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So, my wife and I may look into buying a 3rd car that will be used for the most part as a daily driver only in the summer. So, convertibles are ok and rwd is fine too. Not sure if we need a back seat or not. But, I am thinking that we do need one because the kids will want to ride in a convertible. So, what would you get?
3 Series convertible, Mini or Wrangler are three that come to mind. Is a 10 year old BMW convertible with 100,000 a good idea for a daily driver? Is an older Wrangler still a decent car? I have no idea about older Minis?
You might also want to include Mustang and Chrysler Sebring. BMW,'s and MINI's while being fine cars when newish can get very expensive to repair as they age a Jeep would be fun but some of the older models have some reliability issues.
If you can get by with just 2 seats Miatas are a good bang for the buck,very reliable,easy and inexpensive to fix,great forum. Mustangs also fit the bill and have child size back seats, the Sebrings are just large American sedan with the convertible option but you'll get more of a Mustang,Sebring or Miata for your $10K than you will with the Bimmers
The old wranglers are horrible to drive on the road. They are almost exclusively off road vehicles. Some people drive them on road, but they are awful. The new Wrangler is much improved but still pretty bad on the road. Of course you will not be finding a new Wrangler for $10K. At that price you are looking at the older ones that are one of the worst on road vehicles you can find. It is neat that it is a convertable truck/SUV. but if you will not use it off road frequently, it does nto make a lot of sense.
I really like the Pontiac G-6 hard top convertable. The G-6 is not a fabulous performing car, but the hardtop convertable is so neat it balances out some of the shortcomings of the G-6. In the $10,000 range, you are not going to find a lot of four seaters that are really fun for summer driving. The G-6 may be a decent option for that price range.
At 10K for a convertable MW, you are looking at one so old that you will need anouther $20K in the bank for repairs/maintenance. German cars are expensive to maintain.
If you could double that and if you are mechanically inclined I would suggest a 1970s Jensen Interceptor Convertable.
If you consider 2 seaters, consider a Jensen Healy. You can get a pretty neat one for $10K, usually with some decent improvements and it is really fun to drive and toatally unique.
The only thing I know about the older Sebrings is not good. You are getting back into Chrysler's bad old days with those.
A mustand is not out of the question. However they had a middle perios where they were pretty awful. IN the 10K range I woudl look at a 1994-1998 Camaro instead. They were better than the 'stangs during that time. To get a good convertable mustang, you have to go either newer or older and you push yourself out of the $10K range.
The old minis - meaning 1960s-1970s were really fun cars to drive. Not the safest or most reliable things though.
Some of the best roadsters were made y the brits in the 1960s - 1970s. Maybe you can get one that has been resotred/upgraded. Look at the Bug eyed Sprite, MGB and MGA, TR6 (or even a TR3), Austin Healey (Jensen Healy as mentioned), there are anothr four or five. Also the VW Carmen Ghia.
Another Newish option that might be decent for you is a VW bug convertable. (newer one) or an old VW thing (again you need to be mechanically inclined).
If a convertable is what you want, your best bet at that price range is the Chrysler Sebring. Due to poor resale value, you could get a fairly new model at that price. If you're not worried about gas prices, go with the V6 because the 4 cylinder is slow, buzzy noise, and not that efficient unless driven carefully. It has the added advantage of seating four. Even in V6 it's not a fast car. It's more of a cruiser.
"Some of the best roadsters were made y the brits in the 1960s - 1970s. Maybe you can get one that has been resotred/upgraded. Look at the Bug eyed Sprite, MGB and MGA, TR6 (or even a TR3), Austin Healey (Jensen Healy as mentioned), there are anothr four or five. Also the VW Carmen Ghia."
Although I can agree with that statement to a point, it really depends on what you're looking for in a 3rd car as to whether this works for you. they were great cars, but notoriously unreliable. I would not buy one unless you really like the idea of owning a classic british roadster and want to work on it.
I had/have a 3rd car, I'm down to 2 now, but sold my "daily" in favor of the 3rd car for now. I have a 2003 Toyota MR2 Spyder. 2 seats, mid engine, really really fun to drive, similar in charicter to the british roadster, toyota reliability. you can get a decent example for 10 or under.
Miatas are nice too, smaller inside than the MR2, I didn't fit. again 2 seats like the MR2.
Bimmers and Minis, anything in teh 10K price range is most likely going to be high on miles and probably repair bills as well. On the other hand, if you get something that is clean and nice and higher mileage, you're probably not going to put a lot of miles on anyway, so maintance is going to be lower and less frequent.
Wranglers are...... fun but they hold their value well, wranglers you'll be surprised at how old/mileage you'll have to go to get to 10K.
my suggestion, since I am really not a fan of chrysler products is either Ford mustang (again, 10K may be in short supply of nice examples, I really like the 05 and newer) or get a toyota Solara convertible. the Solara may not be a "fun" car in the sense of a sports car, but it is a 4 seat drop top that should be reliable.
As someone with a 2 seater and a baby, I am happy that I get ot take it to work and on my errends, but the family can't go out in it, my wife and I pretty much only go out with the baby, we're not at a stage where we leave him behind frequently with a sitter, so the car can get limited use if you reduce the seating to 2.
Not much of a Ford guy here, but if I wanted just a fun convertible, Id look at the Mustang. They are a just a overall fun car to drive! Tons of parts available, tons of mods available, and a Mustang with a good exhaust is one of the best sounding cars out there.
My screen name is mustang eater and I have owned 5 f-bodies. I would not get a 93-97 camaro(lt1) . I would go directly to 98-02 with an ls1. Lt1s were nice but can be finicky, and price shows they go for like $2-5k.
Jeep isn't a bad idea, will be slow and handle poorly, but keeps are always cool.
see if you can get an 05+ Mustang Gt for the price, not sure if they have fallen that low yet. 99-04 aren't that bad just prefer 05+
The g6 is a cool option. My mom had one with 0 problems but was a lease. I have a g6 hardtop sedan and it hasn't given me any issues as a daily driver and been to several states, and I have put it on dirt trails that it was no way intended to ever see and worked out fine.
It's not the most passionate car being fwd, but it does have some power, and I liked the looks beauty of a barefoot convertable is, when the top is up, you forget its a convertable.
Sebring coonvertable, my mom owned a few of those never really impressed with them.
I saw 4 seats, but have you also considered a miata?
Also way do z3s go for, saw you mention bmws.
Also have you considered t-top and targa top cars, not the same as a convertable, but a best of both worlds.
I 2nd the Solara. Can get a mid 2000's for 10k. Some do not look bad, they are based on the Camry model.
I would love to have a T-Tops Firebird from the 80s myself.
I brought up t-tops is I love my t-top 85 camaro, I drive it a good 3 times a week to work and back
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