Small, fast, auto, £4k. Am I barking up the wrong tree?

Small, fast, auto, £4k. Am I barking up the wrong tree?

Author
Discussion

AlexIT

1,483 posts

137 months

Friday 10th April 2015
quotequote all
Dave200 said:
A nice idea for the 99%, but the 500-mile motorway run to Le Mans would be miserable. I realise I'm looking for a fairly 'unique' combination of attributes, which is why I put it out for feedback - it wouldn't have taken much imagination to spend £4k on a Fiesta or Smart...
And getting the Smart for the 360 days in London and invest the money you don't spend with insurance in renting a nice car for the Mans trip?

Dave200

Original Poster:

3,590 posts

219 months

Friday 10th April 2015
quotequote all
AlexIT said:
Dave200 said:
A nice idea for the 99%, but the 500-mile motorway run to Le Mans would be miserable. I realise I'm looking for a fairly 'unique' combination of attributes, which is why I put it out for feedback - it wouldn't have taken much imagination to spend £4k on a Fiesta or Smart...
And getting the Smart for the 360 days in London and invest the money you don't spend with insurance in renting a nice car for the Mans trip?
A nice idea, but Le Mans isn't the only time the car will see a motorway. It's just not practical to bother with renting any time I want to drive more than 10 miles.

mark.c

1,090 posts

179 months

Friday 10th April 2015
quotequote all
For my money you had it on the original list, 325ti. In fact I put my own cash where my mouth is and bought one last year for daily duties, it's a cracking little car.

Dave200

Original Poster:

3,590 posts

219 months

Friday 10th April 2015
quotequote all
Purity14 said:
Dave200 said:
AlexIT said:
Dave200 said:
A nice idea for the 99%, but the 500-mile motorway run to Le Mans would be miserable. I realise I'm looking for a fairly 'unique' combination of attributes, which is why I put it out for feedback - it wouldn't have taken much imagination to spend £4k on a Fiesta or Smart...
And getting the Smart for the 360 days in London and invest the money you don't spend with insurance in renting a nice car for the Mans trip?
A nice idea, but Le Mans isn't the only time the car will see a motorway. It's just not practical to bother with renting any time I want to drive more than 10 miles.
Smart cars don't go any further than 10 miles per journey?
Being obtuse to try and make an unnecessary point is very unbecoming. Please don't.

Smart cars are rubbish on the motorway (from experience - noise, stability, economy), and travelling further than 10 miles from Central London usually means I'll be using a motorway of some sort. These are probably 7-8 trips per year, and I haven't got the time/patience to hire something specially for the task.

Therefore, a Smart car is a crap suggestion.

Vaud

50,291 posts

154 months

Friday 10th April 2015
quotequote all
Rather than go the full hog on a 3.2 Audi, how about an A3 2.0TFSI?

Still <7secs to 60.

Toltec

7,159 posts

222 months

Friday 10th April 2015
quotequote all
mark.c said:
For my money you had it on the original list, 325ti. In fact I put my own cash where my mouth is and bought one last year for daily duties, it's a cracking little car.
My wife has had one for over eight years, it is good if not outstanding to drive. Nice raspy engine note when pushed on a bit.

Check the rear wash/wipe, the design means that the wash liquid can get forced into the gear casing and it slowly locks up and strips the main gear.

The front suspension bushes can wear and cost several hundred quid to replace, listen/feel for clonks under braking/acceleration. Common e46 thing I think.

The 'hedgehog' that controls the interior fan can fail, not that expensive to fix, but a bit of a pita to get at.


CrgT16

1,928 posts

107 months

Friday 10th April 2015
quotequote all
I think you are making a big deal out of nothing. Me and my other half have to drive a lot in central London and never had the issues you mention. Ok, it's not a full time thing and we don't do any door to door deliveries but we never had any trouble with our 3 series estate anywhere... Parking not an issue really but each one to their own. I suppose a city car is easier... Shame you can't get a 500 Abarth for 4k... I would have kept the e90, is not that big... Pretty average size by today's standards.
Get a Fiesta, drives well and will do the job

AyBee

10,522 posts

201 months

Friday 10th April 2015
quotequote all
Panda 100hp?

Dave200

Original Poster:

3,590 posts

219 months

Tuesday 21st April 2015
quotequote all
CrgT16 said:
I think you are making a big deal out of nothing. Me and my other half have to drive a lot in central London and never had the issues you mention. Ok, it's not a full time thing and we don't do any door to door deliveries but we never had any trouble with our 3 series estate anywhere... Parking not an issue really but each one to their own. I suppose a city car is easier... Shame you can't get a 500 Abarth for 4k... I would have kept the e90, is not that big... Pretty average size by today's standards.
Get a Fiesta, drives well and will do the job
Thanks for the useless advice. If you engage your eyes, you will see that this isn't about driving - it's about the eternal parking war.

