Another what car thread...where next from an 05 Impreza

[wilbo83]

Have had my 2005 Impreza WRX for nearly 2 years and it is getting to the stage where I fancy a change. Had a Gen 7 Celica T Sport prior to that, and also got an MX5 as a weekend toy. The WRX has the PPP on it with a dyno proven 259bhp and is great for my A/B road commute, however it lacks the modern comfort on long journeys and the interior is fairly basic.

I have been browsing the classifieds for a while now and my current (not so) short list is below. Would be grateful for any more suggestions or discussion on the below. Criteria is that it economy averages high 20s or is in 30s, has decent performance (under 8/9 seconds to 60), is fun to drive but also reasonably practical. I am also quite particular about having a nice interior and do like things that are a bit different to the norm. Budget of less than £10k and a preference of petrol.

Alfa 159 (Saloon or sportwagon) - Nice interior, downside is most are diesel.
Alfa Brera - Quite like the Prodrive edition.
Audi A4 2.0 TFSI Special Edition (or DTM) - DTM is perfect but quite a premium for an 7 year old car.
Audi TT Mk2 - Not found many decent examples in budget
BMW E90 3 Series (Saloon or Coupe) - A bit too mainstream?
Ford Focus ST - From what I have read, just as thirsty as the WRX
Honda Civic Type-R MK7 - Another interior I like
Mercedes Benz CLK280
Porsche Boxster 986 - IMS Scare stories?!
VW Golf GTi Edition 30

Edited by wilbo83 on Thursday 7th March 15:38

[Crusoe]

E46 M3 or 130i

[rallycross]

After various Evo's and Impreza's I find the BMW 335i twin turbo petrol makes a great £10k choice.
300+ bhp
Very refined and discrete.
Great chassis amazing how well it copes with 300 bhp and rwd
Will return 32 mpg on the motorway.
Can easily be tuned to 350+ bhp just with a remap.

Far cheaper to buy than same age 335d.

Better in most respects than an E46 M3 andante far cheaper to run than my M3 was.
Also a 335i is less than half the price of the cheapest used E90 M3.

Edited by rallycross on Thursday 7th March 15:06

[wilbo83]

Crusoe said:

E46 M3 or 130i

Not a great fan of the 1 series shape although I have only ever been up close and in a 5 door. An E46 M3 was a consideration but I can't really seeing the economy being any better than the WRX and it would be an older car.

[Viperz888]

E30 M3

[wilbo83]

Viperz888 said:

E30 M3

Far too old, should have added that in to the criteria. The car will be my daily and as such, it will be used for business use also.

[wilbo83]

rallycross said:

After various Evo's and Impreza's I find the BMW 335i twin turbo petrol makes a great £10k choice.
300+ bhp
Very refined and discrete.
Great chassis amazing how well it copes with 300 bhp and rwd
Will return 32 mpg on the motorway.
Can easily be tuned to 350+ bhp just with a remap.

Far cheaper to buy than same age 335d.

Better in most respects than an E46 M3 andante far cheaper to run than my M3 was.
Also a 335i is less than half the price of the cheapest used E90 M3.

Edited by rallycross on Thursday 7th March 15:06

I do like this suggestion but cannot see that many (if any) within the 10k budget, but I will keep an eye out.

[rallycross]

They are only just reaching that price now if they have a few miles on them
They were £35k to £40k new depending on spec.

[Backtobasics]

I had a WRX PPP, but needed something slightly more baby friendly (bigger boot, more refined etc)

Ended up with a 159 3.2 Q4. Pretty reasonable car for not a lot of money.

[rossub]

I had an 05 WRX PPP and now have one of your short list - Civic FN2.

It's probably slightly less comfortable to be honest - their rock hard suspension is the biggest criticism of them. Lovely interior, 20% better mpg and looks nicer. Similar reliability.

I miss the Impreza, but the fuel bill was just a little too much. Being careful with the throttle doesn't really help with them, but it does in the Civic.

I like the Civic, but I'm not convinced its for you.

[TheRacingSnake]

I have a 400bhp evo ix and have just bought an e46 m3 and i have been amazed how much better it is on fuel than the evo considering it is only 60 bhp down on it.
If i had driven the m3 first the evo would not be on the drive. Soooo much more comfortable and bit more subtle too.
Start going for some drives and see what you like.

[billzeebub]

Summer coming up, hopefully..the Boxster or an E46 M3 Vert, depending on how practical you need..but for me at £10k it has to be a TVR Chim?!..

[Shadows]

I'm going to say 159 obviously because I bought one and love it, my 2.4 JTDM is packing 265 Bhp it's not slouch.. Although for a diesel the MPG could be better, but ah well. (Saying that, it will be a god send from the Impreza).

Also as someone else says, the 3.2 is a lovely drive.

[wilbo83]

TheRacingSnake said:

I have a 400bhp evo ix and have just bought an e46 m3 and i have been amazed how much better it is on fuel than the evo considering it is only 60 bhp down on it.
If i had driven the m3 first the evo would not be on the drive. Soooo much more comfortable and bit more subtle too.
Start going for some drives and see what you like.

What is the average mpg in the M3? I get about 24mpg in the Impreza.

[Crusoe]

overall average in mine was 26.8mpg over 15k fairly hard miles. Get into the 30s easly if you are cruising but likes a drink if you use all the revs though less than a impreza/evo. Manuals tend to be a bit more frugal than the SMG (probably less down changing and more skipping to higher gears or a life with less stop start traffic), better ecconomy and power on good fuel but will run on 95 ron.

[ED209]

Octavia vrs wagon/hatch?

Get one with leather if your an interior man!

[Viperz888]

Lexus is250
Focus RS

Edited by Viperz888 on Friday 8th March 13:54

[SuperVM]

I've had a bugeye WRX PPP wagon and my E36 M3 Evo was substantially better on fuel. I got around 22 MPG from the Impreza and about 28 from the M3, sometimes even low 30s on the motorway. I've never owned anything with such shocking fuel economy for the performance as my Impreza.

[Legend83]

Nice:

http://www.veloces.co.uk/reg/RQJNYW6



Great spec, the only downer being it is not a TI model.

[wilbo83]

Am quite tempted by an E90 BMW after looking at the prices. I should have added that the MX5 is being sold this week (Cat C write off) and will be replaced by either another MX5, Clio 172 or MR2 for use as a weekend / track toy. Just can’t work out whether to have a practical saloon as the daily and a the 2 seater mx5/mr2 weekend car, or have the coupe as the daily and the more practical clio 172 as the toy.