in sheep’s clothing. The standard Focus is already a hoot to drive, but add some serious power, racy underpinnings and steroid injections to the bodywork and you have a proper performance machine.


Thankfully, this hot hatch has lost none of its charm and everyday usability in the transformation, with a five door option available, as well as a big boot and comfy cabin. All this for a car that tops out at around £22k.

And hot hatches don’t have to cost silly money to insure either. Why not compare car insurance quotes to see what a Ford Focus ST will cost you to cover – you may be surprised.

Best for top-down poseurs – Mazda MX-5

Calling the MX-5 a poseur’s car is a bit unfair. From the outside it has all the right ingredients: long bonnet, pert little rump, folding roof and just the two seats, so it’s a hit with those who want to look the part. But the truth is the MX-5 is also a real driver’s car.


It has a sharp rear-wheel drive chassis, a choice of keen petrol engines, and is undemanding behind the wheel. Cynics might say it’s a carbon-copy of a certain British roadster, but the truth is that the MGB was never this good.


The MX-5 range starts at £15,420.

Best for tight budgets and tight parking spaces – Fiat 500 Abarth

This little rocketship is a triumph in compact style and performance, and is expected to cost under £14k when it’s released in spring 2009.


You’ll need to be quick though as this could well be hit of the year. The standard 500 is already a pleasure to look at and to drive, but the Abarth version adds a mean streak and some serious punch.


It outshines the Mini Cooper for style and should cost about the same, so get ahead of the fashionistas and go Italian. The Abarth is expected to fall into car insurance tax band D.

Best of British – Lotus Elise

The little Norfolk car maker has been plugging away for years producing some of the best sports cars at any price, and the current Elise is arguably their best yet.

The combination of light weight, sparkling engines and some of the best chassis engineers in the world means you, the lucky driver, gets to savour a car that simply loves bends, looks fantastic and is exhilarating to drive.

Even better, the entry-level S model nips in at £24k – bargain basement for a pint-sized supercar. The top-spec SC model is head-bangingly fast but just creeps over our £30k barrier.


The lightweight approach also pays off at the pumps – despite the performance, the Elise S can still do 34mpg, which is cheap motoring by sports car standards.

Cool Cars are a turn on for some girls research says

Cool cars may no longer be status symbols, but they may still be the key to the heart of some girls. As petrol prices increase past the £1 mark, and drivers consider cheaper vehicles and cutting back on car insurance, it might seem like the days when the majority of UK motorists cared about the look and model of their vehicles are behind us. However, research from used car specialists, motors.co.uk, suggests that men should not be so quick to put car style to the back of their minds – at least, not if they are hoping to be at all popular with the opposite sex.


A survey conducted in May revealed that, in comparison to men, three times more women are concerned about what type of car their prospective partner owns. Additionally, when asked, a third of women admitted that they were likely to turn down a man if the car they drove did not live up to their expectations in terms of style and status.


The research also showed some interesting findings regarding how much people really care when it comes to the opinions of loved ones about their vehicles. One in fifty claimed they love their car more than their partner.


Although the findings of this particular survey might seem humorous, it follows similar research conducted earlier in the year by an insurance specialist that suggested the credit crunch had killed the notion of the car as a status symbol. In a survey of UK motorists, 36 percent of those asked claimed that having limited budgets affected what car they would buy. Additionally, reliability was said to be a much more important factor compared to style or look, with one in five drivers buying certain vehicles because they trust the manufacturer.


Such research is risky, primarily because it tends to lead anyone who analyses it down routes of gender generalisation. However, it does seem to suggest some intriguing things about the automotive market currently. Whilst more drivers are seemingly less eager to focus on the superficial aspects of a new car, those who are impressed by a type or style of vehicle seem more likely to make car-based assumptions because it is now more likely that a nicer car will belong to an owner with considerable financial security.

Aston Martin One 77

The stunningly cool Aston Martin One 77 sports car is promoted as the quintessence of Aston Martin, a supercar that showcases its advanced engineering allied to hand-crafted finishing and the extensive use of exotic materials.

At its core is a rigid yet lightweight carbon-fibre monocoque. From this is hung the motorsport-style double wishbone suspension front and rear, employing pushrods to transfer vertical wheel movement to the horizontally mounted spring and damper units.


True to the £1m car's bespoke nature, the suspension will be tuned to the owner's precise requirements by Aston martin engineers.

The One-77’s 7.3-litre, naturally aspirated engine is an extreme evolution of the 6.0-litre V12 fitted to the DBS, DB9 and V12 Vantage. It has been developed in partnership with Cosworth. One-77 programme manger Chris Porritt said: “Our brief to the engine team was for them to take the 6.0-litre V12 as far as it could go, both in terms of output and weight reduction.


