Friday Challenge - £1500 Daily/Track/ISOFIX/Efficient!
Discussion
Hi All,
Given I know the vast majority of you enjoy nothing more than trawling the classifieds (I myself am no exception) I thought I'd see if I could enlist your help here.
I'll shortly be in the market for a jack of all trades on a miniscule budget.. the requirements/needs are as follows;
- It will be my only car, I do around 8-10k a year
- Max budget £1500
- It will need to be capable of the odd trackday purely for fun, I won't be throwing sticky tyres or anything else at it and having done trackdays in cars from 90 to 300hp I know performance isn't really a factor in terms of enjoyment, I'll just need something that handles well and can shrug off the additional strain a trackday brings.
- ISOFIX this is a must as my little-un will need to ride in the car now and then, we have this system in the family car and invested a lot of time and money in finding the right seat.. I can't afford to get another one so I need to be able to transfer the seat from the family car as and when.
- Efficient as possible would be a bonus, so tax/insurance/mpg and general running costs will be a factor though can be overlooked to a degree!
- As sporty as possible.
Not after much hey? ;-)
Some of the cars that seem to tick all the boxes are as follows;
Toyota Yaris T sport - nice one for budget
Skoda Octavia VRS mk1 - OK cond
Honda Civic VTEC 1.6 sport EP3 - OK/good
Panda 100hp - Rough/OK
Peugeot 107 Sport XS - Rough/OK
Any other suggestions/what would be your pick?
Given I know the vast majority of you enjoy nothing more than trawling the classifieds (I myself am no exception) I thought I'd see if I could enlist your help here.
I'll shortly be in the market for a jack of all trades on a miniscule budget.. the requirements/needs are as follows;
- It will be my only car, I do around 8-10k a year
- Max budget £1500
- It will need to be capable of the odd trackday purely for fun, I won't be throwing sticky tyres or anything else at it and having done trackdays in cars from 90 to 300hp I know performance isn't really a factor in terms of enjoyment, I'll just need something that handles well and can shrug off the additional strain a trackday brings.
- ISOFIX this is a must as my little-un will need to ride in the car now and then, we have this system in the family car and invested a lot of time and money in finding the right seat.. I can't afford to get another one so I need to be able to transfer the seat from the family car as and when.
- Efficient as possible would be a bonus, so tax/insurance/mpg and general running costs will be a factor though can be overlooked to a degree!
- As sporty as possible.
Not after much hey? ;-)
Some of the cars that seem to tick all the boxes are as follows;
Toyota Yaris T sport - nice one for budget
Skoda Octavia VRS mk1 - OK cond
Honda Civic VTEC 1.6 sport EP3 - OK/good
Panda 100hp - Rough/OK
Peugeot 107 Sport XS - Rough/OK
Any other suggestions/what would be your pick?
Krikkit said:
Might be able to get a Clio 182 for budget, that has an ISOFIX bar in the rear seats.
Todd Bonzalez said:
Clio 172/182 for sure.
This.Great cars, even as standard. Pretty much exactly what you're looking for. For £1500, it will most likely be a 172 but there's really not much between them and the 182, in the grand scheme of things.
Buy and enjoy.
Thanks guys, some good suggestions.. I didn't think about a 182 as for some reason didn't think it would have isofix.. it would seem a great fit but there is one major issue.. our previous family car was a Renaultsport Megane 225 5 door which unfortunately turned out to be an awful car with significant financial consequences from which we're still recovering.. I'd barely dare mentioning the word Renault to the better half let alone put another one on the drive at the mo :-)
I'll have a look at 325ti's, this and the corolla t sports are likely to tip the scales from a running cost perspective but would certainly make the list if I could get a nice one.
I'll have a look at 325ti's, this and the corolla t sports are likely to tip the scales from a running cost perspective but would certainly make the list if I could get a nice one.
daniel-5zjw7 said:
our previous family car was a Renaultsport Megane 225 5 door which unfortunately turned out to be an awful car with significant financial consequences from which we're still recovering.. I'd barely dare mentioning the word Renault to the better half let alone put another one on the drive at the mo :-)
The Clio's are generally a different kettle of fish, in comparison. The 225's generally cost quite a bit more to run and also suffer from more issues, due to being a bit more complex. Parts are also more expensive and there is more to go wrong. Ignore anyone that tells you otherwise.The Renaultsport Clio's are not without their faults but it's generally just a few little electric issues and niggles here and there. It's rarely anything silly-expensive, anyway. They're simpler and much cheaper to run on the whole, so try not to be put off. They're great little cars!
