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caelite

Original Poster

4,282 posts

133 months

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Thursday 7th March 2019

Changing my cars soon, my current garage has been a Jimny & MX5. Have long considered this perfect for me, combined a solid, efficient cheap to run daily with a, equally cheap to run fun weekend/summer daily/track car. However I am changing things up a bit, MX5, that was on it's last legs rust wise, has been sold at the start of this year, I am toying with getting short of the Jimny over the summer in place of a 4x4 van (Mitsubishi Delica) as I wanted something that would better handled the occasional towing duties I do (ever see a Jimny with a 2.5ton plant trailer on it?) & I have an urge to do a small camper conversion.

Obviously a Delica will serve my purposes less as a daily, so looking for something else for when the weather is adequate, essentially my requirements are:
<£5000
Manual
Fun to drive
Vaguely fast (using an MX5 for reference)

Preferences being:
4/5/2+2 seats, Don't need to be particularly good back seats, just there for piece of mind
Simple, do a lot of work on my own cars, something complicated/German would be a pain
Somewhat efficient (~30mpg)
Cheap on consumables, I used to track the MX5 a fair bit, I know not much will match its £50 tyres & £20 brakes, but something in a similar ballpark would be great

I know whatever I get will be a fairly big compromise, just looking for ideas, in an ideal world I'd pick up a Toyota GT86, budget just can't stretch to that though. Options I've been looking at:
Clio 172/182 - Obvious one to have after an MX5, getting a bit long in the tooth though, & something to do with the 'looks' of them I just can't get into
Clio 197 - I'd hate myself for not getting a 172/182
mk5 Fiesta ST - I have a soft spot for these, I've heard the 2L mondeo motor is a bit of a boat anchor though
mk2 Focus ST - I love these, the running costs look a bit scary though
mk1 Fabia VRS SE - Had a ropey one of these in the past, possibly the best car I've ever owned, toying with finding a really clean version of their last run (2007) special editions.

So yeah, that's where I am at the moment, any suggestions?

browna

334 posts

204 months

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Thursday 7th March 2019

im also considering as similar car, £5k reliable fun daily and I only need a 2+2 or very occasional rear seats for the kids.

id love a gt86 but they are still going for around 8-10k damn it lol. another couple of years to wait for them to come down.

my list of potential is similar to yours, also includes.

130i beemer, nice sound but could be more expensive to run
(or 125i beemer, newer but more pricey)

mk7 fiesta st, sounds like fun, top end of budget tho. around 6-7k I think.

r56/53 mini cooper s, both seem like they could have potential engine issues/worry.

mk5 r32, I just love the engine sound, otherwise a bit dull.
alfa Gt v6, lovely engine, just the usual alfa worries.

twingo rs133, in budget, I ve had bad experience of French stuff so goes against my grain. lol

mk1/2 swift sport, this is my front runner, can be had cheap, reliable, fun to chuck about, feels
faster than it is, but still pretty slow.

Mk3 Mr2 is what id love if could afford a 3rd practical car/van.

good luck. smile

strada84

624 posts

133 months

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[news]

Thursday 7th March 2019

If you like the Focus ST, what about the much rarer Mondeo with the same engine? That's a hell of a car and less likely to have been abused, although it is a big car.

ZX10R NIN

29,884 posts

146 months

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Thursday 7th March 2019

caelite

Original Poster

4,282 posts

133 months

[report]

[news]

Thursday 7th March 2019

browna said:

130i beemer, nice sound but could be more expensive to run
(or 125i beemer, newer but more pricey)

mk7 fiesta st, sounds like fun, top end of budget tho. around 6-7k I think.

r56/53 mini cooper s, both seem like they could have potential engine issues/worry.

mk5 r32, I just love the engine sound, otherwise a bit dull.
alfa Gt v6, lovely engine, just the usual alfa worries.

twingo rs133, in budget, I ve had bad experience of French stuff so goes against my grain. lol

mk1/2 swift sport, this is my front runner, can be had cheap, reliable, fun to chuck about, feels
faster than it is, but still pretty slow.

Mk3 Mr2 is what id love if could afford a 3rd practical car/van.

good luck. smile

130 BMW - Fairly good idea, have never been massively into BMWs having owned a 3 series briefly, but would definitely like to take a 1 series out

mk7 Fiesta - yeah, I like these, discounted it as the ones near my budget all look fairly rough

R56/R53 - love the R53 actually, having owned a 207GTI i'd trust the R56 engine about as far as I could throw it

Golf R32 - Yeah, summerise it pretty much the same way you do

GTV6 - I've driven one of these actually, handling ain't fantastic, real nose heavy. Best sounding engine ever though, I'd say the twin spark 2.0 probably would drive better (which is what I ended up buying at the time in 147 form)

Twingo - As with yourself, I'd take a Clio 200 over it, but would need to really be fantastic for me to buy a Renault, head says yes, heart says no

Swift Sport - Oh hell, never thought about one of these, good shout

MR2 - I'd love a mk2, particularly a turbo. After dailying the MX5 as my sole car for over a year I have reservations though.

