looking for a new car.... opinions please!

[jkracing]

Looking to buy a new car with the girlfriend as a 'sensible' car to share between us... Luckily, she enjoys a little enthusiastic driving from time to time, so we want something fun.

We've come up with the following options as a starting point, but Can't decide between them.

Discuss and help please!

Clio 200 (with cup chassis)
Golf GTI
Scirocco GT
Megane 250 (the gf likes them for some reason?)
Focus ST

The budget is something around £16,000 so options are fairly open in the second hand market I hope.....

[anonymous-user]

Evo magazine seem to love the Megane R26.R (whatever its called) thing on a recent test so one of those would be high on my list of similar cars.

[jkracing]

pablo said:

Evo magazine seem to love the Megane R26.R (whatever its called) thing on a recent test so one of those would be high on my list of similar cars.

They're fantastic cars, I would love one...
But the lack of rear seats, the 4 point harnesses, close-to-race suspension and £19,000 pricetag unfortunately make them slightly out of reach

If I was lucky enough to be in a situation to buy myself a 'fun car' I'd be on my way to get one now.....

[Deerfoot]

A Golf GTI from your list I think. Can you get a Scirocco GT for £16,000 these days?

[DaveL86]

Deerfoot said:

Can you get a Scirocco GT for £16,000 these days?

Unlikely you'd be talking £18k for a poverty spec GT (providing we're talking about one from this era and not the one made upto ~1992)

Your more likely going to be looking at either:
Golf GTI TFSI (200hp mk5 shape)
Leon FR TFSI (200hp new shape)
Leon Cupra TFSI (240hp new shape)

none of which have the new TSI engine which doesn't matter unless that's why you chose the 'Rocco GT as an option.

EDIT:

Clearly forgot to give my opinion, I'd punt for the Leon Cupra as it gives the most bang for buck yet still having the build quality you'd expect and reliability.

For the money you could get a fully loaded limited K1 edition, not 100% sure about the looks my self but worth a look at.

Edited by DaveL86 on Tuesday 18th May 18:09

[jkracing]

Yeah I hadn't looked at the GT until after i posted this thread actually.... as said, the peasant one starts at about £18,000 with the wrong side of £20,000 for a nice one.

I had looked at Seat's, but I prefer the older model. The new one is just too big. Plus, with the possibility of Seat crashing and burning in the near future, I don't really want to invest in a car that's going to be worth a tenner when I come to get rid of it.

[5charlie46]

got to be focus ST, it does everything brilliantly and that 5 cyclinder is a beautiful lump... i would suggest a fast renault but reliabilty would put me off...

[jkracing]

5charlie46 said:

got to be focus ST, it does everything brilliantly and that 5 cyclinder is a beautiful lump... i would suggest a fast renault but reliabilty would put me off...

That 5 cylinder does sound gorgeous....
The only thing that puts me off ST's is that they're really commen now, at least round where i live, their seems to be a lot of complete c***s driving them.