Moving on from a Clio 172??

[anonymous-user]

IrateNinja said:

The two cars had totally different personalities, the Clio is a complete go kart whereas the Megane was far more composed and competent. The Megane really needed to be going quickly to unsettle it, whereas the Clio was just a riot all the time.

Hence my best-of-both-worlds solution - Clio chassis, Megane engine

Admittedly I'm biased, being completely smitten with the thing, but for sheer fun it's a special little thing.

[IrateNinja]

charltjr said:

Hence my best-of-both-worlds solution - Clio chassis, Megane engine

Admittedly I'm biased, being completely smitten with the thing, but for sheer fun it's a special little thing.

I've very keen to see what the factory effort by Renault looks like that's been rumoured!

[NDNDNDND]

Oh Behave said:

I wouldn't want to rely solely on a cars power and natural handling abilities. To me part of the challenge is taking my driving skills to the next level hence starting in a Clio. I have friends with cars over 400bhp but feel the car is beyond their capabilities to drive fast.

FFS just buy an MX-5 - that's pretty much exactly what they're for. They're the most widely raced production car for a very good reason.

[rb5er]

Apparently the Polo GTi is the best car money can buy.

On a serious note, can you get an Exige for 20k?

My money would be on that or and elise with an engine conversion or evo/impreza. The old ones are quite light and so not really heavy on consumables.

[Oh Behave]

rb5er said:

Apparently the Polo GTi is the best car money can buy.

On a serious note, can you get an Exige for 20k?

My money would be on that or and elise with an engine conversion or evo/impreza. The old ones are quite light and so not really heavy on consumables.

Think exiges start at low 20s...

Spec C Scooby could be a riot!

[daniel-5zjw7]

Afraid I'm in the anti camp when it comes to Meganes, I had a 07 RS, totally stock when we bought it with 65k on it, I did end up modding it in a desperate attempt to resolve faults and upgrade it at the same time, but the issues never stopped, on top of that I just think it's a badly built car, everything rattled and felt cheap. I'd never buy another but appreciate the megane engine in a clio is probably a riot!

In terms of Impreza's, I used to have a 1993 WRX Type RA, which was the lightest turbo'd impreza ever produced, in fact any EVO mag fans here may remember the car as it was featured last year, mine was pretty well sorted and a stunning road car, but on track it did have a fairly wayward character at the limit. A newage Spec C would be a serious proposition, however you can pump serious, serious amounts of money in to these once you start chasing performance.

[QBee]

So to re-cap, you want a track day car that doubles as a road car, and want to move on from the Clio to something that gives you a new driving skills challenge.

So, to go much faster on the road is to be asking for an accident or a licence-ectomy.
That Ginetta might look the mutts, and will turn heads, but it will be a pain as a daily car, I am told.
Noisy, hard ride, wearing to drive long distances, impractical etc etc. So just a track car really.

Decide what you want from the car on the road and that will make some of your choices for you.
Also how practical do you need it to be? Will it be your only car?
I presently run three cars for that reason - a fun car, which i will come on to later, a daily driver Saab Aero estate for affordable comfort, family practicality and 260bhp, without pissing off my clients, and an old Merc 4x4 for load lugging, dogs and horses so that i can tow a loaded horse trailer and don't mess up the other two.
If you can afford it I would suggest you think about going multi-car, it will give you more choice. And your daily, like mine, needn't cost a lot. Mine was £1500, 56 plate.

Track car - do you want to go rear wheel drive for a change, and do you want it to double as a road/Sunday/fun/car shows/social car?
All the above suggestions are good.
I was looking at buying a Boxster S when i chose mine, but on a whim bought a TVR Chimaera, and have never regretted it.
Huge fun, turns heads, universally loved, awesome sound track, big fan club (just check out the TVR pages on here), loads of events to go to, a regular track day crowd (were you the Clio I was chasing at Cadwell on an evening session three weeks ago?), big torquey engine, 0-60 in between 4 and 5 seconds in standard trim, 160 mph top speed. Just not a long distance daily driver, though of course it can be toured - some friends of mine just did a tour of Scotland in theirs.

