Hot/Warm Hatch £4000. Help!

[Rano91]

New to the forum so be nice

Ok so I'm looking to sell my car which I am hoping to get about £4000 for and I'm looking for something a bit quicker. Currently driving a 2007 1.4 Fiat Grande Punto (95 bhp!!). I do need boot space to put some of my equipment in at work so I have been looking at hot/warm hatches, probably be easier to write a list of criteria! Must be/have:

Half decent boot space
Insurance group 16 and below
fairly quick/good handling

Now the reason it has to be 16 and below is because I'm with admiral and they won't insure me on anything 17 and above until I'm 21! I'm 20 . I have 2 years NCB with admiral but it's non transferable! I know the obvious choice would be a clio 182 but the insurance is still £1800 (I'm paying £700 atm) with me as main and parents added. Here is a list of some of the cars I have been looking at. Let me know what you think

Fiesta ST - bit tight for £4000, easy to mod and get decent gains
Civic Jordan - Love the VTEC sound but a little bit old/high mileage. May retain value.
C2 VTS - not sure on styling, cheap insurance
Mini Cooper S - could be quite expensive to run/maintain

I'm open to minor modding I/H/E but not turboing etc because it will cost too much. I have been researching for ages and I'm so confused! Hoping you nice people could shed a bit of light on what you think I should get. Thanks and let me know if you need any more info!

[vescaegg]

Save for another 2 years and get a Clio Trophy for 6k

Insurance will be non stupid aswell

[adycav]

Ibiza Cupra - 1.8T 20v with 180hp.

Not many around, but a proper hoot to drive in an 'old skool' way.


edit - forget that, they are out of budget! Seem to be holding their value rather well...

Edited by adycav on Monday 11th April 21:21

[Heathwood]

How about a Clio 172 for a bit less than budget, with the balance put towards insurance?

[Legacywr]

Seat Cupra, the facelift model with the toned down R body kit?

[pimpchez]

Corolla T-sport group 14

save 2k on the purchase price

spend the rest on coilovers and strut braces and a fast road set up ,im going down this route as soon i get some cash for mine ,just have lowering springs for now.

[AMST09]

Didn't know you could get a cooper s for that amount

Personally would get a fiesta st out of them (already had one)
Great modding potential for more power

Is the insurance vastly different? As this could sway the decision quite a lot

[hyperblue]

AMST09 said:

Didn't know you could get a cooper s for that amount

They have dropped quite a bit in price recently, but there's not many for £4k yet.

[andye30m3]

What about an integra type R?

Might have to look at a few to get a good one for £4k but don't seam to devalue like a lot of the newer hot hatches will, great seats, LSD as standard, mine was ultra reliable even with an 8500rpm limit and often described as one of the best FWD cars ever built

[Rano91]

Ok well let's say I have £4500 max! I've seen a few cooper's for just over 4k 02 plates with 70-80k.

Looked at the corolla but reviews are pretty poor

ST is only a few hundred more on insurance and I test drove one and really liked it but £4-4.5k is right at the bottom end. I know they respond well to cheap mods too which is a bonus.

Thanks for all your quick replies. Taking everything into consideration!

[Rano91]

andye30m3 said:

What about an integra type R?

Group 17 unfortunately this is why I started looking at civic vti's/jordans as they are less powerful but can get insured on them. Love the whole vtec concept.

Was also looking at mk3 ibiza cupra's but heard they handle like a boat

[Rouleur]

Focus ST170 - quickish once wound up, great chassis in every way, look good, reliable, nice to sit in and to drive, group 15E so insurance not too bad

Also a Leon 20VT is within budget but they're a bit bland to drive IMO, and will likely be on a higher mileage

[Ved]

172/182 would be my choice unless you want to look outside the box for a classic like a mint MK2 GTI 16v or a 306 GTI-6?

[300bhp/ton]

Rano91 said:

New to the forum so be nice

Ok so I'm looking to sell my car which I am hoping to get about £4000 for and I'm looking for something a bit quicker. Currently driving a 2007 1.4 Fiat Grande Punto (95 bhp!!). I do need boot space to put some of my equipment in at work so I have been looking at hot/warm hatches, probably be easier to write a list of criteria! Must be/have:

Half decent boot space
Insurance group 16 and below
fairly quick/good handling

Now the reason it has to be 16 and below is because I'm with admiral and they won't insure me on anything 17 and above until I'm 21! I'm 20 . I have 2 years NCB with admiral but it's non transferable! I know the obvious choice would be a clio 182 but the insurance is still £1800 (I'm paying £700 atm) with me as main and parents added. Here is a list of some of the cars I have been looking at. Let me know what you think

Fiesta ST - bit tight for £4000, easy to mod and get decent gains
Civic Jordan - Love the VTEC sound but a little bit old/high mileage. May retain value.
C2 VTS - not sure on styling, cheap insurance
Mini Cooper S - could be quite expensive to run/maintain

I'm open to minor modding I/H/E but not turboing etc because it will cost too much. I have been researching for ages and I'm so confused! Hoping you nice people could shed a bit of light on what you think I should get. Thanks and let me know if you need any more info!

IMO way cooler than most hatches:


http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2150768.htm

Very good boot space. RWD fun and great to drive. Will also hold it's money very well. In fact this time next year I suspect it might be worth slightly more than what you pay for it today.

Very tunable too. If you want more poke. 2" SU's, sports exhaust and manifold and a cam.

[Mastodon2]

Rouleur said:

Also a Leon 20VT is within budget but they're a bit bland to drive IMO, and will likely be on a higher mileage

Bland to drive? Anything but!

[george h]

Slightly over budget but I would go for this

http://pistonheads.com/sales/2694272.htm

[Legacywr]

Mastodon2 said:

Rouleur said:

Also a Leon 20VT is within budget but they're a bit bland to drive IMO, and will likely be on a higher mileage

Bland to drive? Anything but!

Better to drive than the VW or Audi equivelant.

[bodhi]

BMW E46 325i Compact.

[Welshbeef]

Hatch you say
fast
944 S2 or turbo
928 S4
golf VR6 cheap and lovely
leon cupra TDI no seriously it's 150bhp conservative on that too aparently looks like a cupra petrol but far cheaper tp insure and frankly you won't notice too much difference in speed. Plus as far as noise GPRS sure engine is quieter on the petrol but exhaust isn't loud what so ever on the cupra petrol (we have one). The 1.8t is not dissimilar to a tdi in delivery

[anonymous-user]

Not heard this insurance group thing before? I've been with them on a car that I believe is considered a 20 since 18. Been quoted on countless group 16+ cars as well.