These Are Worthy Project Cars

The Cheapest Legendary Performance Cars You Can Buy Today

We're often asked the question: 'how can I get a cheap performance car with iconic heritage'? The answer is not a straightforward one, so here are the cheapest ways to secure yourself a quick car from a legendary brand

BMW: E36 M3

The oft-overlooked BMW E36 M3, hit the bottom of its depreciation curve a few years ago, and although prices have risen by around 50 per cent, it’s still the a great entry point into M car ownership. You can find high-mileage examples for under £6000, but we would recommend spending a couple thousand more to find a clean example; you don’t want to end up buying a lemon like Alex…

The 3.2-litre S50B32 straight-six engine fitted to post-September 1995 M3 coupes is, as Alex describes it, “a heartless destroyer of speed limits”. With an impressive (for the time) 316bhp, the E36 is good for a 0-60mph time of around 5.4 seconds, and will go on to a top speed of 170mph (sans limiter). With clean examples hitting the £10,000+ point, now is the time to buy!

Alternatively, around £8500 also puts you in E46 M3 territory, so that’s a car well worth considering too.

Audi: RS6 C5

Somewhat surprisingly, the iconic Audi RS6 C5 is now one of the cheapest ways into RS ownership. With a 4.2-litre, 450bhp, twin-turbocharged V8, the RS6 absolutely decimated the competition when it was released back in 2002, with the Avant claiming the title of ‘world’s fastest estate car’.

With a 0-60mph time of 4.4 seconds and a top speed of 155mph (over 180mph delimited) the RS6 sported serious supercar-rivalling performance. So what’s the catch? Well, with any car this advanced, problems are going to be commonplace. Owners have reported issues such as cracked manifolds, blown mass air flow sensors, worn bushes and leaky intercoolers. Servicing costs are also painfully high. You can pick up cars for under £7000, but we’d invest another £7k to secure a cleaner example. If you want the limited-run Plus, expect to pay around £20,000.

Mercedes: C36 AMG

The C36 AMG W202 was the first AMG model to be sold through Mercedes’ official dealership network and was a car designed to take on the dominant E36 M3. The sonorous inline-six found in the C280 was retained, but the AMG crew bumped the displacement up to 3.6 litres. Aggressive camshafts, an increase in compression and a performance exhaust were also added to give the car 276bhp and 284lb ft of torque. Granted, the 0-60mph time of 6.7 seconds and top speed of 155mph was still some way off the M3, but it wasn’t a bad start for the iconic tuner.

Firmer suspension with a 25mm drop gave the car impressive handling, and the S600 vented disc brakes guaranteed fade free braking performance. Surprisingly, for such a historically significant vehicle, high-milage examples can be had for under £5000. And if you double your budget, you can get a mint-condition C36 for just under £10,000. What a steal!

Complete list (CarThrottle.com)