Economical but impractical

[Beartato]

Sorry, it's a what car.

I will shortly be picking up a Forester STI to replace my Scirocco, which I am looking forward to very much. The thing is, it means I will have a fast car which can carry all manner of equipment around (drum of chloroform, ropes, tarpaulins, selection of spades/pickaxes etc) and get atrocious economy on my 90 mile round trip commute. It's not going to be that much of an issue as I probably only go into the office about 10 days a month on average but I can see the need arising for a second car at some point.

Economy will be the main motivation for this and as I will already have a practical car something little and silly would do, but it must cost peanuts to run. Let's say a budget of £5k, but less is always better.

I have already thought of an earlyish MX5 and am unsure of whether I can bring myself to be seen in one.

Any suggestions are appreciated, I'm drawing a bit of a blank.

[Codswallop]

Mk3 MR2. Meant to be a very good handling car, light, economical, and bugger all practicality.

[Beeby]

Why would you care about what you look like in a MX5? Drive one and if you like then who gives a stuff what anyone else thinks. Just watch for rust.

[americancrx]

CRX?

Pretty damn fast, too.

[Beartato]

Beeby said:

Why would you car about what you look like in a MX5?

Because I am so very shallow and delicate. I was going to write as much in the OP but thought it was obvious, what other reason is there not to have one (according to PH wisdom).

MR2 is an interesting one. Would it be that cheap to run though?

[Strawman]

Smart roadster, 55mpg and good fun(-ish) to drive

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds/use...

[Beartato]

Thought about a smart roadster briefly, but I'm not sure I could cope with something that gutless. I'm also not that sure I would be able to fit inside one of the bloody things.

I'll add another stipulation now which I've just thought of;

The engine must be bigger than 1250cc.

It seems silly to have a car with a smaller engine than my bike.

[Codswallop]

Beartato said:

MR2 is an interesting one. Would it be that cheap to run though?

Should be. It's a sub 1 tonne car, with a modern 1.8 litre engine. Offical average mpg is 38, and it should be reliable with cheap consumables. Pre 2002 versions of the Toyota ZZW30 engine may have oil use issues (widely reported), but for your budget you can get a facelift car which had the problem sorted. The facelift car also recieved revised suspension, standard LSD fitment, and a 6 speed gearbox, all of which made for a better drive as well.

[Beartato]

This is very interesting indeed. I shall have to do a spot of reading on these.

ETA I've just realised that you're the chap that parked essentialy in a pedestrian underpass then complained about the ensuing ticket! That gave me a giggle when I read it.

Edited by Beartato on Monday 10th September 21:17

[jaik]

Have a look at MR2ROC; there's a wealth of knowledge a great bunch of people on there. As said, if you get a facelift model there shouldn't be anything serious go wrong.

A few little corrections/points:
- They actually weight somewhere around 1100–1200kg wet depending on spec (air con etc)
- All UK models had a torsen LSD, some Jap models didn't
- The facelift had the same suspension as the pre-facelift, but has some extra underbody bracing
- The facelift had 16" rear wheels which are also slightly wider, and 10mm wider rear tyres
- The handling is very sensitive to tyre choice, so get a decent set of rubber on

Edited by jaik on Monday 10th September 21:16

[Beartato]

Thanks jaik, I see you used to have one. I take it you'd recommend one then. How were the running costs? I'd imagine a 1200kg 1.8 won't be too thirsty and I do like the idea of a convertible.

[jaik]

I had mine for about 3 years, which is the longest I've owned any car, bought it at 7 years old with 70k miles on and sold it with 100k. In that time, other than routine servicing this is all I can remember going wrong:

- Third O2 sensor failed — This is a relatively common issue, and you can cheaply replace it with a simple resistor to make the ECU think everything's okay. This sensor is only there to trigger a warning light if something goes majorly wrong, not to adjust any fuelling or spark timing.
- Seized rear caliper
- Weeping crankshaft oil seal — I just got this replaced when the clutch needed doing.
- Rattley heatshield on the cat — Again fairly common, they were stupidly spot-welded. Easily fixed by strapping it up, but my God it sounded horrible.

I can't really complain at that considering how much it got spanked, including two European tours and a little track action. General servicing and parts costs were cheap, the engines using a timing chain rather than belt so even "major" services don't cost much. The only vaguely expensive job I found was having the clutch changed, since you need to drop the engine and gearbox down to access it.

They do handle very well, the turn in is addictively sharp assuming you have tyres with a nice stiff sidewall like the original Bridgestones, all much better than the MX-5 in my opinion. They do need a little respect in the wet, but I had my sideways a bunch of times (usually unintentionally) and always gathered it up fine, you just need to be quick with the opposite lock. And that's coming from a very average driver.

In terms of speed, it's obviously all relative to what you've driven before. They're quick enough to have fun, but slow enough that you can rev out through the gears on the road without being too much of a menace to society.

Economy-wise I never really bothered to keep track, but it wasn't thirsty even when driven hard.

I've got a couple of vids from one of our Euro tours on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/jaikdean/videos