Here are some Noughties Japanese heroes that now cost less than £10k

Indeed, you can find a 3.7-litre V6-powered Nissan 370Z within budget. This example has seen nearly 103,000 miles of tarmac, but it still looks truly menacing in a double serving of black paint with red calipers. It’s also the most powerful unmodified car on this list, making 324bhp as standard. 

An almost constantly inflating product, which comes as no surprise given its position as one of Honda’s all-time greats. Okay it technically arrived in the 90s, but this 73,000-mile example is an 03 reg and should be a good way to spend some cash - the advert includes a list of Honda service stamps to prove its maintenance record. And it’s £500 below budget, so it's technically a bargain.

They may have a bad rep in the used car market, but surely more of us should be taking a gamble on RX-8s? This one is a post-facelift car from 2009, so you get an extra layer of body armour and sharply profiled wheels to match the 228bhp output. You know you want to.

Just sneaking into the Noughties and breaking up the sporty goodness in this gallery is a convertible Lexus IS 250. They’re quite rare in the UK, but there might be a reason for that...

But not the sort you’d expect. We found a spruced-up version of the later WTX STI hatchback model, with a grey body and gold alloys complemented by the fabulous 296bhp four-pot. That means 0-62mph in just over five seconds, and likely the full selection of pops and bangs to tell your parents you’re nearly home from work.

Let’s throw another fizzy hot hatch into the mix - the Mazda3 MPS. This one has under 64k on the clock, which means there should be plenty of life left in it to exploit and explore the 256bhp lurking within its turbocharged four-pot. And since it’s painted black, the slightly gaudy exterior cladding is also hidden rather well. Result!

Have a look at this Toyota Celica (yeah, another one on the list that was technically born in the late 90s, but shh) and tell us it looks like it’s done 212,000 miles. We bet you can’t, such is the pristine condition it’s been kept in. Its previous owners have also gone to town on the modifications, adding a 'racing chassis', anti-roll bars, upgraded coilovers and a new custom exhaust. Oh, and it also had an engine transplant in 2022, with the new unit currently displaying just over 60,000 miles. Another result!

Before you sigh, please have a look at this fourth-gen Subaru Legacy wagon. It’s not your average Legacy, and could just have easily taken the wildcard spot. Sporting the correct blue/gold exterior with what we assume are noticeably upgraded internals, this is a prime example of retro Japanese design and engineering that we sorely miss in today’s estate market.

Okay this actually is a car from 1999, and therefore technically disqualified, but we thought you might want to consider this surprisingly standard Nissan 200SX anyway. Worth the £8,875 list price?