Best reliable winter ski, summer track car for £3-4k?
Discussion
Hey guys,
Got a wee query that I've been going round in circles with in my head. Looking for a new car for 3-4k. I have a motorbike which I use mainly in summer. I do trackdays, and also ski a lot through winter (high miles + snowy roads).
Thus, I'm looking for a bomb proof car to tick the boxes.
I've currently narrowed it to celica tsport 190 or a lexus IS200 (think this would be okay with snow tyres). Whatever car I'd get, it'd have summer trackday wheels/tyres, and winter wheels with tyres. More than 2 seats are essential, and I wouldn't buy 2 cars. Not much of a VAG fan.
The essentials for this list, in priority of most important to least important are:
- Reliability / niggle free (massive priority after a few saab aeros) - so therefore reasonable miles (up to 70k) and not too old
- Fun to drive/ happy on a track
- Good fuel economy for getting up to the slopes
- safe
- heated leather seats / refined
- good sound
- 150hp/tonne or better
- age (ideally nothing pre 2000)
I've currently considered:
- celica tsport 190
- IS200 / is300
- corolla vvti / compressor
- e46 330i/ci / 325ti
- clio 197
- CTR EP3
- megane rs / or dci 175?
- smart brabus forfour (177bhp and 1090kg sounds nice)
- C4 VTS
I have also considered the likes of a financed fiesta ST-3 to get all the things I'm after inc. a heated bum for ~170/mo, though I'm not sure I could use this on a trackday if on finance.
I've also considered going slightly over budget for a later model IS250 as I think this'd tick most boxes, if a little slow with ~200hp.
Are there other options I should consider? Heated leather would be great as it'd mainly be used in winter and most cars I've had have had this.
Cheers!
Got a wee query that I've been going round in circles with in my head. Looking for a new car for 3-4k. I have a motorbike which I use mainly in summer. I do trackdays, and also ski a lot through winter (high miles + snowy roads).
Thus, I'm looking for a bomb proof car to tick the boxes.
I've currently narrowed it to celica tsport 190 or a lexus IS200 (think this would be okay with snow tyres). Whatever car I'd get, it'd have summer trackday wheels/tyres, and winter wheels with tyres. More than 2 seats are essential, and I wouldn't buy 2 cars. Not much of a VAG fan.
The essentials for this list, in priority of most important to least important are:
- Reliability / niggle free (massive priority after a few saab aeros) - so therefore reasonable miles (up to 70k) and not too old
- Fun to drive/ happy on a track
- Good fuel economy for getting up to the slopes
- safe
- heated leather seats / refined
- good sound
- 150hp/tonne or better
- age (ideally nothing pre 2000)
I've currently considered:
- celica tsport 190
- IS200 / is300
- corolla vvti / compressor
- e46 330i/ci / 325ti
- clio 197
- CTR EP3
- megane rs / or dci 175?
- smart brabus forfour (177bhp and 1090kg sounds nice)
- C4 VTS
I have also considered the likes of a financed fiesta ST-3 to get all the things I'm after inc. a heated bum for ~170/mo, though I'm not sure I could use this on a trackday if on finance.
I've also considered going slightly over budget for a later model IS250 as I think this'd tick most boxes, if a little slow with ~200hp.
Are there other options I should consider? Heated leather would be great as it'd mainly be used in winter and most cars I've had have had this.
Cheers!
Track days, and skiing?! I need a new mobile phone, it needs to be as small as possible, but I want to watch HD movies on it with a group of mates. I need a new bicycle, it must be fast on a 10k TT, but also be able to ride downhill in winter. These are all similar dilemmas to what you're having.
The only thing which gets close IMO is a Subaru Impreza turbo of some sort.
The IS200 will be awful at both disciplines - slow, heavy, RWD and dull.
The only thing which gets close IMO is a Subaru Impreza turbo of some sort.
The IS200 will be awful at both disciplines - slow, heavy, RWD and dull.
Yes, it's an unusual remit, which is why I thought I'd post here to see if there were options I'd not considered!
Subaru = poor fuel economy, very frequent servicing, no?
It doesn't necessarily have to be 4wd, snow tyres on most cars should be okay, as long as they have enough clearance below front spoilers etc to access car parks at slopes after fresh dumps etc.
Subaru = poor fuel economy, very frequent servicing, no?
It doesn't necessarily have to be 4wd, snow tyres on most cars should be okay, as long as they have enough clearance below front spoilers etc to access car parks at slopes after fresh dumps etc.
mgmt585 said:
Yes, it's an unusual remit, which is why I thought I'd post here to see if there were options I'd not considered!
Subaru = poor fuel economy, very frequent servicing, no?
It doesn't necessarily have to be 4wd, snow tyres on most cars should be okay, as long as they have enough clearance below front spoilers etc to access car parks at slopes after fresh dumps etc.
Poor economy, yes, but no worse than a Lexus IS.Subaru = poor fuel economy, very frequent servicing, no?
It doesn't necessarily have to be 4wd, snow tyres on most cars should be okay, as long as they have enough clearance below front spoilers etc to access car parks at slopes after fresh dumps etc.
The things that make a car good for ski trips are things that make them bad for track days - 4x4, ground clearance etc so it depends how seriously you take the two things you want the car to do. To be honest I wouldn't want a RWD a car for frequent mountain trips, even with winter tyres so from your list I'd take a RenaultSport Megane, but if it's two ski trips and a couple of track days a year then I'd be in an Impreza. The only reason we don't have a Subaru is that my wife doesn't like them, but driving up to any resort near here every second car you see is a Legacy/Forrester/Impreza.
The Toyota Altezza RS200 version of the Lexus IS200 is a bit more focussed - 200bhp 2.0VVT 4-pot and nice 6-speed manual box, but not much torque low down.
I'd be going for a Subaru too tbh, depending how fussy you are on the fuel economy factor - generally get 30+mpg on the open road from the turbo ones, but 35 is unusual.
If you don't mind Fwd you could consider something like an Accord Type-R as an option too.
I'd be going for a Subaru too tbh, depending how fussy you are on the fuel economy factor - generally get 30+mpg on the open road from the turbo ones, but 35 is unusual.
If you don't mind Fwd you could consider something like an Accord Type-R as an option too.
Edited by GravelBen on Sunday 11th January 22:35
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