Follow Up Question. Situation Change. - Page 1 - Car Buying

LeMur9

Original Poster

33 posts

88 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 10th September 2018

Evening PH, I recent posted regarding a purchasing situation I was slightly struggling with, I’m back with more questions and less restrictions!

Initially, I was looking for a hot hatch/sport saloon, circa £20-24k, big enough for car seats / push chairs / children / suitcases / 3 kestrels / 5 otters and a small tropical island.

I somehow managed to wriggle out of the responsibility of accommodating much of the above, with the caveat that I now only spend £15-18k (as of course i’ll be putting half toward a “family” car)

So, here we go,

Hot hatch,
4 seats min,
lower mileage as i’ll Be putting 20-25k a year on myself,
A bit of boot room wouldn’t go a miss,
Petrol preferably,
Good B road car that won’t shake my bones loose on the M42,
Auto / DSG / Flappy Paddle would be a bonus.
£16-17k give or take a few bob.

Any recommendations ? Things to avoid ?

Blanchimont

4,089 posts

142 months

[report]

[news]

Tuesday 11th September 2018

That's M135i money.
Just be careful when looking for one, I bought one, and bought a proper f

ked one. Great noise, and was bloody efficient for a 3l i6. Would hit the 155 limiter without much issue.

Great gearbox too, the ZF8.

ilikejam

1,181 posts

136 months

[report]

[news]

Tuesday 11th September 2018

The 1 series is a good shout. The boot is the biggest issue IMO with it being a family car - I sold mine as it wasn't big enough for a baby travel system and anything else. Also found the rear-facing baby seat was resting up against the back of the driver's seat so rear space wasn't great either. From the driver's seat though they're great wee cars if the space thing isn't going to be an issue.

Pushing the boundaries of 'hot hatch' but what about an Octavia Vrs? The boot is massive and rear space is decent as well. Nowhere near as quick as the 1er of course.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

pb8g09

2,925 posts

89 months

[report]

[news]

Tuesday 11th September 2018

S1. (again)

You do all your gearing at low speeds when on a run so you'll sit in 6th gear from 40mph anyway. I got 41mpg doing 220 miles yesterday. Clutch is light so traffic work isn't a bother.

Oh, and it's bloody fun on small roads and doesn't rattle your bones over crap roads and they have will depreciate well because the kids can't afford them!

LeMur9

Original Poster

33 posts

88 months

[report]

[news]

Tuesday 11th September 2018

Blanchimont said:

That's M135i money.
Just be careful when looking for one, I bought one, and bought a proper f

ked one. Great noise, and was bloody efficient for a 3l i6. Would hit the 155 limiter without much issue.

Great gearbox too, the ZF8.

Definitely the top of my list at present, we’ve got a local Sytner with 3 x135i and 2x 140i on the front.

We’ve sat in one and the Mrs agrees it’s big enough for a weekender with us all squashed in and the little man is coming on 1 and going into a forward facing seat in the coming weeks so that is helping my cause a good amount.

Hopefully i’ll Be able to get a test drive in one soonish and then have a look around and pick something decent up. The ones at main dealers are a little pricey with the mileage I’m hoping for but none the less something will turn up soon I hope.

I’ve also tried the Golf GTI but was a little underwhelmed with the internals (incoming “underwhelmed but like the bimmer ?”) drives great mind.

Blanchimont

4,089 posts

142 months

[report]

[news]

Tuesday 11th September 2018

LeMur9 said:

Blanchimont said:

That's M135i money.
Just be careful when looking for one, I bought one, and bought a proper f

ked one. Great noise, and was bloody efficient for a 3l i6. Would hit the 155 limiter without much issue.

Great gearbox too, the ZF8.

Definitely the top of my list at present, we’ve got a local Sytner with 3 x135i and 2x 140i on the front.

We’ve sat in one and the Mrs agrees it’s big enough for a weekender with us all squashed in and the little man is coming on 1 and going into a forward facing seat in the coming weeks so that is helping my cause a good amount.

Hopefully i’ll Be able to get a test drive in one soonish and then have a look around and pick something decent up. The ones at main dealers are a little pricey with the mileage I’m hoping for but none the less something will turn up soon I hope.

I’ve also tried the Golf GTI but was a little underwhelmed with the internals (incoming “underwhelmed but like the bimmer ?”) drives great mind.

They're great cars, I managed 40mpg on a run, but only used to get low 20's around town. But I often did squeeze the throttle to listen to that engine.
Mine was black, with the facelift steering wheel (pre fl everything else) and had red leather, heated seats, pro nav and a few other bits.
It was a nice car, but the dealer network, along with the pretty serious faults the car had tainted my view on it, and the dealer network as a whole. If you can find a dealer that actually seem to want to do their job (I can recommend Stratstone Hull) they're a great resource, but there seems to be quite a few bad dealers within the network.

Just check them over thoroughly, and be very conscious of the common faults, and you'll buy a great car.

LeMur9

Original Poster

33 posts

88 months

[report]

[news]

Tuesday 11th September 2018

Blanchimont said:

They're great cars, I managed 40mpg on a run, but only used to get low 20's around town. But I often did squeeze the throttle to listen to that engine.
Mine was black, with the facelift steering wheel (pre fl everything else) and had red leather, heated seats, pro nav and a few other bits.
It was a nice car, but the dealer network, along with the pretty serious faults the car had tainted my view on it, and the dealer network as a whole. If you can find a dealer that actually seem to want to do their job (I can recommend Stratstone Hull) they're a great resource, but there seems to be quite a few bad dealers within the network.

Just check them over thoroughly, and be very conscious of the common faults, and you'll buy a great car.

Yeah it definitely seems there are a few out there who have stumped up the cash for one only to find it was a money leech.

That’s just about the only thing that concerns me with these at this point, fuel economy is a moot point as I fuelled both business and personal via a company fuel card, weekdays I generally do around 65 miles of motorway and 5-6 of city, weekends can vary greatly depending on the activity, but generally I won’t rack up too many miles walking to the pub biggrin

Aside from the 1series, I am keen to see what else is out there as I am likely to have missed a lot of great cars. I’m not necessarily looking for a sub 5 second motor, just something petrol and pokey, a good amount of torque is always a pleasure especially when overtaking on the motorways.

I’ve got around 3 weeks to settle on something for definite before I head off for a weeks holiday, so I can probably test drive a few cars each weekend between then and now and put the cash down the weekend I land back home.

LuS1fer

43,007 posts

265 months

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[news]

Tuesday 11th September 2018

New Fiesta ST through carwow? Not auto obviously...

ZX10R NIN

29,762 posts

145 months

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Tuesday 11th September 2018