Opinions on new car shortlist!

[clarkj93]

Hi all first post here!

So a couple years ago I had a lovely little mk1 mx-5 for general Sunday blasts and track days. To cut the story short big problems and could not afford to keep it on the road so sold it Bought a 54 plate Saab 9-3 then which I've had 3 years for just getting to work and back and its been vandalised, 2 people have bumped into it and the clutch is going so a bit more money in the pocket these days time to finally get rid

I'm struggling to come to a concrete answer of the next car... Needs to be able to do the daily commute with ease (just over an hour in total - 30 odd miles), be worthy of a good Sunday blast round the local country roads and be good for 1-2 track days a year. Don't really want to get into modifying it, I'd rather spend the money on good discs, pads and tyres. So I'd be looking for really a little hot hatch that's got enough pace and with reasonable insurance and parts prices.

Budget wise, I don't really want to spend more than 6.5k as I still need to put aside some money for a first mortgage.

I've been looking at the Abarth 500's, but the Essesse ones seem to be quite rare and overly expensive. Is the 135 model a worthy wagon with a remap or will it be lacking? Also a clio rs200 is on the cards, but finding a FF one with recaro seats in this budget with decent mileage is proving to be tricky.... Opinions? Cars I've overlooked or missed out that might match?

Soz for the life story!

[kurt535]

Jap?

[Mr Tidy]

BMW 130i maybe?

[SaggyOstrich]

Megane R26

[ZX10R NIN]

Clio RS

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Megane R26

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Astra VXR

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[clarkj93]

SaggyOstrich said:

Megane R26

I've read the seating position is a bit off on these and ruins the experience? There aren't enough for sale frankly to go have a gander, have you owned one?

[ZX10R NIN]

It's not off some people find it high you should be able to find one close to you to test drive, also one worthy of consideration is the Focus in ST-3 form, it's not as sharp as the Megane but it's not far off & imo it's a better daily:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Sunday 2nd September 19:31