French hot hatch choice...

[Little Butch]

I'm 19, been driving for 2 years. All three of my Cars have boasted a HUGE 60bhp and now I'm looking to get something a bit quicker and a bit more fun..

I'm on a bit of a budget, got about £1000 for a Car and want insurance under £1500 really.

I've had a quote of £1500 to Insure a Saxo VTS and a quote of £1600 to insure a 205 gti.

Any other suggestions or experiences?

Cheers.

[essexplumber]

Citroen Xsara VTS? not sure what the insurance would be but shirley they can be had for that kinda dough.

To be fair though with your age anything with the word "hatch" will make your insurer run a mile, why not try somthing more subtle? BMW 316 Compact? RWD over 100 BHP, loads of wheels to choose from.

Edited by essexplumber on Thursday 6th October 18:52

[jbi]

you would be better off getting a japanese hatchback

[twazzock]

I just bought a 106 Rallye S2 for £600. Insurance is about £1300. You'd struggle to get a good one for a grand (mine's a shed) but you might be OK.

Saxo VTS/VTR is a good idea, that's what I was looking at previously. Lots and lots about, and you can definitely get one in your budget, it just takes some looking as so many of them have been ruined. Not sure how much the 106 GTis cost but I imagine many have suffered the same fate.

If you fancy a lesser 205 you could look for something like an XS/Rallye/Roland Garros. They're smaller engined (1.3 or 1.4) so not as quick as a Gti (obviously!) but still hilarious fun to drive. Only thing is they're actually rarer than the Gtis for the most part, so you might struggle to find one.

What other cars have you had? The 1360cc engine in the 205 is only 85bhp but you're only carting around about 800kg and you've got naff all in the way of sound-proofing so it feels a lot quicker

[Little Butch]

I drove a little 1.4 civic which was an alright Car to drive, with a decent engine I suppose that could be a good idea.. I'll look into them.

[66comanche]

106/306 GTi or Rallye.

306 GTi-6 especially post facelift still looks good today IMO - very clean and subtle. Insurance might be the killer, never used to cost me much to insure but premiums arent what they were!

[Little Butch]

Was looking at Gti-6's a while back, think I'd prefer a smaller Vts to chuck about though? I'd like a 106 Gti really but they seem to fetch a fair bit more than the equivelant vts!