You’re hitting the upper reaches of middle age, the kids are safely dispatched to university and you suddenly find yourself with money to burn – could now be the time to blow £100,000 on the sportscar you always promised yourself?

Of course it is. And, with a healthy 100K budget behind you, you won’t be short of choices. This guide has everything from a mid-engined plug-in hybrid to front-engined GTs, rear-engined track refugees and a Ferrari estate. Here are the eight best sportscars available for no more than £100,000.

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

The Corvette Stingray marked a turning point for Chevrolet. No longer was the company going to play also-rans to the European competition, this time it would face them head-on. To do it, the Stingray would be the world’s first mid-engined Corvette with more than a passing resemblance to the Ferrari 458, which Chevrolet benchmarked its car against. It’s unsurprising then that the Stingray features a 497PS (366kW) 6.2-litre flat-plane crank V8 that gets it from 0-62mph in under three seconds.

The accompanying howl has more than a hint of Maranello. With its mid-engine setup, the latest Corvette offers turn-in grip and corner-exit traction that the old model could only dream of. Sadly, the attainable pricing that makes the Corvette huge in the US doesn’t survive the UK tax system, but less than £100,000 for a brand-new mid-engined supercar still sounds like a bargain to us. 

Mercedes AMG-GT

The Mercedes-AMG GT was meant to be a more affordable replacement to the SLS – a stunning car that’s price put it out of the reach of most Porsche 911 owners. A sales no man’s land. To keep costs low, the AMG GT lost the SLS’ eye-catching gullwing doors, but the distinctive long-bonnet-stubby-rear shape remained.

Out went the old naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8 and in came the ubiquitous twin-turbocharged 503PS (370kW) 4.0-litre V8 (that’s powered everything from the C-Class to the G-Class). Straight-line performance was guaranteed – 0-62mph took 3.2 seconds and top speed was 193 mph – but more surprising was the car’s handling balance thanks to a front-mid-engined layout and transaxle. Prices start from around £50,000 but you’ll need closer to £70,000 for a good one.

Lexus LC500

Lexus is no stranger to nosing its way into new markets – the inaugural LS400 beat the Europeans at their own game by being better built and more luxurious – but could it pull off the same trick with a sportscar? Of course it could. The LFA hypercar had already tenderised the market to the idea of a sporty Lexus when the LC500’s shape was revealed to dropped jaws at 2016’s Detroit motor show. Not only did it look gorgeous on the outside, inside it had a beautifully sculpted interior that would have looked at home in cars costing three times as much.

Power came from a Lexus 477PS (351kW) 5.0-litre V8 that rumbled at low speeds and thundered as the needle spun towards the rev limiter. Stiff suspension, meanwhile, prioritised handling, but the LC500 is still a car you can cover lots of miles in. With good LC500s starting from less than £50,000 – and with Lexus’ famous reliability at the top of our minds – it’s hard to imagine another sportscar that blends passion and practicality quite so well.

Aston Martin Vantage

The Aston Martin Vantage represented a new dawn for Aston, one where it borrowed engines and tech from Mercedes. Power came from the same twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 as the AMG GT, producing 510PS (375kW) and giving the Vantage performance that its naturally aspirated predecessors could only dream of – 0-62mph took 3.6 seconds and onto a top speed of 195mph. Handling was also excellent. Matt Becker (former chief engineer of Lotus) ensured the Vantage offered grip and finesse that were unknown to the firm’s road cars up until this point.

Aston didn’t get everything right, though. The Vantage’s odd grille design divided opinion, while the cabin’s ancient Mercedes switchgear was poor for a near £150,000 GT. That’s less of an issue now you can pick up a good example for half the original price. 

Lotus Emira

Lotus fans are used to false dawns – who could forget Dany Bahar’s five-model reveal of the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, none of which came to anything. But the Emira looks like a car that could turn around the company’s fortunes. Mostly because it looks absolutely awesome. Ironically, under the new suit, there’s not much new about the Lotus’ bonded aluminium chassis or supercharged 365PS (269kW) 3.5-litre Toyota V6 – both of which are carried over from the old Evora.

Nevertheless, the Emira blends h serious performance and Lotus’ unerring ability to build a car that feels sharp and agile, but can also filter out the worst the UK’s crumbling road surface can throw at it. Prices start from under £85,000 for an as-new example.

BMW i8

The BMW i8 looked like nothing else on the road when it went on sale in 2014 because – as a plug-in hybrid, mid-engined sportscar – it was like nothing else. A combination of a 1.5-litre three-cylinder Mini engine with two electric motors meant the four-wheel drive i8 produced 374PS (275kW), got from 0-62mph in 4.4 seconds and topped out at 155mph. All while having a pure-electric range of more than 20 miles.

Sadly, while the performance was there, the i8’s handling fell wide of the mark expected of a truly engaging sportscar thanks to unnervingly light steering and a propensity to understeer. But if you’re looking for a sportscar you can use guilt-free during the week, while still enjoying it at the weekends, the i8 could be just the ticket. Good i8s can be picked up for less than £50,000 while Roadster drop-top will set you back closer to £60K.

Ferrari FF

Anyone who thinks a Ferrari sportscar can’t also be practical didn’t bet on the appearance of the Ferrari FF – a four-wheel drive shooting-brake estate, with a 6.3-litre V12 engine borrowed from the Enzo hypercar. With 659PS (485kW) to call on, the FF was predictable rapid – 0-62mph took 3.7 seconds, while top speed was a sky-high 208mph.

The four-wheel drive system was a masterpiece in itself. The FF was essentially rear-wheel drive up until it needed more grip, whereon power was sent directly to the front wheels via a separate gearbox. The result was un-ending traction, mated to razor-sharp steering and a fine-handling chassis that meant the Ferrari felt far smaller than it actually was.

Impressive, given the FF was a genuine four-seater with a 450-litre boot capacity. Sadly, this list of attributes doesn’t come cheap, with good examples costing every pound of our £100,000 budget.

Porsche 997 911 GT3

If you’re going to buy a sportscar on a budget of £100,000 then the Porsche 997 generation 911 GT3 could be the safest place to put your money. Like all Porsche GT cars, the 997 GT3 is a handling masterpiece offering up cornering grip and under-power traction that feels contemporary today. Although, unlike in the current model, the 997 GT3 comes sporting a feelsome hydraulic engine and a high-revving Mezger flat-six that’s become almost as acclaimed as the 911 itself.

The new version simply isn’t quite so spin-tingling. Despite all this, however, the 997 GT3 can still be sold as a sensible choice. It’s not too OTT for road use, while a boot under the bonnet and more storage, where you used to find on the back seat, means it can even claim to be practical…for a two-seater sportscar.

Best of all, it makes financial sense. Rock solid residuals mean the £80,000 you’ll need to buy a well-used-but-cared-for example, is exactly what you’d have paid new back in 2006.