We live on a very popular street, in a nice part of Central London. Most houses have a (on-street) parking permit, and thus space is at a premium. We're often turning down spots or squeezing cars into tiny spaces (we're both fine at parking), and would prefer not to have the arseache of doing this all the time. Owning something a bit better suited to the environment (as most of our neighbours do), will take this away.

BluePurpleRed

1,137 posts

225 months

Tuesday 21st April 2015
quotequote all
I went through a similar problem (Mrs learning to drive 2-3 years ago) and bought an 1998 £850 VW 6N [for the model code geeks] Polo.

This isn't a suggestion of car. However what I found funny was the amount of incredulity we encountrered about the fact I used to take the Polo on the motorwat a fair bit instead of the train. I was either between cars or I was going to visit Liverpool in my M3 and needed the wheels to get back home tongue out

People would not believe that we would not die, the car would make it, we wouldn't arrive with broken spinal columns and bleeding ears after spending 3-4 hours in a car more than 5 years old.

Tell you what.. we arrive unharmed and without breaking up. It was actually OK, albeit a 1.4 not a 998cc etc. For once a month long journeys I just cannot see some of the suggestions being a problem really.

talksthetorque

10,815 posts

134 months

Tuesday 21st April 2015
quotequote all
Get a city car for the city driving and parking you describe, and rent something disgustingly noisy thirsty and long for Le Mans.
Paid for with the decrease in insurance and running costs via a small amount of man maths.

Gochaz

48 posts

148 months

Tuesday 21st April 2015
quotequote all
Hyundai Coupe? Not particularly inspiring. Looks like it's also longer than the 325ti. Other suggestion was a Volvo s/v40 t4 but they're even longer.

irocfan

40,155 posts

189 months

Tuesday 21st April 2015
quotequote all
exgtt said:
Chrysler Crossfire
got to be honest this ^^^ will tick a lot of boxes:

great at long distances (ie ideal for Le Mans)
quirky looks (personally I like 'em but I know that they do divide opinion)
quite nippy
tiptronic box
good grip
heated seats

and CHEAP...

T1berious

2,243 posts

154 months

Wednesday 22nd April 2015
quotequote all
MK V Auto Golf?

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/v...

From my days of daily driving in London (goes all misty eyed) This would be small enough to park, comfy enough for long hauls and be practical enough for Euro trips.

In budget and ready for a load of London scrapes smile



VolvoT5

4,155 posts

173 months

Wednesday 22nd April 2015
quotequote all
T1berious said:
MK V Auto Golf?

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/v...

From my days of daily driving in London (goes all misty eyed) This would be small enough to park, comfy enough for long hauls and be practical enough for Euro trips.

In budget and ready for a load of London scrapes smile
Look at the state of the front wheel arch though...

confused_buyer

6,610 posts

180 months

Thursday 23rd April 2015
quotequote all
Personally, I'd avoid anything with a DSG gearbox in this budget.

Crossfire isn't a bad idea - or even a Mk 1 SLK if you can get all your stuff in it. I doubt you'll find a Volvo C30 Auto in your price bracket which would also be a good shout if a C-Class is off the list.

Edited by confused_buyer on Thursday 23 April 08:34

Dave200

Original Poster:

3,590 posts

219 months

Thursday 23rd April 2015
quotequote all
confused_buyer said:
Personally, I'd avoid anything with a DSG gearbox in this budget.

Crossfire isn't a bad idea
Slowly coming around to this way of thinking. I had initially worked myself into a bit of a corner with the DSG TT idea, as it seemed to offer so much practicality in such a small package. However, looking at the back seats of one I passed today, I can't see that they would be of much use to anyone with a head.

The SLK is out, because we might occasionally need to carry more than one weekend bag - so perhaps it's time I drove a Crossfire.

confused_buyer

6,610 posts

180 months

Thursday 23rd April 2015
quotequote all
Dave200 said:
Slowly coming around to this way of thinking. I had initially worked myself into a bit of a corner with the DSG TT idea, as it seemed to offer so much practicality in such a small package. However, looking at the back seats of one I passed today, I can't see that they would be of much use to anyone with a head.

The SLK is out, because we might occasionally need to carry more than one weekend bag - so perhaps it's time I drove a Crossfire.
Crossfires drive quite "old school" Merc. They're certainly not very inspiring to drive but are easy to drive and, despite initial appearances, very comfortable long distance cruisers. As long as you don't expect a sports car they are OK and certainly brisk enough with the 3.2 engine.