ZX10R NIN said:

If you're going to be contemplating some track work then it has to be a Clio RS F1:

Or the Focus ST-3

Civic Type R GT

Skyline 350GT

330i

IS250 Sport

Clio 200 F1 - Never thought of the F1. It's definitely the option my head is telling me to go for, but my heart dislikes renaults, and I've always considered the 200/197s something of a downgrade over the 172/182s

Focus ST-3 - This is probably my front runner at the moment, I do love the look of them, I just fear the 20-25mpg and rather expensive consumables will ruin it somewhat for me

FN2 Type R - Like the Clio, always considered this a bit of a downgrade over the EP3. That being said, good option I hadn't considered

Skyline 3500GT - Like the look of these, I'd fear it would suffer the same way the 350z does in my mind, looks good in pictures, but larger than life & unwieldy in the metal

330i - I've owned a e46 328i, I'll be honest I wasn't a fan, great motorway bruiser, but handles like any other >1.5ton exec saloon when the road gets twisty. No amount of 'driving pleasure' marketing can override basic physics.

Lexus IS - Never driven one, I know the old IS200 was pretty legendary due to it's 2.0 BEAMS engine, not as big a fan of the looks of the is250

Mondeo ST - A lot of car for the money no doubt, not really what I'm looking for though.

Cheers for the suggestions guys, given me some options to think about.

Patrick Bateman

12,975 posts

195 months

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Thursday 7th March 2019

182 is a good shout (not biased), consumables are indeed cheap. Get one that's not due the cambelt etc. for a while and it should be relatively pain free.

I've spent a fair whack on my Trophy but have had it for 4.5 years.

ZX10R NIN

29,884 posts

146 months

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Thursday 7th March 2019

caelite said:

The 197/200 are not a downgrade & are in fact an amazing car (i'd choose one of these over an FN2 Civic) & they're great steer.

The ST Focus is a good track day car which is pretty simple to run (Nankang NS2R's) endless pads etc & a great community means these are a very good daily/track tool.

The 350Z is very much a drivers car but I agree a bit more sharpness is needed but it is a very good drivers car out of the box, the same applies to the 350GT (it's based on a stretched 350Z chassis) so maybe don't discount it without trying it.

The 130i wouldn't see what way the Clio went the 130i is a bit like the R32 in that it needs some fettling to become a true drivers car.

Patrick Bateman

12,975 posts

195 months

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[news]

Thursday 7th March 2019

You can take liberties with a 182 as well, it's fun and forgiving I'd say. I suspect trying to drive a standard 130i in the same manner on a back road could get quite uncomfortable.

Draculaw

100 posts

93 months

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Thursday 7th March 2019

Similar boat here. Cooper S with the N18 refresh engine looks to be best bang for buck at that price tbh. £5k is the low side for a dealer sale, but there look to be a number of private sale cars around that mark. Convertibles also seem more readily available at that price point.

Possibly an Alfa Mito or Giulietta? Not sure how reliability is for a daily, but on paper they look like a fairly quick, reasonably equipped small hatch.

Edited by Draculaw on Thursday 7th March 22:03

DUBS73P

113 posts

156 months

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Friday 8th March 2019

From the List of whats been mentioned so far and what ive owned the Clio 182 and 200

Clio 182 - Most fun i've ever had in a car, will be very cheap to run compared to all others imo

Clio 200 - It was an upgrade in ability from the 182 it was just point and shoot without too much drama, definitely not as fun, noticeably worse on fuel, Brakes (Brembo) and tyres are considerably more expensive too if staying OEM. Gearbox issues are common

Megane R26 - Its significantly better than the 200 to drive IMO, was actually better on fuel, better to live with, has more silly little issues than the Clio's and Consumables are just as expensive as the 200

Cooper S R53 - Really didn't like it that much, definitely nowhere near as much as the 182, Supercharger whine was annoying when you're not even going particularly fast. More potential if your'e into mod's but that's not my thing at all.

Ive test driven the Focus ST and it didn't really do anything for me as i was coming from the R26 at the time.

I also test drove the Civic FN2 which I quite liked, but at the time it was much more expensive than the Clio 200 so didn't warrant the difference in cost, now they're cheaper than the 200 id probable take the reliability of the Honda over the potential bills in the Clio.

Id take the 182 or R26 personally

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