£4k track slag & daily hack?

[cragswinter]

right,
long story short it's becoming a long search for my next car & i'm thinking about getting something to see me through the winter months as a daily driver & an in betweener.

at preseant i have a company van for the daily grind.
this would have to go. (anyone want a good combo deisel??!)

maximum £4k (budget creep is not an option)

needs to be reliable, comfortable, & able to carry the misses & the dog (labrador). ish

i'm thinking clio trophy? last week i spent a few days at the ring & spa in a 182 & it was great, cheap on parts & i certainly don't mind a fwd car on track. i don't want anything too track prepared for the above reasons & the trophy has the recaro seats in it, i'm thinking on a track day just fling the rear seat out, bolt in some harnesses & away you go. only problem would be a slight lack in power but i could put up with that i think.

any other ideas? i don't want anything too old as it needs to be a daily driver remember. something that can always be shifted on at a later date at minimal effort would be a bonus but i'll probably just end up keeping it as my daily snotter if i get rid of the van.

maybe a trophy would be money wasted over a 182? i don't want to be paying a premium for trick dampers if they're just going to cost more to keep right.

over to you guys....

[Matt UK]

e36 M3 saloon?

Pug 205 GTi / Golf Mk2 GTI - are there still good ones about at this budget?

[SwineFluPirate]

I think you may be hard pushed to find a straight Trophy with your budget!?

Would get you a tidy FF 182 with Cup packs.

[simoid]

My thoughts are:

- leave the Trophies to people who won't fill them with dog hairs;
- buy a 172/182, if you find it a bit too soft for the track, get a set of Eibach springs on it, or the like;
- enjoy





Furthermore, if you don't have any brand loyalty/preference over FWD/RWD etc, £4k will get you lots of choice for what you're after. All manner of Beemers, Type Rs, Clios... happy searching!

Edited by simoid on Thursday 13th October 17:34

[varsas]

When I was after the same thing you are, I bought a 328 for half your budget, and then spent about £1k on it. 328i's are even cheaper now but if you already know you like clio's I'd go for one of those. It'll be cheaper to run then most alternatives I reckon.

[cragswinter]

rwd beemers aren't my thing unfortunatly, well seeing as i've had a csl they are but we get a fair bit of snow oop north & i think one of these might let me down on my daily driver remit, the bloomin csl did. we live on one of those steep cul de sac's that never gets gritted unfortunatly

i did think of a 205/106 but i feel they're getting a bit long in the tooth these days

as for the trophy there always seem to be a couple around the £4k mark & it won't be used to transport the dog very often!

[Jamirecluse]

Mk1 Octavia vRS?

[5paul5]

Impreza wagon turbo, reliable, 4wd, plenty of power and room in the back. Sorted.

[cragswinter]

Jamirecluse said:

Mk1 Octavia vRS?

aren't these diesel?

5paul5 said:

Impreza wagon turbo, reliable, 4wd, plenty of power and room in the back. Sorted.

good shout, might be a little expensive on track perhaps? definately going to have a look in the ads

[diddly69]

Old EP3 Type R? Practical breadvan with mental engine

[wackojacko]

E36 328i or an MR2 are the best options, with change for upgrades.

[cragswinter]

wackojacko said:

E36 328i or an MR2 are the best options, with change for upgrades.

as above for the beemer (don't want the bother of snow tyres if i'm going to have spare track tyres as well) & although i miss my old mr2 spyder (one ofthe worlds most underrated cars) i just can't get the misses & the labrador in one!

what civic type r's are people posting about? links would help

[andye30m3]

I'd go for an integra type R, something like this http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3117401.htm sure you'd manage to get £300 off to get it on budget.

I've also owned a 172 and the integra is the better car

with a bit of haggling could have my old one http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3138682.htm, it was and still looks like a clean car

Edited by andye30m3 on Thursday 13th October 19:36

[varsas]

cragswinter said:

Jamirecluse said:

Mk1 Octavia vRS?

aren't these diesel?

Nope, you are probably thinking of the fabia vRS?. This is the Octavia saloon (well, large hatch), based on a Mk Iv Golf. You can get the Octavia 1.8turbo 4WD too (not the vRS though, they are all FWD) then a remap will get you 220bhp easy.

[wackojacko]

cragswinter said:

wackojacko said:

E36 328i or an MR2 are the best options, with change for upgrades.

as above for the beemer (don't want the bother of snow tyres if i'm going to have spare track tyres as well) & although i miss my old mr2 spyder (one ofthe worlds most underrated cars) i just can't get the misses & the labrador in one!

what civic type r's are people posting about? links would help

Sorry didn't see that bit.

Impreza or early Evo it is then sir.

[mig25_foxbat2003]

Instead of a CTR, spend a lot less on an EK Civic Vti, strip it out and fit some nice bucket seats, fit adjustable coilovers, sticky tyres and some basic mods, and hey presto, an entertaining track slag that doubles as a van when required.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1998-HONDA-CIVIC-VTI-S-B...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1999-V-REG-HONDA-CIVIC-1...

[5paul5]

cragswinter said:

Jamirecluse said:

Mk1 Octavia vRS?

aren't these diesel?

5paul5 said:

Impreza wagon turbo, reliable, 4wd, plenty of power and room in the back. Sorted.

good shout, might be a little expensive on track perhaps? definately going to have a look in the ads

I track mine and despite what you might hear on PH its not too bad, obviously it drinks fuel like a fish on track but fairly easy on brakes, tyres etc.

[cragswinter]

Right these civic type r's look like a good buy at the price, a bit more practical than the integra for the dog as well.

2 questions:

Perceived image-better or worse than a Clio trophy? (I'm 35 this month by the way!)

Parts & servicing-cheaper than a Clio? I know folk will say a civic will be more reliable but that means nowt if the one bill is a big one!

Edited by cragswinter on Thursday 13th October 21:52