Another "What Car" Thread

[daveknott5]

So chaps, here are the requirements.

The car has to be around £13-18k, a maximum of 2 years old, do 35mpg+, be cheap to run and maintain, well built (i.e., no/few cabin rattles), reliable, hold its value well, be comfortable for motorway, town and heavy traffic commuting, + be able to put a massive grin on my face when the occasion allows (both on road and on track). I don't need back seats, so 2 seaters are a definite option.

The Scirocco 2.0 TSI DSG, Golf GTI Edition 30 DSG and TT 2.0 S-Tronic on my list for cars to test drive as a DSG box would be perfect for heavy traffic but still allow full manual control over gearchanges. However, I’m also still tempted by something with a manual gearbox. The Clio Sport 200, Megane R26R, Mazda MX5 Sport Tech , MINI JCW, and Lotus Elise S are all on the list too.

Which would you choose? - and are there any cars I should be looking at?

Edited by daveknott5 on Thursday 12th August 11:43

[Iceman82]

Do you have any requirements bar those listed above? I.E. Necessary to have back seats etc? I only ask because, otherwise, I would imagine the Elise would be the way to go really, especially as you mention track days.

[Unlight]

Difficult choice to make - do you need the rear seats? Is the town useage a daily thing, or the occasional one off?

I wouldn't fancy heavy traffic every day in a R26r, whereas it would certainly put a smile on your face out on the open road.

I think the 30th Anniversary GTi might be the best all rounder there - its not going to be exhilarating but will be fun (especially after a remap), will hold its value well and the DSG will make things easier when sitting in traffic. Might not be great for track usage though, maybe get a cheaper example and spend the change on a track toy?

Edited by Unlight on Thursday 12th August 11:23

[kambites]

The Elise wont meet the "no cabin rattles" requirement unless you're willing to spend a lot of time hunting them down and fixing them. So on that basis, I'd say "MX5".

I doubt the top three will realistically average 35mpg.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 12th August 11:24

[mnkiboy]

My Leon Cupra (revo remap) will just get 35mpg on a long run if driven gently.
Real world you're looking more like 26-27 in town, 31-32 on a long run.

Doesn't half put a smile on my face though, and a remapped ED30 would be just as quick.

[Arese]

mnkiboy said:

My Leon Cupra (revo remap) will just get 35mpg on a long run if driven gently.
Real world you're looking more like 26-27 in town, 31-32 on a long run.

Doesn't half put a smile on my face though, and a remapped ED30 would be much quicker.

EFA

[TEKNOPUG]

This a company car? Surely none of them will average 35mpg+ if driven anything like they are designed to be?

[daveknott5]

Iceman82 said:

Do you have any requirements bar those listed above? I.E. Necessary to have back seats etc? I only ask because, otherwise, I would imagine the Elise would be the way to go really, especially as you mention track days.

Edited the original post to say that I don't need back seats. 2 seaters are definite options

[mnkiboy]

Arese said:

mnkiboy said:

My Leon Cupra (revo remap) will just get 35mpg on a long run if driven gently.
Real world you're looking more like 26-27 in town, 31-32 on a long run.

Doesn't half put a smile on my face though, and a remapped ED30 would be much quicker.

EFA

Much quicker how? It's the same engine.

[daveknott5]

TEKNOPUG said:

This a company car? Surely none of them will average 35mpg+ if driven anything like they are designed to be?

Nope, private.

Sure the cars on the list will drop below 35mpg if driven hard, but the official combined mpg for the Scirocco for instance is 37.......and the others on the list also have official combined mpg figures of circa 35mpg.....

Obviously, this sort of figure would only be realistic on a motorway run, but I'm hoping the achievable average mpg figure for these would beat the current 27.8mpg I get from my 130i M-Sport......

[kambites]

In my experience, cars with turbocharged petrol engines don't tend to get anywhere near their official figures under normal driving.

[Arese]

mnkiboy said:

Arese said:

mnkiboy said:

My Leon Cupra (revo remap) will just get 35mpg on a long run if driven gently.
Real world you're looking more like 26-27 in town, 31-32 on a long run.

Doesn't half put a smile on my face though, and a remapped ED30 would be much quicker.

EFA

Much quicker how? It's the same engine.

Apologies. I thought you meant the older Cupra.

[Gad-Westy]

daveknott5 said:

TEKNOPUG said:

This a company car? Surely none of them will average 35mpg+ if driven anything like they are designed to be?

Nope, private.

Sure the cars on the list will drop below 35mpg if driven hard, but the official combined mpg for the Scirocco for instance is 37.......and the others on the list also have official combined mpg figures of circa 35mpg.....

Obviously, this sort of figure would only be realistic on a motorway run, but I'm hoping the achievable average mpg figure for these would beat the current 27.8mpg I get from my 130i M-Sport......

I think as Kambites mentioned, the top 3 probably won't be significantly better on fuel than the 130i. The 130 is surprisingly good on fuel so its quite a tough benchmark.

All things considered, I think I'd take the mini from your list. The 26R would be great but I think if you're prepared to make that sort of compromise, I'd go for the Elise.

[RobM77]

[quote=daveknott5]The car has to be around £13-18k, a maximum of 2 years old, do 35mpg+, be cheap to run and maintain, well built (i.e., no/few cabin rattles), reliable, hold its value well, be comfortable for motorway, town and heavy traffic commuting, + be able to put a massive grin on my face when the occasion allows (both on road and on track). I don't need back seats, so 2 seaters are a definite option./quote] Blimey! To be completely honest, I'm not sure that I know of a car that'll do that.

