I love my D2 and wouldnt get rid of it, but in my opinion it is not the best bang for the buck.
These cars are getting on now, 14 years old or more.
Lets say you find a nice one for £4k.
You would certainly have to factor in £3k for a auto box full refurb.
The original exhaust and cats on most of these are on their way out. Lets say £1k for a new exhaust and £500 for new cats.
After 15 years you will soon need to replace most of the suspension components. Lets say £1.5k for all springs, shocks and arms.
Add a timing belt, another £1k soon unless you are lucky and its been done recently and properly along with the waterpump.
So realistically you are looking at a £4k car and £7k of maintenance imminent or comming up soon.
In that price range there are a lot more interesting and newer cars, D3 W12 around £9k, D3 4.2 Tdi around £10~£11k, Vauxhall VXR8 (ie, Holden) 6.0 litre V8 for around £11k.
If you stretch to around £14k there is the D3 S8,
If you stretch to £16k the supercharged S4 remapped capable of at least 4.2s to 60mph.
There is this too, 2007 CLS 5.5
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...ge/1?logcode=p
The low purchase price of D2s is deceptive.
If nothing else, its definitely worth taking your time and test driving several different high performance cars in the £11k range before you decide which one is best for you.