Oh, and to bust one myth, they are reliable, so long as they are driven regularly.
If you want to see what mine is like, you will be welcome to come see. I am in the East Midlands.

Here I am getting held up at Cadwell park while being followed by a well-driven 2.5 litre MX5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAZCOXpZCWY

[QBee]

PS, some of the Berkshire TVR crowd are going to this tonight - they are a friendly lot, so just get chatting:


Looks like we have a local classic car meet on Wednesday evening.... Anyone up for it? If so I will create an event.

You are invited to join Barkham and District Classic Car Club (BAD-CCC) gathering on the evening of Wednesday 25th May at the Blackbushe Airfield Cafe, on the A30, at 7.30pm - 9.30 pm. There will also be a convoy if you wish to join that, which will depart St James Church Village hall, Barkham, car park at 7.10pm, or simply just meet at the airfield. Drinks and snacks will be available in the cafe, as usual.

[Oh Behave]

QBee - thanks for the response. I should probably elaborate on my current cars:

118d - work hack and dog transporter
E90 M3 - weekend car
Clio - dedicated track car (caged, buckets etc)
Also have access to my GFs 4 x 4.

However, I find the management of 3 cars a pain (servicing, tax etc) and I hardly use the M3 so my thinking is to chop in both the Clio and M3 for a track (10-12 days per year)/weekend/occasional car and something that is a bit of a keeper and won't lose too much in value.

I guess I really need to drive some and see which one I like the most. It wasn't me at Cadwell btw! My good friend has a 5.0 Chimeara (in purple) which is up for sale soon

[QBee]

As long as you don't put a zillion miles on them, TVRs are actually going up in value at the present

[motorhole]

Haha given that garage, I'd be thinking about stripping weight out if & retaining the M3

[Craikeybaby]

Given your requirements I'd suggest an Elise! Or keep the M3 and get an MR2 Roadster for the track.

[wellground]

Oh Behave said:

QBee - thanks for the response. I should probably elaborate on my current cars:

118d - work hack and dog transporter
E90 M3 - weekend car
Clio - dedicated track car (caged, buckets etc)
Also have access to my GFs 4 x 4.

However, I find the management of 3 cars a pain (servicing, tax etc) and I hardly use the M3 so my thinking is to chop in both the Clio and M3 for a track (10-12 days per year)/weekend/occasional car and something that is a bit of a keeper and won't lose too much in value.

I guess I really need to drive some and see which one I like the most. It wasn't me at Cadwell btw! My good friend has a 5.0 Chimeara (in purple) which is up for sale soon

Just an idea, and from experience it might help on the road driving/track car/retain value front. I have a manual box Evo 10. They handle well and properly fast, but can make a nice road drive, plus as they came into the UK in much lower numbers than previous Evo's (as they stopped making the Evo)they are now starting to go back up in value. Plus being 4WD, it's a hoot in the wet. Just an off the wall idea. Hope it helps.

[git-r]

R32 GTR

extremely good fun to drive in a rwd sense, incredibly over engineered and actually going up in value.

Still feel modern despite their age.

[Oh Behave]

wellground said:

Just an idea, and from experience it might help on the road driving/track car/retain value front. I have a manual box Evo 10. They handle well and properly fast, but can make a nice road drive, plus as they came into the UK in much lower numbers than previous Evo's (as they stopped making the Evo)they are now starting to go back up in value. Plus being 4WD, it's a hoot in the wet. Just an off the wall idea. Hope it helps.

It would have to be the 9 MR for me but running one as a daily would be horrendous on the fuel consumption I suspect

git-r said:

R32 GTR

extremely good fun to drive in a rwd sense, incredibly over engineered and actually going up in value.

Still feel modern despite their age.

I've always hankered after a R32 GTR, and considering they won Bathurst etc would make a very capable track car with the right set up. Plus future values look solid. And the sound

I think in my head I've narrowed it down to one of these or a R26R, two entirely different propositions I know!

[Fonzey]

Elise or VX for sure.

[NJH]

Oh Behave said:

I think in my head I've narrowed it down to one of these or a R26R, two entirely different propositions I know!

R26.R can be as much as 3x the price of a good R26. To make a regular use track car you would be much better off buying an R26 and stripping it of weight which is what the R26.R is at the end of the day anyway. Thing is though I half agree with a previous poster, my own R26 has turned into somewhat of a money pit doing things to it and in part that was the fault of getting sucked into modding thing aka ruining a perfectly good car. Its my road car and only occasional use track car (I have a ground up built Porsche 944 race car). Its my personal opinion but I think the Megane is best kept close to stock, on mine the clutch went within a month of tuning the thing then you learn that the intercooler is also incapable of coping with more than stock boost, they really don't seem like a good modding base to me as the whole car seems to have been made by Alpine pretty close to what is possible from a mk2 Megane with any sensible engineering safety margin. Out of the box though I was amazed how good it was on track, just rubbish gear change and weak stock pads both of which are easy fixes, doing it again I would keep to those couple of things and forget all the endless stuff on the net about modifying them.

[VTECMatt]

The Elise chassis is fabulous, whether it is VX or Lotus both are brilliant, imho the best thing about the car is you have to learn to drive properly, no abs, no pas, no esp etc just make it a thrilling experience both on road and track. I am bias having owned them for 13 years and the perfect upgrade from the Clio, I moved up from an EK9 track civic type r and found the step up a good one.

[Oh Behave]

NJH said:

R26.R can be as much as 3x the price of a good R26. To make a regular use track car you would be much better off buying an R26 and stripping it of weight which is what the R26.R is at the end of the day anyway. Thing is though I half agree with a previous poster, my own R26 has turned into somewhat of a money pit doing things to it and in part that was the fault of getting sucked into modding thing aka ruining a perfectly good car. Its my road car and only occasional use track car (I have a ground up built Porsche 944 race car). Its my personal opinion but I think the Megane is best kept close to stock, on mine the clutch went within a month of tuning the thing then you learn that the intercooler is also incapable of coping with more than stock boost, they really don't seem like a good modding base to me as the whole car seems to have been made by Alpine pretty close to what is possible from a mk2 Megane with any sensible engineering safety margin. Out of the box though I was amazed how good it was on track, just rubbish gear change and weak stock pads both of which are easy fixes, doing it again I would keep to those couple of things and forget all the endless stuff on the net about modifying them.

My thinking behind a R26R over a standard R26 is as follows:

To buy a half decent R26 will set you back say 6k, to cage, strip it, put buckets and harnesses in, realistically 3k, and then a few more upgrades and I'd say you're easily approaching 12k outlay which is pretty much dead money once you want to change/sell. If I buy a R26R for say 19k, I don't think I'd essentially lose 12k on it doing limited miles per year and already it is set-up for track etc

VTECMatt said:

The Elise chassis is fabulous, whether it is VX or Lotus both are brilliant, imho the best thing about the car is you have to learn to drive properly, no abs, no pas, no esp etc just make it a thrilling experience both on road and track. I am bias having owned them for 13 years and the perfect upgrade from the Clio, I moved up from an EK9 track civic type r and found the step up a good one.

Thanks. Apart from being a passenger in one, I've never driven one so maybe I should.

[gashead1105]

I bought an S2 exige after my 182. Adored it and did loads of trackdays but in hindsight I should've bought an MX5 first as I think that would've made me a better driver. The exige is very quick after a clio and modifiable, but it isn't very slidey and can get quite snappy at the limit. Had a few offs...