'Hot Hatch' for £6K, Talk to me,
Discussion
As always i'm forever trawling AT & PH Classifieds for my next set of wheels!
I don't have any paticularly strict guidelines other than it needs to have a bit of poke.
Current car is a Scenic, previous cars include a 1.2 punto! (Crap history i know but i was a biker)
It needs to have 5 seatbelts & around 30mpg would be nice.
Insurance should'nt be too much of an issue.
I'm bored to death of driving the Scenic everyday, although the extra space is nice, 90% of the time it's just me in it.
Commute is about 10 miles, about 4 of which are DC, 4 of A roads & 2 of 30 urban.
VERY occasional motorway runs.
The only thing i don't really want is a Clio sport!
Any suggestions?
I don't have any paticularly strict guidelines other than it needs to have a bit of poke.
Current car is a Scenic, previous cars include a 1.2 punto! (Crap history i know but i was a biker)
It needs to have 5 seatbelts & around 30mpg would be nice.
Insurance should'nt be too much of an issue.
I'm bored to death of driving the Scenic everyday, although the extra space is nice, 90% of the time it's just me in it.
Commute is about 10 miles, about 4 of which are DC, 4 of A roads & 2 of 30 urban.
VERY occasional motorway runs.
The only thing i don't really want is a Clio sport!
Any suggestions?
How hot?
Tame - Focus ST170 - great drivers car.
- Fabia VRS - solid and reliable
In between - Focus ST (version 1)
- VXR's are not coming into that price range, but they have a pretty poor image
- Clio's are good but if you dont want one then.....
- Civic Type R, yet another with not a great image...
- Megane Renault Sport 225
Bonkers - 147 GTA (I've got one) (you won't get 30MPG)
My advice is think outside the hot hatch world, you can get some cracking saloons.
Tame - Focus ST170 - great drivers car.
- Fabia VRS - solid and reliable
In between - Focus ST (version 1)
- VXR's are not coming into that price range, but they have a pretty poor image
- Clio's are good but if you dont want one then.....
- Civic Type R, yet another with not a great image...
- Megane Renault Sport 225
Bonkers - 147 GTA (I've got one) (you won't get 30MPG)
My advice is think outside the hot hatch world, you can get some cracking saloons.
We just bought a 2006 Octavia VRS (petrol) for 5700 and it meets all the criteria if you don't mind turbo-lag. It's got three three-point belts in the back and so far we've averaged 32mpg, although that is probably nearly half motorway miles. I'd guess you'll get over 30 on your route, though.
The Golf GTI/Leon Cupra are basically the same car with a smaller boot and slightly different states of engine tune. I think the Golf is over-priced compared to the other two, but the Leon is well worth considering if you don't need as much space as the Octavia offers.
The Golf GTI/Leon Cupra are basically the same car with a smaller boot and slightly different states of engine tune. I think the Golf is over-priced compared to the other two, but the Leon is well worth considering if you don't need as much space as the Octavia offers.
Edited by kambites on Friday 6th January 15:30
OperationAlfa said:
How hot?
Tame - Focus ST170 - great drivers car.
- Fabia VRS - solid and reliable
In between - Focus ST (version 1)
- VXR's are not coming into that price range, but they have a pretty poor image
- Clio's are good but if you dont want one then.....
- Civic Type R, yet another with not a great image...
- Megane Renault Sport 225
Bonkers - 147 GTA (I've got one)
Well as i said, i've owned a 1.2 Punto & a 1.6 Scenic, so anything is going to be relatively 'hot' in comparison!Tame - Focus ST170 - great drivers car.
- Fabia VRS - solid and reliable
In between - Focus ST (version 1)
- VXR's are not coming into that price range, but they have a pretty poor image
- Clio's are good but if you dont want one then.....
- Civic Type R, yet another with not a great image...
- Megane Renault Sport 225
Bonkers - 147 GTA (I've got one)
Fastest car i've driven is the old dear's 118D - so you can see where i'm coming from.
How good is the Megane R26? It can't surely be as bad as a Megane Scenic!!
The R26 is probably the best drivers' car amongst the recent crop of hot hatches (I don't count the R26.R as a hot hatch), IMO. It does fall down in other ways though - the two that I've driven were squeaking and rattling worse than my Elise (and that's saying something) and the looks are an... acquired taste. 
Not a renault expert! Another in budget if u fancy something a bit 'different'
Just over 250bhp, turbo with 4wd and NOT a subaru or Mitsi
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3528148.htm
Just over 250bhp, turbo with 4wd and NOT a subaru or Mitsi
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3528148.htm
Papa Hotel said:
1. Very. Driven a few RS Meganes, the R26 is very, very good.
2. I can't quite believe you're comparing those two cars. Same name, sort of, two different beasts entirely!
It was meant more tongue in cheek than anything.2. I can't quite believe you're comparing those two cars. Same name, sort of, two different beasts entirely!
In fairness, my Scenic has'nt been too bad 'toches every piece of wood around'!
I'm really liking those Megane Sports, insurance is a few hundred cheaper than last years Scenic renewal though!
Any specific things to watch out for on them?
AT says around 32mpg combined for it, is that realistic?
I'm currently getting about 30-32mpg out the Scenic, so it's not a world of different in fuel costs!
I know no car i'm probably ever going to go in is going to be fast compared to some of the sports bikes i've owned, but i'm not expecting them to be. I've done the bike thing for the last 7 years as my only mode of transport & want to try a reasonably swift car now.
lawrence567 said:
The only thing i don't really want is a Clio sport!
Have you tried one? Best affordable hot hatch I can think of, quite cheap to run, anecdotally reliable and more civilised than you might expect. Fair enough if you've got valid reasons, but you hear a lot of 'all French cars breakdown' type comments, which put people off, but don't seem to have any real foundation.
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