Ideas and suggestions

[Andy665]

England87 said:

Hi everyone,

With a change of job early in the year and now home working being a new normal my mileage has dropped from about 18k per year to less than 10k. There was only the PistonHeads way to go with this and that was to sell the diesel golf and replace it with some added petrol fun.

My first thought was golf GTI PP. We have our other car for family duties, however I still need room for the mountain bike on my own days out. Budget is £14k, don’t want any pcp etc.

M135i is an option with great performance, however I’m not sure I’d ever walk away and look back thinking it was a looker...

Is there anything else people can think of or experience with that fits the bill of a bit of fun without being too serious on costs and budget ie c63....?

Thanks

Edited by England87 on Friday 12th June 18:02

I miss my M135i a lot - great fun and if not particularly well sorted chassis wise, its replacement, a Cupra 300 ST 4Drive, on paper did everything either just as well but recently gone back early, spookily competent but dull as ditchwater - only realised what fun the M135i was after I got to drive something that was not. Both owned over 2 years with similar kind of mileage and the M135i was a good bit more economical too

[England87]

Thanks for your insight, I did borrow a friends one a few years back and liked it a lot....just not a great looker

[irocfan]

A mountain-bike will fit in the boot of a C5 Corvette - lovely V8 goodness and 30+ mpg on a run.... ok you're looking at lhd and 15 years old but it's properly different

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd say a Megane RS is the pick:

RS265 Trophy

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

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

More practical Focus ST-3 estate:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

S3 Sportback

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Astra VXR these are an underrated car I think they look good, they're a decent steer (not quite RS/ST but on par with a Cupra/GTI) & they're something different.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

The M135i is a good car more GT than hot hatch but no worse for being so the engine is a peach I find them a bit cramped, the 335i is just as good a steer & feels like a nicer place to be imo.

Manual 335i

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Manual 328i M Sport you'll have to haggle & stretch the budget.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

[England87]

Love the corvette suggestion! Interesting to see you’re view on the 135i vs the cupra. I test drove a mk7 gti PP and it simply did not excite me in the way I thought it would, it was a DSG which just didn’t feel right in the car so I’m going to try again in a manual. I also have a test drive booked on a 135i which I’m sure will be fun, they are just very dependent on spec with everything seeming to be an option.