Options required (Yet another what car!)

[JameshGT]

Guys and Girls of PH,

In the new year when my insurance renewal is due, i will be looking at replacing my current steed as a birthday present to myself!

When its due i will have 4 years NCB and will have just hit 21.

Currently have an 09 Twingo GT and i would love something that meets all or most of the following criteria:

Hot Hatch
3 door or 5 door, not bothered either way
MPG not an issue
Commute to work is approx 12 miles all on motorways/duals, so would prefer if the car did not scream at 70MPH (current car is at 3500rpm at 70)
No more then 5 years old (07 or newer) 3 years if in budget.
I like my creature comforts, so something with a nice interior and a few gadgets.
Reliablility is a loose term, but something that i could put my faith in when going on long journeys

Insurance group, its a tough one as i seem to find it varies quite a lot depending more on the car then its actual group, although the main 3 i have been looking into are around 15 - 17 group wise (not sure if old format or new)

Current options i have are: Clio 197 R27, Focus ST and the Mazda 3 MPS.

As things stand, the MPS is my favourite, but im certain those more knowledgable than me will have some better / more left wing suggestions which id be more then happy to have a proper look into.

Budget is approx 9 - 10K

Thanks in advance

James

[300bhp/ton]

JameshGT said:

Guys and Girls of PH,

In the new year when my insurance renewal is due, i will be looking at replacing my current steed as a birthday present to myself!

When its due i will have 4 years NCB and will have just hit 21.

Currently have an 09 Twingo GT and i would love something that meets all or most of the following criteria:

Hot Hatch
3 door or 5 door, not bothered either way
MPG not an issue
Commute to work is approx 12 miles all on motorways/duals, so would prefer if the car did not scream at 70MPH (current car is at 3500rpm at 70)
No more then 5 years old (07 or newer) 3 years if in budget.
I like my creature comforts, so something with a nice interior and a few gadgets.
Reliablility is a loose term, but something that i could put my faith in when going on long journeys

Insurance group, its a tough one as i seem to find it varies quite a lot depending more on the car then its actual group, although the main 3 i have been looking into are around 15 - 17 group wise (not sure if old format or new)

Current options i have are: Clio 197 R27, Focus ST and the Mazda 3 MPS.

As things stand, the MPS is my favourite, but im certain those more knowledgable than me will have some better / more left wing suggestions which id be more then happy to have a proper look into.

Budget is approx 9 - 10K

Thanks in advance

James

It's totally your choice. But being 21 with £10k to spank on a motor gives you loads of choice. And frankly 5 year old or newer hot hatch is about the most boring thing you could do.


You've said mpg doesn't matter and you've got a good budget and good NCB.

-so why a hot hatch, or rather why a hatch? A hatch is built for packaging reasons, nothing else. So do you need a vehicle specifically built to optimise internal space at the sacrifice of looks, dynamics and performance?

(if you genuinely do - no worries but I find when asked most, as in 90%+ actually don't)


-why 5 years or newer? Lets face it a 5 year old car is likely out of warranty and just as likely to breakdown as a 10 year old car (or older). Also if something isn't new, as in brand new its old. So a 2 year old car will not be new. And anyone vain enough to worry about the Reg plate.....

If it's spec/gadgets then fine. But new doesn't automatically mean this and doesn't mean older vehicles can't be equipped with them.


Insurance is an odd thing, but not all fast cars will cost more to insure. So it's well worth looking at less obvious candidates.


Also do you really need 5 seats? If not it opens up a whole heap of interesting cars.

Something else worth considering, any 3-5 year old that you spank £10k on will plummet value as though you are burning £50 notes for heating fuel. More 'niche' vehicles are likely to retain much more of their value, so will give you a bigger budget when you next want to upgrade.



However at the end of the day these are just my ramblings and opinions. But I seriously do not understand why any young car enthusiast would rather something like a Clio over say a TVR Chimera or BMW M3 even more so when chances are the Clio will likely cost you double the amount+ in depreciation over your ownership.

[kpb]

World's your oyster old chap.

Leon FR or Cupra have a lot of good kit if you can stand the interior and ride quality. I believe later cars had 20% softer dampening. Very receptive to tweaking too.

[Spanna]

I can only mirror excactly what 300BHP has said.

Get a Boxster:

http://mobile.pistonheads.com/sales/4106141.htm

I'd bet it will cost less in your ownership than a hot hatch at this price.

If you do need a hatch then there's the 130i. I even like the looks of it

[vixen1700]

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

Right on the money.

[JameshGT]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

I will try out an insurance quote on the boxter, although id have a good bet what the response will be!

And as much as i love TVR's and would love to own one, i wouldn't want to use it everyday (as i would need to), rightly or wrongly i would always worry about it breaking down and i simply cannot afford to run 2 cars so i would say a TVR is a no even as a weekender

The reason i prefer a hot hatch is because i just can never see another way of getting a relativly quick car at that kind of price without killer insurance, for example i tried an E46 M3, it came back at 4K fully comp. Generally convertibles, such as the S2000 are expensive to insure, although an S2000 is pretty much expensive to insure for most people.

[Grenoble]

350z?

[joe_90]

Megane sport F1 or something.. run up to 270ish bhp with no issues and give 28mpg ish..
And will not cost 10K

Edited by joe_90 on Friday 28th September 14:09

[300bhp/ton]

If you are using comparison websites for quotes that'll be the problem. With more specialist cars you need more specialist insurance. Phone around some places that deal with such cars and you might be surprised. Especially with something like a TVR. As for using them daily, there really should be little more risk than running a 5 year old Golf. A few more niggles maybe, but very little that should really stop you getting from A to B.


I'm willing to bet with a little effort you could insure these for the same or less money than the hatches you are considering:

[Andy_sx]

Something like the vx220 or the s2000 for underthe budget, and use the remiander to balance out the insurance if you go through one of the main brokers!

I played the hot hatch card when i was your age, spent loads on the cars and insurance, then woke up and realised i could get myself a vx220 last year, 6 years too late! There are plenty of youngsters around on the owners club with them, and reasonable insurance too!

you can get a good one around 6500 - 7000, leaving 3k slush / insurance fund over and above your initial slush/ insurance fund.

If you want a vx220 reg number to run quotes on, look in my profile, even comparison sites arent too bad (im insured with Elephant for what its worth), but a broker or specialist would probably run you a better deal

[Tartan Pixie]

Love how the OP asks for a hatch and everyone starts shouting TVR etc.

As a more hatch like suggestion how about a volvo C30 T5? Fairly fast, reliable and a very comfortable place to sit.