Incidentally, Kambites says that his Elise rattles, but mine never has, so maybe it's just luck of the draw. Mine's a 53 reg that's done 30k miles.

The Elise would be my immediate choice, but they're a bit noisy on the motorway, and whilst mine was my only car for three years I gave in in the end and bought a 328i for motorways. My Elise is the best road car I've ever driven though. Amazing things

Another consideration would be a BMW Z4 coupé. I've got 42mpg from mine driving it carefully, although it tends to average about 30-33 on a mixture of roads. 1380kg and a very sonorous 265bhp n/a straight six puts a grin on your face, and it has a lovely balance - probably the least inherent understeer of any road car I've owned. Reasonable boot too. This isn't a plug, but I may be selling mine soon - BMW warranty still stands (bought from BMW in November), 16k miles on the clock and in superb condition. There is the odd rattle though, and generally they're notorious for it, so that may put you off.

BMW E46 M3 is another choice. I found that it was extremely capable, but hid quite a bit from the driver, which was a shame. I actually prefer driving my Z4C (lighter, lower and more interactive), but the M3 is a lot faster, and feels it too being a big family car.

[TEKNOPUG]

daveknott5 said:

TEKNOPUG said:

This a company car? Surely none of them will average 35mpg+ if driven anything like they are designed to be?

Nope, private.

Sure the cars on the list will drop below 35mpg if driven hard, but the official combined mpg for the Scirocco for instance is 37.......and the others on the list also have official combined mpg figures of circa 35mpg.....

Obviously, this sort of figure would only be realistic on a motorway run, but I'm hoping the achievable average mpg figure for these would beat the current 27.8mpg I get from my 130i M-Sport......

If private, why so many stipulations "The car has to be around £13-18k, a maximum of 2 years old, do 35mpg+, be cheap to run and maintain," etc?

Lots of nice cars available for that budget that are a few years older and have already taken a big depreciation hit. You could find yourself in a nice E46 M3 for lower budget money. Or if you want to keep it a hatch the I would look for a really nice, low mileage Mk4 R32 Golf. Ticks all your boxes, will hold it's value well (practically classics already) and you'd have a fair lump of cash left over.

[daveknott5]

TEKNOPUG said:

daveknott5 said:

TEKNOPUG said:

This a company car? Surely none of them will average 35mpg+ if driven anything like they are designed to be?

Nope, private.

Sure the cars on the list will drop below 35mpg if driven hard, but the official combined mpg for the Scirocco for instance is 37.......and the others on the list also have official combined mpg figures of circa 35mpg.....

Obviously, this sort of figure would only be realistic on a motorway run, but I'm hoping the achievable average mpg figure for these would beat the current 27.8mpg I get from my 130i M-Sport......

If private, why so many stipulations "The car has to be around £13-18k, a maximum of 2 years old, do 35mpg+, be cheap to run and maintain," etc?

Lots of nice cars available for that budget that are a few years older and have already taken a big depreciation hit. You could find yourself in a nice E46 M3 for lower budget money. Or if you want to keep it a hatch the I would look for a really nice, low mileage Mk4 R32 Golf. Ticks all your boxes, will hold it's value well (practically classics already) and you'd have a fair lump of cash left over.

OK, here are my reasons.
1. Fuel prices are on the up - predicted to be at their highest ever by the end of the summer. It would be nice to get more mileage, fill up less often, and be a bit kinder to the old wallet.
2. I'm looking at cars up to 2 years old so that the car is still in good nick (i.e., hasn't seen a lot of wear and tear so consumables such as tyres, brakes etc have some life left in them + manufacturers warranty is still intact)
3. I hate spending time in car garages/dealerships getting the car serviced/repaired + of course - it generally costs me money! The more time I can spend driving the thing, the better.
4. It has to be reliable - who actually likes calling out the AA or dealing with mechanical gremlins - well, it's not me anyway!
5. Retained value is important as I don't want to lose much on it. You'll have probably gathered by now that I'm not looking to take a big hit on depreciation/running costs
6. It has to be comfortable over our pockmarked, pot holed roads. I'm getting fed up of bouncing/thunking around in my 130i M-Sport with its run-flat tyres

Good shout on the M3 though - ticks all the boxes apart from fuel economy. Still - if I could pick one up cheaply in the 1st place - that would off-set against the economy benefits of the other four pot turbo options because they may be more expensive in the 1st place...... hmmmmm

I realise these are tough requirements for any car to meet - that's why I'm asking the PH oracle for wisdom!

Edited by daveknott5 on Thursday 12th August 12:17

Edited by daveknott5 on Thursday 12th August 12:25

[RobM77]

daveknott5 said:

TEKNOPUG said:

This a company car? Surely none of them will average 35mpg+ if driven anything like they are designed to be?

Nope, private.

Sure the cars on the list will drop below 35mpg if driven hard, but the official combined mpg for the Scirocco for instance is 37.......and the others on the list also have official combined mpg figures of circa 35mpg.....

Obviously, this sort of figure would only be realistic on a motorway run, but I'm hoping the achievable average mpg figure for these would beat the current 27.8mpg I get from my 130i M-Sport......

I'm not sure about the Toyota engined Elises, but my k series S2 111S will easily get over 35mpg if driven quickly.

[TEKNOPUG]

What sort of annual mileage are you doing? If you bought an M3 for £14k instead of a Scirocco for £18k then you've saved yourself £4k already

£14k will get you an E46 with about 40k on the clock. That would be my starting point for your budget - certainly the biggest bang for buck.

[daveknott5]

[redacted]

[daveknott5]

Hmm, yep the Z4 coupe could be a great option - How's the ride? Is Build quality/lack of cabin rattles good?