Hot hatch advice please!

[vtecyo]

GTID said:

Was just about to post the same, I reckon those mods would get you an extra 20bhp if your lucky!

Seeing as the JDM EP3 / DC5 engine comes with 15bhp more than the UKDM version as standard, I reckon you're wrong.

[purplenoise]

Dave200 said:

Sadly I've only passengered in one with a basic remap and exhaust. However, I was running a car with ~200bhp/tonne at the time and it was mightily impressive - no sign of "horrendous" torquesteer. Inside is no worse than Honda or Vauxhall, and the seats are actually pretty nice (Recaro, I think).

They are plentiful and cheap to run. No reason not to chuck them in the pot with the others.

Thanks, I'll have a look into it. I vaguely remember my Dad running a fully kitted Mondeo ST24 when I was a kid but thats as far as my Blue Oval experience goes. Had really nice big leather seats in it though

[neutral 3]

Whenever I see the words Hot Hatch, images of one of these imeadiatly come into my head !!
Had lots of 5 Turbos and still have 2 atm.

OP you say you want the fastest car for your money.....then that will be an E46 M3. Your budget will just get you one with a bit of searching. However prices are said to be on the rise and they are unlikely to be this low again. Plenty still around, so spares are readily available and plenty of tech advise. Yes you won't get more than 29 mpg ( best I have seen is 34 ) but the lack of depreciation will offset this.
But you buy an M3 for the epic "'Drivers Car " that they are, even more so with a CSL steering rack fitted as mine has.

[purplenoise]

neutral 3 said:

Whenever I see the words Hot Hatch, images of one of these imeadiatly come into my head !!
Had lots of 5 Turbos and still have 2 atm.

OP you say you want the fastest car for your money.....then that will be an E46 M3. Your budget will just get you one with a bit of searching. However prices are said to be on the rise and they are unlikely to be this low again. Plenty still around, so spares are readily available and plenty of tech advise. Yes you won't get more than 29 mpg ( best I have seen is 34 ) but the lack of depreciation will offset this.
But you buy an M3 for the epic "'Drivers Car " that they are, even more so with a CSL steering rack fitted as mine has.

Now THAT is an interesting shout and quite a curve ball. Given that some of the original parameters have now changed (no mileage requirement, no economy requirement) and I dont REALLY need a hatchback anymore as it wont be an every day car, should I abandon this thread and start a new one?

Also, I loveeee the 5 turbo. Sadly my experience is limited to Xbox and virtual hoonery. Hopefully I'll be able to change that one day.

[neutral 3]

Then it will surely be worth looking into the M3 !!

I did have a red 52 plate Cooper S back in 2004, loved it, would have another in a flash if had the £ spare, but it drank more fuel than the fantastic 911 Carrera 3.2 I then had.

My only Astra VXR experience is summer 2013, shorty after buying my M3 in and a young guy and his even younger g/f sitting on my rear bumper.....he soon disapeared in the rear view mirror.

The M3 is heavy, but I've taken the complete rear seats out ( the weight difference is really noticeable ) and the front ( boat anchor seats ) will be replaced with Pole Positions when funds permit. Take a look at M3 Cutters, you have to join to post, but lots of good info on there.

[ZX10R NIN]

At 5K you should be able to get a decent Hot Hatch get rid of your 1.4 306 any of the hot hatches recommended so far will be better on fuel personally I'd look at a Focus ST or Megane with a Cup Chassis.

ST
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

I'd say for the money the Megane fits your needs you can get a decent low mileage example for your budget the 1st one has had some K-Tec mods (Renault tuning specialists) the lower mileage meaning the 25k annual mileage won't be to much of an issue.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...


I'd still pick the other two above the Golf, also in your circumstances of 20-25K per year a Megane will have 30k less on the clock than the Golf.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Tuesday 28th July 23:00

[CorvetteConvert]

Haven't read all the suggestions but an early Scooby plus remap will do the job in most ways. 350 bhp easy to get.

[KarlMac]

purplenoise said:

Dave200 said:

Anything stopping you considering a Focus ST?
Budget seems about right, it's as quick and tuneable as most of the other things you've mentioned, and is reasonably cheap to maintain/service.

A quick remap turns these into pretty serious cars, and easily as capable as anything else you've mentioned.

No not really, I know nothing about them at all and none of my friends have suggested them. Are they decent? Can you tell me a bit more?

I had a 2010 ST3, it made a great racket and the torque from 30-130 was brill. Big wallowing lump though and I was in the petrol station every 4 days (doing around 50 miles a day)

[aka_kerrly]

purplenoise said:

Peugeot 106 1.1 -
Mercedes CLK Kompressor
Peugeot 206 GTi
Peugeot 306 1.4

Based on your previous cars how on earth can you say that a car that doesn't do 0-60 in around 5 seconds isn't fast?

Clearly your mate with the S3 that did 4 seconds must have upwards of 400hp which will cost you considerably more than £5k on it's own without even buying the car or he was bull stting.

Have a little look at this list of cars that do 0-60 in under 6 seconds as standard, there are probably a dozen cars on that list that you may be able to find one for under £5k like S2000, Skyline GTS, Mazda MPS, Porsche 944T, Nissan 350Z, Evos, WRXs, Audi S4s

[url]http://www.autosnout.com/0-60-Times/0-60mph-in-less-than-6-seconds.php[url]


For hot hatches around £5k , I'd be considering a MK5 GTI or the dam good Premier edition EP3 with some mods.

[vrsmxtb]

Mazda 3 MPS with some mods?

[tomjol]

purplenoise said:

Yeah through the course of the thread I have decided I am going to keep my crappy Peugeot 306 and pile the miles on that so the 25k a year isnt a worry anymore. Might go back and edit the original post. I couldnt bring myself to get a boring diesel, Id rather get an Lexus shed and spend the extra money on fuel lol

Reading it again now I'm home, that's what I was about to suggest if keeping several cars doesn't bother you, run the 306 into the ground and get something properly silly for the weekend.

purplenoise said:

No not really, I know nothing about them at all and none of my friends have suggested them. Are they decent? Can you tell me a bit more?

Great seats, and the five-pot noise is sublime

[DS197]

aka_kerrly said:

For hot hatches around £5k , I'd be considering a MK5 GTI or the dam good Premier edition EP3 with some mods.

Any MK5 GTI around £5k is going to be a snotter

[DS197]

tomjol said:

Great seats, and the five-pot noise is sublime

You missed out the terrible fuel consumption

[tomjol]

DS197 said:

tomjol said:

Great seats, and the five-pot noise is sublime

You missed out the terrible fuel consumption

You had to go and spoil it

[KarlMac]

DS197 said:

aka_kerrly said:

For hot hatches around £5k , I'd be considering a MK5 GTI or the dam good Premier edition EP3 with some mods.

Any MK5 GTI around £5k is going to be a snotter

This is the point I was trying to make earlier. I wouldn't be putting 25k on any of the aforementioned examples available for £5k.

I've had Focus ST and a Golf GTI, I spent twice as much as the OPs budget on the Golf and it still wasn't great.

[purplenoise]

aka_kerrly said:

Based on your previous cars how on earth can you say that a car that doesn't do 0-60 in around 5 seconds isn't fast?

Clearly your mate with the S3 that did 4 seconds must have upwards of 400hp which will cost you considerably more than £5k on it's own without even buying the car or he was bull stting.

Have a little look at this list of cars that do 0-60 in under 6 seconds as standard, there are probably a dozen cars on that list that you may be able to find one for under £5k like S2000, Skyline GTS, Mazda MPS, Porsche 944T, Nissan 350Z, Evos, WRXs, Audi S4s

[url]http://www.autosnout.com/0-60-Times/0-60mph-in-less-than-6-seconds.php[url]


For hot hatches around £5k , I'd be considering a MK5 GTI or the dam good Premier edition EP3 with some mods.

Those are the cars I have owned, the cars I grew up in (Dad's cars, uncle's cars, friend's cars) include w210 E55 AMGs, e34/e39/360 M5, e46/e90 m3s, sierra cossie on grey injectors, Carlton Gsi3000 (basically the Lotus Carlton without the ridiculous turbos) and a ferrari or 2. I know what a fast car feels like.

My mate's s3 felt like one of the fastest of the lot and definitely went sub 5. I couldnt buy a stock s3 and tune it to those levels but I could probably buy one already tuned for the budget (forged internals, uprated cooling, hybrid turbo upgrade etc), it would just be a case of waiting for one to come up. The only problem is the reputation of being expensive to run and very very boring. That's why I was looking for alternatives and suggestions.

[300bhp/ton]

purplenoise said:

I am in the market for a properly fast hot hatch. I am 24 with a few years no claims so insurance shouldn't be a problem.

I have a budget of about 5k and basically want the fastest car I can get for the money. Comfort is quite important as I cover about 25k miles a year. Economy is similarly important but I know I'll have sacrifice that for the speed I'm after. Would love to hear some opinions from those in the know, also feel free to suggest cars I might have overlooked. I would prefer something with tuning potential and 5 seats. Badge and image not important (I quite like a sleeper).

At the age of 24 with what sounds like no commitments. A hatchback of any sort if not the kind of car I'd be looking at.

Remember FWD only really exists to maximise interior space (to make the vehicle more practical) and manufacturing costs.

Of course there have been some good and even great FWD cars. But as a rule 99% of them are pretty dull and all look 100% dull, especially if they are a hatch back.

For £5k there are all sorts of amazingly fun and varied vehicles.

When you need something more practical or dynamically compromised - then look at a hatch, if you must.

[purplenoise]

neutral 3 said:

Then it will surely be worth looking into the M3 !!

I did have a red 52 plate Cooper S back in 2004, loved it, would have another in a flash if had the £ spare, but it drank more fuel than the fantastic 911 Carrera 3.2 I then had.

My only Astra VXR experience is summer 2013, shorty after buying my M3 in and a young guy and his even younger g/f sitting on my rear bumper.....he soon disapeared in the rear view mirror.

The M3 is heavy, but I've taken the complete rear seats out ( the weight difference is really noticeable ) and the front ( boat anchor seats ) will be replaced with Pole Positions when funds permit. Take a look at M3 Cutters, you have to join to post, but lots of good info on there.

So...I went to test drive an M3 convertible yesterday evening after the chat on here. It actually felt kind of slow compared to the S3. I gave my mate a call and he said he had easily beaten M3s in both the S3 and VXR. The sound was fantastic and as an overall package it is great. Conv vs coupe makes no difference to me - the added weight, reduced structural rigidity and possible expense of a failed roof mechanism does not outweigh the ability to pose for the 3 days of sunshine we have per year. Funnily enough (not for the owner) the roof actually got stuck half way up while I was there. Cant believe Im saying this but, as great as it is, is it better than...a hot Astra?

[Ali_T]

Which generation of VXR are we talking about, because they only really came into their own with the current shape. As for the Megane, the stock 225 wasn't the Renaultsport people now rave about. It only started to get good with the Cup and R26 versions.

I'd be looking at a Civic, Focus or 147 if it was my money. The first for reliability, second for tuning and third for having the best engine ever put into a hot hatch.

[purplenoise]

ZX10R NIN said:

At 5K you should be able to get a decent Hot Hatch get rid of your 1.4 306 any of the hot hatches recommended so far will be better on fuel personally I'd look at a Focus ST or Megane with a Cup Chassis.

ST
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

I'd say for the money the Megane fits your needs you can get a decent low mileage example for your budget the 1st one has had some K-Tec mods (Renault tuning specialists) the lower mileage meaning the 25k annual mileage won't be to much of an issue.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...


I'd still pick the other two above the Golf, also in your circumstances of 20-25K per year a Megane will have 30k less on the clock than the Golf.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Tuesday 28th July 23:00

Thanks for the links. I am going to test drive an ST and a 225 cup today. Id never considered the ST before