feature:

Mr Yu reckons I have a lack of imagination, but my theory (and I'm sticking to it) is my budget -of around £12k - is just wrong, offering a stark choice: low mileage hot-hatches or high mileage sports cars.

Of course, there are the cars you'd really like, given unlimited or even unrealistic sums of money, and for me those cars are mostly Porsches. I've been lucky enough to own a couple of 964RS's-but not lucky enough to still own them now-and I think they're the purest expression of the 911 dynasty. I don't subscribe to the popular thinking that 993's are the ultimate development of the air-cooled format, but many do which pushes 993 prices to ridiculous levels. £40K for a regular 1996 Carrera-are you out of your mind?

I got dashed at the post for a very (very) cheap 964 at Christmas, unfortunately. A nice car, black with black, lowered and on 17" Cups, sold by a very amiable chap in Birmingham who had changed his mind about turning it into a racer and just wanted out. Since then, it's been an endless parade of convertibles and cars with "desirable" (by who?) piped linen 'sports' interiors. Er, no thanks.

So, I've all but given up on that idea and, accepting the practical need to haul four of us (a fact I would have ignored for the 911) I now focus my attention on a rather short list of potential rides.

David suggested an M5, but I'm not a BMW fan at the best of times and I think the basic E39 5 series–what I'd be looking at–is a deeply unpleasant looking car and no amount of scoops, bulges and badges can disguise that fact. Plus I'm wary of what 100,000 miles of over-steer does to a car's long-term integrity. E46 M3's are an alternative, but while the cars might possess an enduring beauty, I'm not so sure their image will fair as well.

In fact, the only cars that seem to be winking at me with any enthusiasm are the B5 Audi RS4, or the interim S4, the old shape but with the V8 engine, both wagons, which I think are much more pleasing to look at than the slightly cumbersome saloons of the same vintage. These cars enjoy a loyal and enthusiastic following-perhaps a little too loyal since they don't seem to mind shelling out big wads of cash with alarming repetition. I've done that with Skylines (think about them occasionally, but no) and don't really fancy it again.

Next on the list are a pair of Renaults, the Megane R26 and the Clio 197 Cup. The Megane is just plain ugly, I'm sorry. I know I'm supposed to like this radical French design statement but I just don't. And neither does the second hand market judging by the precipitous depreciation these cars suffer. That weighty butt should really belong to a rear-wheel drive car-it just seems all wrong that the front wheels are (visually) dragging around that ungainly posterior. I'd have to perfect a way of getting into it without looking at it, much like like Guy de Maupassant who ate lunch at the Eiffel Tower every day as the only way of seeing Paris without a view of the tower he hated so much.

The Clio is much the opposite of the Megane. It doesn't seem to drop too much in value. In fact, so good is its early depreciation, it's almost worth buying new, which I've never done but feel like I should. It's a pretty car with elegant proportions that are flattered by the white / black wheels combo. My only issue with the Clio is that I'm really the wrong age for it and I might feel a bit like Disco-Dad at the traffic light grand prix. That makes me think about a VW Golf GTi Edition 30, but not for very long.

The only car that I've seen, but not moved on and regretted, was a simply gorgeous 1969 Alfa Junior, bumper-less and complete with stickers and wooden steering wheel for less than £5K. What was I thinking?

What does this tell me? I'm getting more confused. Your comments on these and any other suggestions would be deeply welcome.