I bought a D40 a year ago for roughly the same reasons (as posted at the start of the thread), and cannot praise it enough! I wish that I had held out of the D40x but there was/is quite a big price difference.
I have had some excellent photo's, some of the kids, some landscapes and lots of car/motorsport photo's. Despite its size it is a very portable camera and very versatile! It is very easy to customise the camera for the surroundings or situation however is also great in 'auto' mode if you are looking to point and shoot.
If you do go for a D40 I would try to get a kit with the 18-55 and the 55-200 lenses - 18-55 is great for subjects that are close but 55-200 is probably what you want if you are going to take some photo's of cars at 10+ meters away.
I bought mine from Digitalrev.com and saved £120 on the UK price at the time. They are a Hong Kong based company but have a sales office in the UK (registered office), so supply a UK warranty. If you do decide to buy from this company make sure you choose the door to door price otherwise you will get hit with duty when it arrives in the UK.
A couple of photo's taken with my D40 as they were taken (not photoshopped)......
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa86/littleredbarchetta/Stuff%20stuff/DSC_0243.jpg[/img
[img]http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa86/littleredbarchetta/Stuff%20stuff/DSC_0138.jpg
I have had some excellent photo's, some of the kids, some landscapes and lots of car/motorsport photo's. Despite its size it is a very portable camera and very versatile! It is very easy to customise the camera for the surroundings or situation however is also great in 'auto' mode if you are looking to point and shoot.
If you do go for a D40 I would try to get a kit with the 18-55 and the 55-200 lenses - 18-55 is great for subjects that are close but 55-200 is probably what you want if you are going to take some photo's of cars at 10+ meters away.
I bought mine from Digitalrev.com and saved £120 on the UK price at the time. They are a Hong Kong based company but have a sales office in the UK (registered office), so supply a UK warranty. If you do decide to buy from this company make sure you choose the door to door price otherwise you will get hit with duty when it arrives in the UK.
A couple of photo's taken with my D40 as they were taken (not photoshopped)......
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa86/littleredbarchetta/Stuff%20stuff/DSC_0243.jpg[/img
[img]http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa86/littleredbarchetta/Stuff%20stuff/DSC_0138.jpg