SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram
Search
Close this search box.

Buying Guides: The $10k dilemma

11 August, 2017

 


 

Following on from our team nominating what they’d be buying with $5,000 in their pockets, we generously doubled the hypothetical budget and sent the team on a mission. What would they be buying for $10,000?


Lachlan Jones — NZ Classic Car
Volkswagen Golf GTI (MK5): We had a MK5 GTI as a family car for a fair while that did everything we asked of it and more. The DSG gearbox was a revelation at the time (in fact, very little is different from the unit VW use in the MK7 GTI and R) and with 200hp out of the box, it was quick enough, too (an extra $1,000 for a remap will see the GTI up to 250-odd-hp quite easily). With a stiffer chassis and significantly reduced understeer from the lacklustre MK4, the MK5 GTI was a game changer for not just VW but what we’ve come to expect of the modern hot hatch.


Jaden Martin — NZ Performance Car
Honda Civic Type R (EK9): Coming in at ⅙ of the price that the latest incarnation commands, the EK9 still sits as the ultimate cheap hot hatch in my eyes. It still has that full road feel that more modern cars seem to lose in the name of comfort and its 1.6-litre screaming heart packs enough of a punch to chuck a smile on your face. They are probably the most attractive of the Civic Type R family, too.


Ashley Webb — NZ Classic Car
A Jaguar XJS. They’re on their way to becoming quite collectable and there is no denying they look fantastic.


Todd Wylie — NZV8
A WH Holden Statesman is a whole lot of car for the money, so much car that it’d be hard to beat in terms of luxury, presence and performance in my mind. I’ve owned a Statesman before, and still can’t understand why they’re cheaper than a standard wheelbase Calais or similar. If you’re in the market for a V8-powered family hauler, make sure to take a look, as you won’t be disappointed.


Connal Grace — NZV8
I could opt for a manual 308-powered VK Commodore, or an XE Falcon panelvan, but I’m going to go with the Nissan Stagea RS Four — manual, of course. The factory RB25DET turbo six will make over 300hp with minor modification, and with a gratuitous boot area, this is the perfect life-proof vehicle.

 

Almost mythical pony

25 July, 2024

The Shelby came to our shores in 2003. It went from the original New Zealand owner to an owner in Auckland. Malcolm just happened to be in the right place with the right amount of money in 2018 and a deal was done. Since then, plenty of people have tried to buy it off him. The odometer reads 92,300 miles. From the condition of the car that seems to be correct and only the first time around.
Malcolm’s car is an automatic. It has the 1966 dashboard, the back seat, the rear quarter windows and the scoops funnelling air to the rear brakes.
He even has the original bill of sale from October 1965 in California.

Becoming fond of Fords part two – happy times with Escorts

17 July, 2024

In part one of this Ford-flavoured trip down memory lane I recalled a sad and instructive episode when I learned my shortcomings as a car tuner, something that tainted my appreciation of Mk2 Ford Escort vans in particular. Prior to that I had a couple of other Ford entanglements of slightly more redeeming merit. There were two Mk1 Escorts I had got my hands on: a 1972 1300 XL belonging to my father and a later, end-of-line, English-assembled 1974 1100, which my partner and I bought from Panmure Motors Ford in Auckland in 1980. Both those cars were the high water mark of my relationship with the Ford Motor Co. I liked the Mk1 Escorts. They were nice, nippy, small cars, particularly the 1300, which handled really well, and had a very precise gearbox for the time.
Images of Jim Richards in the Carney Racing Williment-built Twin Cam Escort and Paul Fahey in the Alan Mann–built Escort FVA often loomed in my imagination when I was driving these Mk1 Escorts — not that I was under any illusion of comparable driving skills, but they had to be having just as much fun as I was steering the basic versions of these projectiles.