Renaultsport for fun short commute under £3k?

[HumanDoing]

Hi all,

I will shortly be starting a new job that will bring my daily commute down from 70 miles a day to about 10. Previously, considering this job will also involve more cash on the hip, I thought about going for a car around the £7,500-£10,000 bracket but now I am thinking, for something I will be in 20 minutes a day, I would probably rather get the most 'fun' I can get for a relatively small amount. Fuel economy and reliability aren't the be all and end all in this situation, unless it turns out to be a false economy buying cheap and ending up with monster repairs. I don't want to take on a big loan to get a 3 series, S2000 or anything like that or a newer hot hatch ... those cars will be for a few years down the line when I can afford to put a bit deposit down on them and am doing more miles.

Anyway, in short, there appear to be quite a few renaultsports around at £2-3,000 which seems to be about half the price of a similar age/mileage Type R or other hot hatch. I have driven a 172 before years ago but ended up buying something else so I know I enjoy driving the 172. Question is, are these so much cheaper than other hot hatches because they are about to fall apart, statistically have lots of problems that would make it likely to be a false economy, or is it just an image/build quality thing? If the latter, I'm not really bothered about that, as I don't think I can get better performance for such a cheap price and I will literally only be putting about 3,000 miles a year on it. What more fun could be had for £2-3,000 - maybe an MX5 but they seem pretty slow and I'm not entirely sure what the fuss is about.

Second question - will such a short commute on a regular basis contribute towards dicking up the car?

Thanks!

[davyvee]

They're cheaper because the were cheaper to start with.

Ran a trophy for nearly five years and my commute was a very fun 2 miles. No dramas whatsoever.

[roystinho]

Just like any cars at this age buy on condition and history and you should be fine. Yes there are some lemons out there, but go in eyes wide open and you could get yourself a bargain. My cheapest Clio was a £1500 172 which was fantastic, faultless, and only went as I had an altercation with some armco at Cadwell...

As for being ok with a short commute, not a problem. And you won't only do 3k a year as you'll want to head out onto some good roads and burn through the money you've saved, they're great fun

[IrateNinja]

I'm in a similar situation to you, I currently have a very short commute but couldn't bring myself to buy the normal small engined econobox for it so plumped for a 182 Cup.

Six months in and it's just gone through its MOT with minimum fuss (although I serviced it and stuck two Goodyear f1s on last month in preparation) and I have no complaints so far. Advisories on the TRE's but it's 9 years old now so not massively surprising.

Edit: Mine cost £2750 which was probably a bit higher than what I should have paid but I really wanted a Racing Blue one...