Hi all,
Just thought I'd finish this with what I actually bought! I actually ended up doing a deal on a Toyota Celica 190, which whilst not ticking every box on my list seemed as good a compromise as I was going to get, it was also low miles and bang on budget. However on seeing it the bodywork was far worse than had been described, and whilst I walked away from it on that basis, the test drive revealed that it's not a great car for tall people and the engine wasn't to my liking.
So back to the drawing board, and luckily a car already mentioned on this thread that ticks every single box (and a few more as it happens) came up for sale and under budget... a BMW 325ti Sport in black with the alcantara interior. I've had it a couple of weeks now and am absolutely delighted with it!
It really can do everything and I'm finding myself genuinely excited everytime I go out to drive it. Plus with isofix as well its already been put to use as a family car and meant I could take my daughter to a car show today in it rather than take the 'boring' family car.
If anyone else is in a similar position I can definitely recommend the 325ti as a good option! With the additional bonus that prices seem to be on the rise for nice ones, so a good deal now may make for a solid purchase.
Just thought I'd finish this with what I actually bought! I actually ended up doing a deal on a Toyota Celica 190, which whilst not ticking every box on my list seemed as good a compromise as I was going to get, it was also low miles and bang on budget. However on seeing it the bodywork was far worse than had been described, and whilst I walked away from it on that basis, the test drive revealed that it's not a great car for tall people and the engine wasn't to my liking.
So back to the drawing board, and luckily a car already mentioned on this thread that ticks every single box (and a few more as it happens) came up for sale and under budget... a BMW 325ti Sport in black with the alcantara interior. I've had it a couple of weeks now and am absolutely delighted with it!
It really can do everything and I'm finding myself genuinely excited everytime I go out to drive it. Plus with isofix as well its already been put to use as a family car and meant I could take my daughter to a car show today in it rather than take the 'boring' family car.
If anyone else is in a similar position I can definitely recommend the 325ti as a good option! With the additional bonus that prices seem to be on the rise for nice ones, so a good deal now may make for a solid purchase.
daniel-5zjw7 said:
Hi all,
Just thought I'd finish this with what I actually bought! I actually ended up doing a deal on a Toyota Celica 190, which whilst not ticking every box on my list seemed as good a compromise as I was going to get, it was also low miles and bang on budget. However on seeing it the bodywork was far worse than had been described, and whilst I walked away from it on that basis, the test drive revealed that it's not a great car for tall people and the engine wasn't to my liking.
So back to the drawing board, and luckily a car already mentioned on this thread that ticks every single box (and a few more as it happens) came up for sale and under budget... a BMW 325ti Sport in black with the alcantara interior. I've had it a couple of weeks now and am absolutely delighted with it!
It really can do everything and I'm finding myself genuinely excited everytime I go out to drive it. Plus with isofix as well its already been put to use as a family car and meant I could take my daughter to a car show today in it rather than take the 'boring' family car.
If anyone else is in a similar position I can definitely recommend the 325ti as a good option! With the additional bonus that prices seem to be on the rise for nice ones, so a good deal now may make for a solid purchase.
Well done - hope it proves to be a good car for you. I think they are probably at the bottom of the price curve now - I bought my 6-speed Sport for 2.5k 4.5 years ago - they don't seem any cheaper nowJust thought I'd finish this with what I actually bought! I actually ended up doing a deal on a Toyota Celica 190, which whilst not ticking every box on my list seemed as good a compromise as I was going to get, it was also low miles and bang on budget. However on seeing it the bodywork was far worse than had been described, and whilst I walked away from it on that basis, the test drive revealed that it's not a great car for tall people and the engine wasn't to my liking.
So back to the drawing board, and luckily a car already mentioned on this thread that ticks every single box (and a few more as it happens) came up for sale and under budget... a BMW 325ti Sport in black with the alcantara interior. I've had it a couple of weeks now and am absolutely delighted with it!
It really can do everything and I'm finding myself genuinely excited everytime I go out to drive it. Plus with isofix as well its already been put to use as a family car and meant I could take my daughter to a car show today in it rather than take the 'boring' family car.
If anyone else is in a similar position I can definitely recommend the 325ti as a good option! With the additional bonus that prices seem to be on the rise for nice ones, so a good deal now may make for a solid purchase.
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff