Which Cheap 80's/90's Turbo Hatch?
Discussion
Slow said:
I had the same plan.
Friend got a R5 turbo, I couldnt afford one.
Ended up with a cherry turbo.
Very box shaped, no abs, brakes the size of a mopeds, no power steering, doors shake at 70mph, but over 150bhp and will match a astra vxr to 100mph or so.
Barely had to touch it since the turbo rebuild, knew it was needed soon when bought it.
My mate had one years ago, it was Japanese dog sFriend got a R5 turbo, I couldnt afford one.
Ended up with a cherry turbo.
Very box shaped, no abs, brakes the size of a mopeds, no power steering, doors shake at 70mph, but over 150bhp and will match a astra vxr to 100mph or so.
Barely had to touch it since the turbo rebuild, knew it was needed soon when bought it.
t. His words, not mine.Not 150 BHP, about 115 and 0-60 in over 8 seconds. It was light though.
An Astra VXR would piss all over it.
Another shout out here for the Fiat Punto GT. Cheap to buy and cheap to mod. They need a bit of tinkering to get them to handle though. Really light weight so little power increases make them feel fast. Too bad they rot very badly though. Just sold mine after 7 years. Brilliant little car imo.
another shout for the fiat punto.
its mid to late 90s so not quite as old and decrepit as the 80s stuff. galvanised bodies. decent kit for the time as standard electric heated mirrors sunroof windows central locking. weighs exactly 1 ton and less than 1.4 litres so great power to weight even in stock tune 130-136bhp or 148 to 153lb/ft. Fiats time to 62 was 7.9s but ignore the need to hit exactly 62 in the same way marty mcfly had to hit 88 in BTTF. Very potent in 1st and 2nd enough thrust to part company with much bigger players (within reason-dont go hunting out 335is or evos etc)......have fun. lower road tax band too as its below 1549cc. good economy when taking it easy ie 40mpg on a run after a 170/180bhp remap.
its mid to late 90s so not quite as old and decrepit as the 80s stuff. galvanised bodies. decent kit for the time as standard electric heated mirrors sunroof windows central locking. weighs exactly 1 ton and less than 1.4 litres so great power to weight even in stock tune 130-136bhp or 148 to 153lb/ft. Fiats time to 62 was 7.9s but ignore the need to hit exactly 62 in the same way marty mcfly had to hit 88 in BTTF. Very potent in 1st and 2nd enough thrust to part company with much bigger players (within reason-dont go hunting out 335is or evos etc)......have fun. lower road tax band too as its below 1549cc. good economy when taking it easy ie 40mpg on a run after a 170/180bhp remap.
Edited by ToothbrushMan on Thursday 27th November 08:34
I wasn't going to write anything on this thread because mostly everything I want to say has already been said lol... but with those last couple of posts I've just got to voice my opinion.
Don't get a Punto GT!
Honestly, I've been driving more than 10 years and have had almost as many cars, the Punto GT was the worst heap of st I've ever owned. Even when it was boosting properly, the handling was dire... on par with my 55bhp Corsa. I put on a Spax PSX suspension kit which whilst an obvious improvement, still left me with absolutely no confidence. I'd be scared for my life at the thought of ever tracking one 
I owned it for around 2 years, and it was off the road being repaired for roughly half that time.
Don't get a Punto GT!
Honestly, I've been driving more than 10 years and have had almost as many cars, the Punto GT was the worst heap of s
t I've ever owned. Even when it was boosting properly, the handling was dire... on par with my 55bhp Corsa. I put on a Spax PSX suspension kit which whilst an obvious improvement, still left me with absolutely no confidence. I'd be scared for my life at the thought of ever tracking one I owned it for around 2 years, and it was off the road being repaired for roughly half that time.
Yours probably had been stuffed into a wall or similar then buggering the suspension and steering geometry. It (the Punto) wasn't the greatest handling super mini but it was predictable and fairly capable in the bends and didn't understeer anything like a similar age Corsa in which you had to send a recorded delivery letter to the steering if you planned on going round a bend at any rate of knots.
kayzee said:
I wasn't going to write anything on this thread because mostly everything I want to say has already been said lol... but with those last couple of posts I've just got to voice my opinion.
Don't get a Punto GT!
Honestly, I've been driving more than 10 years and have had almost as many cars, the Punto GT was the worst heap of st I've ever owned. Even when it was boosting properly, the handling was dire... on par with my 55bhp Corsa. I put on a Spax PSX suspension kit which whilst an obvious improvement, still left me with absolutely no confidence. I'd be scared for my life at the thought of ever tracking one
I owned it for around 2 years, and it was off the road being repaired for roughly half that time.
Was it new though or could it have already had issues? I bought mine 4 months old and handling was fine. The brakes on the other hand were not.Don't get a Punto GT!
Honestly, I've been driving more than 10 years and have had almost as many cars, the Punto GT was the worst heap of s
t I've ever owned. Even when it was boosting properly, the handling was dire... on par with my 55bhp Corsa. I put on a Spax PSX suspension kit which whilst an obvious improvement, still left me with absolutely no confidence. I'd be scared for my life at the thought of ever tracking one I owned it for around 2 years, and it was off the road being repaired for roughly half that time.
Maracus said:
Slow said:
I had the same plan.
Friend got a R5 turbo, I couldnt afford one.
Ended up with a cherry turbo.
Very box shaped, no abs, brakes the size of a mopeds, no power steering, doors shake at 70mph, but over 150bhp and will match a astra vxr to 100mph or so.
Barely had to touch it since the turbo rebuild, knew it was needed soon when bought it.
My mate had one years ago, it was Japanese dog sFriend got a R5 turbo, I couldnt afford one.
Ended up with a cherry turbo.
Very box shaped, no abs, brakes the size of a mopeds, no power steering, doors shake at 70mph, but over 150bhp and will match a astra vxr to 100mph or so.
Barely had to touch it since the turbo rebuild, knew it was needed soon when bought it.
t. His words, not mine.Not 150 BHP, about 115 and 0-60 in over 8 seconds. It was light though.
An Astra VXR would piss all over it.
Slow said:
Provided it was stock yes, 2.5" exhaust, no cats no anything, uprated turbo, boost turned up. A conservative 150 bhp.
Friends charade gti was 170bhp.
From a mere 1.0litre engine.
Starlet gt was over 200bhp , was only a 1.3.
Easy to tune small jap turbos.
An FYI, my corsa b c20xe would , and did piss all over Astra and corsa vxrs.
vixen1700 said:
Not exactly cheap to buy, but how nice is this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1988-Renault-5-GT-Turbo-...
Shame it doesn't have the original wheels.BlueEyedBoy said:
kayzee said:
I wasn't going to write anything on this thread because mostly everything I want to say has already been said lol... but with those last couple of posts I've just got to voice my opinion.
Don't get a Punto GT!
Honestly, I've been driving more than 10 years and have had almost as many cars, the Punto GT was the worst heap of st I've ever owned. Even when it was boosting properly, the handling was dire... on par with my 55bhp Corsa. I put on a Spax PSX suspension kit which whilst an obvious improvement, still left me with absolutely no confidence. I'd be scared for my life at the thought of ever tracking one
I owned it for around 2 years, and it was off the road being repaired for roughly half that time.
Was it new though or could it have already had issues? I bought mine 4 months old and handling was fine. The brakes on the other hand were not.Don't get a Punto GT!
Honestly, I've been driving more than 10 years and have had almost as many cars, the Punto GT was the worst heap of s
t I've ever owned. Even when it was boosting properly, the handling was dire... on par with my 55bhp Corsa. I put on a Spax PSX suspension kit which whilst an obvious improvement, still left me with absolutely no confidence. I'd be scared for my life at the thought of ever tracking one I owned it for around 2 years, and it was off the road being repaired for roughly half that time.
When I read the tyre tests where they have used the same NEW test car it can be dramatic how much the handling of a car is affected by a set of tyres. The difference between a set of Michelin Super Sports and a set of Toyo T1Rs with the soggy sidewalls for example. 3 or 4 seconds in lapping on a 90 second lap and a gulf in driver confidence in the review notes
Combine that with a 10 year old 90,000 mile old car under scrutiny with some worn suspension bushes, a knackered damper and some knocked out tracking and you can see the opportunity for massive variation in opinion when different drivers are involved
Al U said:
kayzee said:
Honestly, I've been driving more than 10 years and have had almost as many cars
So you have had almost 10 cars in your life, that's not exactly what I'd call a broad spectrum of experience.You're always going to get opposing opinions, but I was just stating my experience that I wouldn't ever go for another Punto GT
Thanks everyone.
I've located a white R5 GTT locally. It was a car I remember being thrashed to death, out on the local streets when I was a bit younger. I figured it died when it disappeared but apparently it's been in a garage for the last 7yrs and is a bit of a dog. Im not surprised but then again I don't mind a fixer-upper if it's not too bad.
I'll go and view it as soon as I can but I've been thrown a really odd one by a friend; his old 190E Cosworth, except it has a turbo attached. It's a really interesting car, frightening from what I remember.
I've located a white R5 GTT locally. It was a car I remember being thrashed to death, out on the local streets when I was a bit younger. I figured it died when it disappeared but apparently it's been in a garage for the last 7yrs and is a bit of a dog. Im not surprised but then again I don't mind a fixer-upper if it's not too bad.
I'll go and view it as soon as I can but I've been thrown a really odd one by a friend; his old 190E Cosworth, except it has a turbo attached. It's a really interesting car, frightening from what I remember.
Edited by 1Addicted on Monday 1st December 12:18
1Addicted said:
Thanks everyone.
I've located a white R5 GTT locally. It was a car I remember being thrashed to death, out on the local streets when I was a bit younger. I figured it died when it disappeared but apparently it's been in a garage for the last 7yrs and is a bit of a dog. Im not surprised but then again I don't mind a fixer-upper if it's not too bad.
I'll go and view it as soon as I can but I've been thrown a really odd one by a friend; his old 190E Cosworth, except it has a turbo attached. It's a really interesting car, frightening from what I remember.
both really interesting and fantastic weekend project/toys I've located a white R5 GTT locally. It was a car I remember being thrashed to death, out on the local streets when I was a bit younger. I figured it died when it disappeared but apparently it's been in a garage for the last 7yrs and is a bit of a dog. Im not surprised but then again I don't mind a fixer-upper if it's not too bad.
I'll go and view it as soon as I can but I've been thrown a really odd one by a friend; his old 190E Cosworth, except it has a turbo attached. It's a really interesting car, frightening from what I remember.
Edited by 1Addicted on Monday 1st December 12:18
you should go for the blown merc though and give me details of the R5gtt seller so i can snap that up
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff