What Car? - Hot Hatch around 8-10k
Discussion
At the moment I drive a Fiesta ST with a few mods, nice car, handles great but lacks power, was thinking about charging it but weighing up the costs of that I might as well get a new car so I'm saving at the moment for something a bit more fun but useable to commute with.
8-10k budget, 2 no claims, 23, 1 accident on record, insurance around 1k for what I'm looking at. Fuel not too much of a problem as I only travel 12 miles a day. Narrowed it down to these:
Focus ST - This is my top choice, I would like to stay in the Ford scene, looking at a facelift, 5 pot noise, easy to tune but quite common around here especially the orange ones.
Alfa 147 GTA - Rare, noise, cheapest out of my choices, love the styling, reliability? myth?
Integra DC5 - Best looking out of my choices, rare, VTEC noise, handling, trouble getting insured on these
Mazda 3 MPS Mk2 - Mk2 for the styling, quickest standard, get lots of kit, 5 doors puts me off
Looked at Astra VXR's, Golf GTi's but nothing else really appeals to me but I'm open to suggestions.
8-10k budget, 2 no claims, 23, 1 accident on record, insurance around 1k for what I'm looking at. Fuel not too much of a problem as I only travel 12 miles a day. Narrowed it down to these:
Focus ST - This is my top choice, I would like to stay in the Ford scene, looking at a facelift, 5 pot noise, easy to tune but quite common around here especially the orange ones.
Alfa 147 GTA - Rare, noise, cheapest out of my choices, love the styling, reliability? myth?
Integra DC5 - Best looking out of my choices, rare, VTEC noise, handling, trouble getting insured on these
Mazda 3 MPS Mk2 - Mk2 for the styling, quickest standard, get lots of kit, 5 doors puts me off
Looked at Astra VXR's, Golf GTi's but nothing else really appeals to me but I'm open to suggestions.
From that list, I would buy the Alfa.
It's quantifiably the least good car out of the lot, but it's brilliantly mental. Get that while it's easy to deal with its capriciousness - the Focus ST can wait until wife+kids (I am making assumptions here) start making sensibility more imperative.
It's quantifiably the least good car out of the lot, but it's brilliantly mental. Get that while it's easy to deal with its capriciousness - the Focus ST can wait until wife+kids (I am making assumptions here) start making sensibility more imperative.
I would go for the Alfa GTA. Purely for noise alone! Also if you search on youtube for an old Topgear episode of reviewing the mk1 Focus RS, 147 GTA and Golf R32; the Alfa in the drag race absolutely spanks the other two by a country mile. Another good thing about the Alfa, if you look after it will probably only go up in value due to it's rarity and one of the last variations of the Busso V6
I was in almost exactly the same situation as you; 23, 2 years NCD (although no accident) and similar budget. I went for the Clio and insurance was £750. I would recommend it as a very good car, I'm looking to change again now and am weighing up 130i/Golf GTi. I'll sell you my Clio if you like!
Had a similar predicament myself recently;
Alfa 147: possible reliablilty issues
R32: never had any luck with VW's
Megane R26: reliability woes again. My parents have a megane and I spend my life fixing it.
Civic Type R: had an ep3, loved it, new one didnt appeal as much.
DC5: getting a bit old now, concerns over history before import etc as well.
Astra VXR: it's a vauxhall.
Impreza: I looked at a 57 plate WRX and the tax was £460 a year
BMW 330: I've already had one.
So in the end I settled for a Focus ST3. Does everything I wanted to do well and I haven't looked back since. I know the OP said he wasn't worried about fuel, but I had a fiesta st a while back and the focus st is much worse
Alfa 147: possible reliablilty issues
R32: never had any luck with VW's
Megane R26: reliability woes again. My parents have a megane and I spend my life fixing it.
Civic Type R: had an ep3, loved it, new one didnt appeal as much.
DC5: getting a bit old now, concerns over history before import etc as well.
Astra VXR: it's a vauxhall.
Impreza: I looked at a 57 plate WRX and the tax was £460 a year
BMW 330: I've already had one.
So in the end I settled for a Focus ST3. Does everything I wanted to do well and I haven't looked back since. I know the OP said he wasn't worried about fuel, but I had a fiesta st a while back and the focus st is much worse
To save typing the same thing again, this is my response to another topic in a similar vein;
"I have a Mazda 3 MPS, owned it for 6 weeks and its spend 3 of those weeks in the garage getting; gearbox, dmf, clutch, release bearing, top mounts, springs, power steering pump and possibly the steering rack and ecu replacing.
As you can guess, I wouldn't recommend one even though(on paper) they are the best overall package when you consider the performance and insurance is actually better than any of its rivals.
I would look at either an ST2 or 130i/330ci if I was in your position to get a car with performance and comfort/practicality combined."
"I have a Mazda 3 MPS, owned it for 6 weeks and its spend 3 of those weeks in the garage getting; gearbox, dmf, clutch, release bearing, top mounts, springs, power steering pump and possibly the steering rack and ecu replacing.
As you can guess, I wouldn't recommend one even though(on paper) they are the best overall package when you consider the performance and insurance is actually better than any of its rivals.
I would look at either an ST2 or 130i/330ci if I was in your position to get a car with performance and comfort/practicality combined."
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