Cheers for the welcome and advice guys.
Scott M - Ive been usind autotrader and ebay in conjunction with confused.com and have had about 20 quotes between £1700 and £3000 and there were some twin turbos in that range!! I pay £1200 a year for my mini so i see £500-1000 more a year driving my dream car as an absolute bargin!!
Budz86 - i will be using you as "case study 1" to persude my dad haha
drift_bear - i would love to come along to a meet and have a look at members cars to give me some ideas. im really looking for a stock car, or as near as possible, so i can make it my own
Style - yeah we are sort of in the same boat but i'd rather be in yours lol. looking forward to seeing ur pics mate