Best Cheap Sporty Car (for a 20 yr old)
Discussion
300bhp/ton said:
We had a V6 Courgar for a while. Tbh it was rather nice. Not overly fast but pretty grunty feeling. Did the GT side of sporty very well and certainly had more sense of occasion than most hatchbacks.
Interesting, for a man who is usually the first to ridicule hot hatches and coupes based on hot hatches I find it somewhat bizarre that you would say a Cougar (a 2 door mondeo) has a "sense of occasion" I drove one a couple of years ago when a mate picked one and I wasn't really impressed and would go so far as to say the Mondeo ST24 felt better. Having read a few reviews of Cougars back in the day I presume that they got good verdicts when compared to the previous Probe which was rather dire. Granted if you buy a V6 one for £500 then yes it's worth a punt. Another budget v6 option is the Hyundai coupe , generally not deemed "cool" but surprisingly good to drive.
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aka_kerrly said:
Interesting, for a man who is usually the first to ridicule hot hatches and coupes based on hot hatches I find it somewhat bizarre that you would say a Cougar (a 2 door mondeo) has a "sense of occasion"
I drove one a couple of years ago when a mate picked one and I wasn't really impressed and would go so far as to say the Mondeo ST24 felt better. Having read a few reviews of Cougars back in the day I presume that they got good verdicts when compared to the previous Probe which was rather dire. Granted if you buy a V6 one for £500 then yes it's worth a punt. Another budget v6 option is the Hyundai coupe , generally not deemed "cool" but surprisingly good to drive.
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Don't think I recall knocking coupes?I drove one a couple of years ago when a mate picked one and I wasn't really impressed and would go so far as to say the Mondeo ST24 felt better. Having read a few reviews of Cougars back in the day I presume that they got good verdicts when compared to the previous Probe which was rather dire. Granted if you buy a V6 one for £500 then yes it's worth a punt. Another budget v6 option is the Hyundai coupe , generally not deemed "cool" but surprisingly good to drive.
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The sense of occasion comes from all the bits that are different from the saloon. The seating position, the look. I'm not saying it drove better. It just somehow felt more special. And made a good noise.
As I say, it made for a good GT style car for it's price. Are there better cars, sure there are.
And lets not forget the Capri was originally based on the Cortina, but also had far more sense of occasion than it's related car.
The Probe, really don't think it was that bad either. Again on the softer side of sporty and more GT'ish. The MX-6 which it was based on seems to be liked more, despite not really being hugely different. I think the Probe just gets knocked simply because it wasn't RWD like the Capri.
Another example. My brother had a JDM Nissan Pulsar. Not the GTiR sadly, but a 4wd 1.5 it went ok tbh. However I had a Nissan 100NX later on. The 100NX is based on the Pulsar platform and despite it being FWD it 'felt' far more fun and sporty. Had nothing to do how it handled either.
It was the low seating position. You sat much lower than you did in the Pulsar. The relatively long bonnet, the rake of the rear window and the glass T-Tops. It was actually a very 'fun' car.
Edited by 300bhp/ton on Saturday 25th November 16:42
MrCadno said:
Yeah that’s what I’m worried about, nearly got ran off the road today with someone not checking their blind spot before switching lanes. But I do love the thrill of knowing you could not come back from it, makes you as you said value life more. But also it’s more seat of your pants driving which I’m a fan of. Tbh the first car I had, mk2f polo, had no safety features, only a seatbelt ??
Why on earth are you not considering an MR2 Roadster if you like that sort of "edgy" feel. Mine is an absolute howl, but you really do have to respect it, especially at this time of year! It will quite happily squirm and twitch on demand. On the plus side, in the summer in bone dry conditions, the amount of grip it has is outstanding.OK they're not that quick, but in a way that just makes it even better as you have to actually drive the thing... but it IS faster than an MX5 so it's no slouch if driven properly. £2K would get you a nice one. I'm not sure there is a more fun car for £2K or less.
Edited by TameRacingDriver on Saturday 25th November 22:29
t. If that's the case, buy a motorbike 
MrCadno said:
Any opinions on the 2002 and the 2004 ep3 Civic type r’s? ??
Quick and reliable hot-hatches. They obviously need to be revved to get the best out of them. I'd check the insurance on them, though; they can be really pricey. I can only just get quotes for 1k on them now at 25!I'm not sure on them feeling sporty, though. It's just a hatchback with alot of power. I've got nothing against them; i love them. I'm just not sure i'd describe them as "sporty", as such.
Edited by culpz on Monday 27th November 10:22
MrCadno said:
Any opinions on the 2002 and the 2004 ep3 Civic type r’s? ??
Capable cars. The engine is great, but I wasn't really much of a fan of the way it sounds - oddly, they did address this in the FN2 and for me the same engine in that car sounded better. I just found it a bit characterless despite the high revving nature. The gearshift is really excellent as well. However, for me, that is where the appeal ended. The steering is completely devoid of any feedback, disconcertingly so, and overall, the car felt a bit clinical and lacking in fun factor despite the fact it was clearly capable. You really need to try one to see whether you will like it. I was driving a Clio 182 at the time, and although I am not exactly an enormous fan of those, and the fact that Civic was a faster car, it didn't make me want to change, if anything, the Clio had a bit more of a fun factor to it.Speaking of Clios, IF you can find one reasonably priced, a 172 Cup might be worth looking out for. It lacks a lot of the toys of the standard models, but that means there's less to go wrong, and it tips the scales at a ton exactly, which gives it a healthy power to weight ratio.
MrCadno said:
Any opinions on the 2002 and the 2004 ep3 Civic type r’s? ??
My view is polarised on these. Awesome engine and performance for a 2.0 litre n/a. Capable cars indeed.
But I really can’t get on with the MPV cross van looks of them. And they have very much an un-sporty seating position. And non-sporty interior design and layout.
The DC2 ITR is one of my all time favourite fwd vehciles and ranks pretty high on my list of all time favourite vehciles period. The DC5 ITR is very related to the EP3. Not quite so keen on these as the DC2. But the DC5 is a very good car.
But again as I mentioned above. It’s the differences between the Coupe and the hatchback that make the real difference for me in terms of sense of occasion. The DC5 is the type of car you’d glance back at almost every single time you park it up. I’m not convinced the EP3 CTR is.
So it comes down to what you are wanting. Sadly a DC5 won’t be in your budget. The EP3 does the power and performance thing. But for me it falls short on sporty.
Arguably If I didn’t need the practicality of a hatchback not just using it as competition car, I’d rather a 190hp Celica over an EP3 CTR. Even if the CTR is the faster car.
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