BTW, for those that are not of a certain age, the 'Q' stands for Question, as in what the ..... is that. I believe it was a term used in the 2nd WW for ships that looked liked Merchant Ships but were heavily armed, and gave the Germans a big surprise.

You're obviously not old enough - the "Q" ships originate from WW1 and code-named after their home port, Queenstown in Ireland, then part of the UK.

And I do not mean an Audi, I'm refering to a wolf in sheep's clothing. In far off days this would mean a supercharged Minor, or Cortina Savage( bigger engine in normal saloon). I'd really like to buy a non-bling quick, grunty car, up to about 30k but with reasonable fuel consumption(30+), must have a nice ride and a bit of room. Estate would be fine, but not too big.Petrol or Diesel. The problem is that if you spec a decent engine with a new car you automatically get all the bling. Don't want a sheep in wolf's clothing!

A number of the premium brands don't get any extra bling unless you pay for expensive options - and they usually have a de-badge option.

An 850 or V70 T5 estate is a good Q-car, especially when de-badged

You could get the Mondeo mk3 with the 3.0V6 in Ghia and Titanium models. This had a detuned version of the engine in the ST220 (200bhp iirc) but to a casual observer it could well be a 2.0 diesel or a 1.8 petrol.

e.g. www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Mondeo-3-0-Ghia-X-2005-6-M...e

I know you wouldn't look at these twice with your budget, but the thread got me thinking....

Edited by tanvir on 04/01/2013 at 00:31

There's quite a few. My thoughts below are quite wide based on costs and vehicle size but might give you some ideas and are in no particular order. If you like the engine then VAG seem to offer the same 200bhp 2.0T in lots of different group products. Apologies if I have got any bhp figures slightly out!

BMW 330i, 335i or 530i with SE trim. Sometimes only visible difference versus smaller engined models is the alloys - 272 to 306bhp

Any Volvo T5 - S40. V40. S60, V70 - in SE trim - 225 to 250bhp

Mondeo III 3.0 V6 or IV 2.5T - 200 to 225bhp

Vectra 2.8T V6 in Elite trim or ex police - 250bhp

Saab 2.8T V6 or equivalent Cadillac BLS - 280bhp

VW Jetta 2.0T FSi - 200bhp

Toyota Corolla T-Sport Compressor - 215bhp

Subaru Legacy 3.0R Spec B - 245bhp

Skoda Octavis vRS - 200bhp

Seat Leon FR - 200bhp

Mercedes C350 or E350 - 300bhp

Mazda3 MPS - 256bhp - actually a bit bling!

Jaguar X Type 3.0 V6 - 220bhp

I too was going to suggest a Saab 9-3. I have recently bought my first Saab, a late 07 9-3 2.0T Aero and have had a Maptun stage 1 tune applied. It now does 30-90 in 10.5 secs. Very potent overtaking power, though it's not so good from a standstill as the tyres can scrabble fro grip if you're too vicious with that 360Nm!!

It looks like any ordinary saloon, but goes like the clappers. Handling is good, comfort and NVH excellent and returns 30+ driven conservatively. All the toys too (I'm a heated seat convert now!)

Given your budget you could probably afford a 2.8 V6 Xdrive version. Get that tuned a little and it would be a very potent machine. Equip it with Bilstein B6s from Neo Bros too.

Avoid cheap tunes though. i had one of those "mobile" tuners out and was very disappointed. Maptun or Hirsch for your Saab - expensive but worth every red cent!!!!