Help picking a car!!

[designforlife]

Integra DC5... you'll get 40+ mpg on motorway runs, and 30mpg mixed is achievable if you don't VTEC everywhere (although that's hard to resist, i get low 20s out of mine because it's too fun not to).

£9k will buy a nice clean one, that isn't going to depreciate (they're steadily rising in value), and you don't have to feel like another hot hatch sheep.

And despite being 15ish years old, they very much feel like a modern car to drive...projector headlights, solidly built, very comfortable seats.

[Bradley1500]

Witton7117 said:

Anyone had an experience with the Abarth 500? not sure if its too small for me yet but seems to fit the bill.

I bought a 2010 Fiat 500 Abarth with the Essesse package for my mum last year and have driven it a number of times since purchase.

It will seat four adults for local transport perfectly fine, it would become uncomfortable for extended periods of time. The boot is quite small but the back seats fold if you need to transport something bigger.

I collected the car which involved a four hour slog on the motorway to get home. Amazingly, sitting at motorway speeds, the car achieved 52 MPG. It does drop significantly when using the cars performance, but will still achieve 28-32 MPG in my experience. With a lighter right foot, mum has averaged 41 MPG in the time she has owned the car.

Performance is slower than you want. The standard Abarth is 7.7 to 60, the Essesse package drops this time to 7.4 and increases top speed to 131, thanks to a BMC air filter and remap boosting power from 135 BHP to 160 BHP. The Essesse package also adds lower and stiffer springs, upgraded brakes and lighter wheels. It was a £2500 option from factory and for that money you can definitely notice a difference from the standard car.

It is fun to drive but it does have it downsides. The driving position – for me – is all wrong. You sit far too high with the steering wheel too far away. I cannot get comfortable in it. And, while on the subject of comfort, the ride is shocking. The car crashes over bumps which is uncomfortable at sensible speeds and when pushing on, gives you less confidence in the car.

I would recommend driving one to see how you get on with it. My mum loves her one and I find it fun for a spirited drive but I couldn’t live with one every day, without changing the suspension setup and seating position.

Witton7117 said:

What do you think of the Coupe Cooper S?

Unfortunately, I haven’t extensively driven an R56 Cooper S, but have had friends who have owned them. Good cars when working but they have a lot of reliability issues. Something to research before taking the plunge.

Something else to consider would be a performance diesel car – something like a 330 or 335D. It won’t have the sound track you want, but it would fit the bill for the rest of your requirements.

[dieseluser07]

HedgeyGedgey said:

dieseluser07 said:

Stretch to 10k and you can pick up a fiesta st which will fit your criteria.

And make everyone think you're a chav

Dont drive like a chav and your unlikely to be called one, its more about the driver than the car unless its a barried car.

[BlueFiestaST]

Tuvra said:

BlueFiestaST said:

You can get a mk7 Fiesta ST for £9000.
Quick. Under 6s 0-60
Good drive especially around the twisties.
35mpg can get 40+ if you drive like a nun.

Not many problems reported.

I bought one as it had warranty. Cheap parts if things were to go wrong.

I would have loved an Elise/ VX220/ E46 M3 but they are older cars with more expensive parts and no warranty.

Depreciation has been quite bad on the Fiesta ST but I guess prices may firm up in the coming months.

It's not THAT quick, sub 7 maybe, sub 6 absolutely no chance!

Despite that, if you can get a decent one sub £9k it seems to tick all the boxes.

Cock up by me. 6.9s

[anonymous-user]

BlueFiestaST said:

Tuvra said:

BlueFiestaST said:

You can get a mk7 Fiesta ST for £9000.
Quick. Under 6s 0-60
Good drive especially around the twisties.
35mpg can get 40+ if you drive like a nun.

Not many problems reported.

I bought one as it had warranty. Cheap parts if things were to go wrong.

I would have loved an Elise/ VX220/ E46 M3 but they are older cars with more expensive parts and no warranty.

Depreciation has been quite bad on the Fiesta ST but I guess prices may firm up in the coming months.

It's not THAT quick, sub 7 maybe, sub 6 absolutely no chance!

Despite that, if you can get a decent one sub £9k it seems to tick all the boxes.

Cock up by me. 6.9s

Well what do you know

[Latters]

It doesn't achieve the sub 7 second 0-60 time, but what about a Swift Sport? 0-30 was brisk enough due to being able to hold onto gears with the naturally aspirated, revvy engine. I got a 63 plate one brand new for £13.5k at the time so I'd imagine they're well within your budget now, four years later.

It had DAB, built-in sat nav, cruise control and keyless stuff as standard. I averaged over 50mpg according to the trip computer, though I never verified this.

The exhausts made a good noise and you could really push it without doing dangerous speeds. I'd highly recommend one.

[ZX10R NIN]

There are a lot of options out there so I'll choose some of the more leftfield options:

Alfa Giulia TBI 40k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

208 GTI 17k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Astra VXR

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Mazda3 MPS

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Corsa VXR Nurburgring Edition

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Now to the most obvious & pretty much the best IMO options that's not to say the above aren't good which they are but for me the next lot are just that bit better.

Clio RS200 (with the Recaros & Cup Chassis)

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...


Megane RS250 (non Cup Chassis)

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Focus ST-3 (I know that these will only realistically hit 35-7mpg on a run) they're the best figure I personally saw but that engine is a cracker.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

[johnwilliams77]

BlueFiestaST said:

You can get a mk7 Fiesta ST for £9000.
Quick. Under 6s 0-60
Good drive especially around the twisties.
35mpg can get 40+ if you drive like a nun.

Not many problems reported.

I bought one as it had warranty. Cheap parts if things were to go wrong.

I would have loved an Elise/ VX220/ E46 M3 but they are older cars with more expensive parts and no warranty.

Depreciation has been quite bad on the Fiesta ST but I guess prices may firm up in the coming months.

What parts are more expensive on a vx220

[johnwilliams77]

designforlife said:

Integra DC5... you'll get 40+ mpg on motorway runs, and 30mpg mixed is achievable if you don't VTEC everywhere (although that's hard to resist, i get low 20s out of mine because it's too fun not to).

£9k will buy a nice clean one, that isn't going to depreciate (they're steadily rising in value), and you don't have to feel like another hot hatch sheep.

And despite being 15ish years old, they very much feel like a modern car to drive...projector headlights, solidly built, very comfortable seats.

Find that very hard to believe
Low to mid 30s in my experience

[Gareth1974]

A late FN2 Civic Type R. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

The run out models like this have the desirable limited slip diff. I had one myself, averaged 31mpg over 30000 miles of mixed driving, would do 40mpg cruising at 70. Only negative for me was the very firm ride.

[Latters]

Gareth1974 said:

A late FN2 Civic Type R. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

The run out models like this have the desirable limited slip diff. I had one myself, averaged 31mpg over 30000 miles of mixed driving, would do 40mpg cruising at 70. Only negative for me was the very firm ride.

I'd agree with this. I had an FN2 a couple of cars after I had the Swift Sport. The Civic just felt like a bigger, faster, firmer and louder version of the Swift. Both very fun cars without astronomical running costs.

[Tuvra]

Here's one that will hit all the marks (bar the noise), remapped BMW 123D.