Bored of my car, cheap hot hatch wanted! Ideas?

[georgeince]

So I'm bored of my car.... pretty normal for us lot?

I've gone from a first car of Peugeot 306 GLX which had the 1.9 TD which was written off (not by me) which I adored and into an E46 BMW 318Ci and after a year and half of ownership I'm bored, yeah I'm not surprised I'm bored either..., so I'm looking for a new car. Ideally a hot hatch which will match or exceed the bimmer in pace.

The tricky part is insurance and budget; I don't want to spend more than a few hundred quid on top of the value of the bimmer so probably around £2,500 given it has 130k miles and is a '54 plate. The insurance part is a 20yr old guy with 2yrs no claims. I'm looking into Cooper S, Panda 100bhp, Fiesta ST and anything which ends in GTI, ST or RS, punching I know but any ideas? Any help would be appreciated!

[georgeince]

jayemm89 said:

Clio 182
Golf GTI Mk4 (not universally loved)
MG ZR 160
BMW 325ti

Clio is def worth a look (Williams I wish!)
Sadly I'm in the group who don't love the mk4
MG ZR 160 could be worth a look I looked at them a while ago to replace the 306 but insurance counted it out, probably worth another look!
BMW 325ti not a huge fan of the look of them really and after running my bimmer could hurt on the running costs.

[georgeince]

Slow said:

Why not just get a slightly older e46 but with the 3l engine if you like the rest of it?

Unfortunately I paid £2400 for mine and ended up having to put in another £600 or so to fix everything which needed doing like tyres brakes disks shocks and I can't afford to do that again

[georgeince]

That's true I should probably reconsider it, at least I know what I'm looking at now! I was looking at the 306's again for sure just need to find one in decent condition with not huge mileage. Mx-5 maybe but I spend too much time calling my friend a hairdresser and I'm not sure I can eat my words and take that back... 🤔, civics I'm not a fan of the look of them really, prefer something a little less typical boy racer..?

[georgeince]

My issue with the 206 is that I just find them terribly ugly :/

[georgeince]

Now that 330 is actually quite local to me.... O.o but then comes the insurance.... :S

[georgeince]

Cupra would be interesting... I've looked into 330 and any in budget the mileage is almost 150k which is a bit much and the insurance will sting too much. The Saab I find boring before I've even started the engine even if it is a bit quicker than mine. Clio 182 is the current winner so far and the Type R's although rapid I don't like.