The targets were a power output of no less than 700bhp with a 10 per cent reduction in engine mass. Incredibly, the Aston Martin and Cosworth engineers achieved a mass reduction of some 25 per cent, and although we’ve yet to complete the final engine calibration work, I’m confident we’ll see in excess of 700bhp.”


Power is transmitted to the rear wheels via a new, six-speed robotised sequential gearbox, activated by steering wheel-mounted paddles.

With a projected weight of only 1,500kg, the One-77 should easily be capable of 200mph. Aston martin predicts a 0-60mph acceleration time of about 3.5 seconds.


Porritt added: “We wanted to create something that wows you as much when you see what’s under the skin as the exterior styling itself. We started by identifying the most technologically exciting front-engined, rear-wheel drive cars in the world: those from the DTM race series. We then applied the principles and technology that feature heavily in their design and translated it to a road car application.”

Car Insurance Incentives

In the UK, the credit crunch seems to be having an intriguing affect on car insurance companies. In a bid to appeal to cash strapped customers, it seems that each company is offering an incentive to be sure that their own policies are the ones we go for, and cash back offers are the current trend. But are car insurance incentives really as good as they sound?

Cash back is a simple method to tempt customers, and it seems that the majority of car insurance companies (as well as some general insurance companies) are using the tactic, with the most recent being Tesco, who offer £50 to all club card holders, whilst Halifax go further offering £50 initially, following with another £50 payment every year you renew.

Of course, some such cash back offers have been met with sneers of derision from finance commentators, newspapers, and other insurers alike – warning that such incentives may well confuse customers into taking out policies which may well have been cheaper with a competitor in the long run. Simply, many are arguing that the very mention of cash back is another factor to add into the equation of working out the price, whilst taking in the basic cost, and then considering such frills as a courtesy car or breakdown cover – for it is these latter factors that differ so greatly in price between insurers.

Additionally, others are warning that customers must be careful to ensure that their cash back is included if you proceed to buy through comparison sites, as well as direct – or even if you have to do so over the phone. Similarly, there are also insurers who stipulate that you must activate the payment yourself, in the hope that you forget the offer after a few months.

Thinking about the trend in the context of price comparison websites, one can’t help but wonder whether insurers have begun such incentives specifically in order to hinder the efficiency of such sites. Following another recent, but less publicized, trend in which insurers have begun incorporating their own comparison sections on their sites to increase user traffic (and subsequently conversions), this notion doesn’t seem so far-fetched. And one wonders how far these incentives will go over the next year as insurance companies compete with each other tooth to tooth. One also hopes that too many customers aren’t duped by callous companies offering great deals and perks, but masking other essential charges.

Suzuki SX 4, 2009 Special Editions With Trip

After an overwhelming response to the company’s April announcement that it will add standard navigation to the 2009 SX4 Sport and SX4 Crossover, American Suzuki Motor Corp.
today revealed that it will produce a special edition version of the 2008 SX4 featuring standard navigation. Available in July, the Road TRIP edition of the 2008 SX4 Sport and front-wheel-drive version of the five-door SX4 Crossover marks the first time a new vehicle under $16,000 will offer navigation as standard equipment.

Referred to as the Suzuki TRIP (Travel, Real-time traffic, Information and Play), the SX4’s navigation system is the result of a collaboration with Garmin and is available with a number of MSN Direct-enabled features, including real-time traffic, weather forecasts, news reports, stock quotes, movie times, local entertainment listings and a gas station finder capable of locating the lowest priced fuel in town.

The navigation system’s flip-up 4.3-inch touch screen display is fully integrated into the vehicle’s audio system, which results in all navigation commands being channeled through the SX4’s audio system. The system also includes an MP3 player, Navteq mapping software and preloaded street maps that feature millions of points-of-interest, such as hotels, restaurants, gasoline stations, ATMs and more than 500 Suzuki dealership locations throughout the country.

“As the only vehicle under $16,000 to offer standard navigation, the 2009 SX4 has created quite a buzz in the industry and with consumers,” said Mark Harano, president of American Suzuki Automotive Operations.

“Since summer is all about travel, adventure and exploring the outside world, we wanted to capitalize on the enormous level of interest in this vehicle by getting a navigation-equipped SX4 out in time for summer driving season.”

For drivers hitting the road this summer, a Travel Guide™ expansion module is also available that provides Fodor reviews and recommendations for restaurants, hotels, shopping, nightlife, sporting events and other tourist attractions.

The Road TRIP edition of the 2008 SX4 is scheduled to arrive in dealer showrooms in July and, including destination and handling charges, will be available for purchase starting at $15,999 for the SX4 Sport and front-wheel-drive version of the SX4 Crossover.
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