HALF-PRICE ALTERNATIVES
MERCEDES C63 AMG
AMG’S 6.2-litre M156 V8 is one of the great road car engines and the W204 C-class chassis an excellent match for it. Not cheap to run, but now priced from around £18,000. It’s hard to imagine a more versatile, entertaining coupé at that price.
Around £25,000 buys the best of the late 987-gen Caymans with the post-facelift 3.4-litre flat six, so the same power as our base 718 but a far more musical delivery. A touch more gets a higher-mileage example of its 981-gen successor, mind.
BMW M3 (E92)
The only M3 road car ever to tout eight cylinders, the E90 is a lazier proposition than the E46 that preceded it (the two generations are now similarly priced), but this makes it an appealing Gt-cum-sports car.