Affordable Midlife Crisis Cars

It's really unfair for people to call your sport's car purchase a mid-life crisis car. They don't understand! The buy is actually made in a calculative manner. The acquisition is made when a person has finally reached a point in their life where they can actually afford to invest in a sportscar and maintain it at the same time. 

Those who label it a mid-life crisis car should really call it "you've saved up enough money so now you can get a nice whip" car instead of a crisis car. We know sometimes it's just a tease when someone calls it a midlife crisis vehicle, but hey, we have to defend these purchases cause these people know that life is too short to be buying another less-than-exciting car. 

Saying that we thought we would pay tribute to these people and list down some tremendous affordable sportscars. Traditionally, a sportscar means a car created and designed to be fast and good in the handling department. But for us, an essential part of this is that the car must be fun to drive, so speed is not everything.

Audi TT

If a car has Tourist Trophy as part of its name, as in the Tourist Trophy name from the fast and wild Isle of Man TT racing event, it better be good. Luckily, the Audi TT is, it is also one of the most accessible sports cars you can buy right now. The design is Bauhaus-inspired, unique and unmistakable, making it one of those cars that is sure to get you some eyeballs. When the first generation came out to great fanfare, Audi had to do a recall on the vehicles as owners were reporting the car being unstable at high speeds (excess of 180km/h). They did a recall and added a rear spoiler as well as new rear suspensions. Three generations of Audi TTs later, unfortunately the current generation will also be the last. Audi have decided to end the TT, replacing it with some environment friendly electric model. It's now or never if you want in on this future classic. We recommend the second generation as it is relatively affordable at the moment and a bag of fun to drive.

BMW Z4 

If you want to drive a sportscar daily, we recommend the first-generation BMW Z4. It has no fancy tricks up its sleeve and goes on its daily business by living through that famous BMW attribute of being the ultimate driving machine. Typical of BMWs of that generation, the Z4 has the perfect balance of comfort and sportiness as well as luxury. The first-gen Z4 fixed everything that was wrong with the Z3, offering a stiffer chassis as well as a bigger car. We also recommend you go for the ones with the M54 engines as they are pretty much bulletproof and reliable. Did we mention that it is also a rear-wheel-drive?!

Toyota MR-S

The Toyota MR-S is actually the third and final generation of the famous Toyota MR2. When creating the third generation MR2, Toyota called the concept car the MR-S and when they were ready to produce the vehicle, they just decided to stick with the MR-S nameplate for the Japanese market. It is also known as the MR2 Spyder in the United States and MR2 Roadster in Europe. Although not having the brute force of the second generation MR2, this mid-engined two-seater sports car in its final iteration went for the lightweight approach and also went completely convertible. The chief engineer of the vehicle, Harunori Shiratori said he wanted to create a car with true driver enjoyment with low inertia and weight, blending them together to provide good movement. So they did and that is why the MR-S is known to be one of the most fun cars to tackle the twisties. Prices start from RM60k upwards.

Porsche Boxster

If you want a cheap Porsche (expect Porsche type maintenance) that's not the first-gen Cayenne, then the Boxster is the way to go. While the current generation of mainstream Boxsters are flat-four turbocharged engines, the previous ones had that authentic Porsche flat 6 engines which we loved. Yes, it might not be the fastest Porsche around, but it is still an exciting car to drive. If that doesn't cut it for you, we're pretty sure its engine rumble at slow speeds will. Don't let anyone tell you a Boxster is not a real Porsche, cause a Porsche is a Porsche.

So splash the cash if you have it and enjoy the long winding roads of your hard earned freedom. We hope to join you there someday. 

We'd like to dedicate this article to our colleague Jonathan Adams who served as the inspiration for this piece.