What Car? (1.5-3k)

[Adam]

I need some help here lol
Cannot decide what to buy at all, and ive really got to shift my mk4 astra, sick of getting 29mpg for what isnt a performance car lol

1-Narrowed it down to a Vag 1.9TDI
Golf/A3/A4/Bora
Would need be 115/130 version.

Good=MPG, bit of poke for when needed, low tax/insurance
Bad points=They are selling for a lot, for what they are tbh

2-Bmw 320, maybe 330d

Good=Mpg again, decent power for a diesel
Bad=Few people ive known with BMs aint had that much good luck with them

3-Ph2 Clio 172/182, or PH2 Seat Leon Cupra 1.8 T
Good=Nice bit of power, very cheap these days for what you get, doesn't sound like a transit. Pretty fun to drive.
Bad=Low 40mpg at a push, more like 30, insurance and mental tax cost for 2001/2 onwards cars


I want a Cliosport or the Cupra, but my head says forget about them and get a sensible 50mpg, low running cost diesel.
Or any other options?
:cry:

[DAFTJOHN]

Many miles do you do and what kind of roads do you drive?

[John]

Go for the cupra, watch expensive rfl and poor mpg round town though. Diesel cupra? Ibiza cupra? Skoda Fabia vrs?

[John]

If you go vag diesel, make sure it's a pd. Dont go for anything Audi, a3/4 are overpriced for what they are.

[Southie]

I also going to say Skoda VRS, tuneable and fun ;)

[Mike]

Out of everything mentioned Id say VRS. As with most things VAG though they all have 130k & still up for £3k lol

In a wider spectrum if its performance you do decide on then jap is definetly your friend. £2.5~3k will easily pick up a Pulsar GTiR/Impreza turbo/Evo3/R33/RX7 (albeit a rough one!) or even a DC2 Teg.

[Lee H]

EP3 Civic Type R.

Ultra reliable, fairly tuneable, ok mpg, excellent gearbox. Only downside is insurance is a bit pricey!

[Adam]

Dont do loads of miles, probably around 10k.
Mostly town driving, no motorway driving unless im going away for a weekend or whatever.

John-Diesel Cupras seem to go for 3.5k+, i could probably live with 30-40mpg at a push (with Cupra turbo or Clio) TBH 180bhp, practical, and 30-40mpg isnt bad.

How do i know if its a vag pd engine? Are they not all pd engines? Ive been looking at VW's around 2000-2002 plate, although most seem to be 160k miles and 2 grand lol, which is a bit steep.
Not looked at Fabia's atm

Dont think id be interested in a Impreza/evo etc, running/repair/insurance costs put me off.

Dont seem to find many "ok" Type R's around for under 3k either.

[Mike]

Dont think id be interested in a Impreza/evo etc, running/repair/insurance costs put me off.

Dont seem to find many "ok" Type R's around for under 3k either.

Clio 182 it is then lol

[Adam]

lol

I just want something not mentally expensive to run, and easy/cheap enough to maintain.

[Jack]

GT4 isn't bad on insurance, I pay £297 to insure mine FC. £3k would get you a decent one that won't need major work doing and I've never had any major failings with mine, aside from the gearbox... but it still worked lol Pretty easy to push the power up too.

[raf24]

Ive got a mk4 golf gti 20v turbo mate,you can pick them up quite cheap now,pretty similar engine to the cupra slightly less bhp standard at 150 as opposed to 180 but easy to get more power from these engines,mine also regularly returns 38 mpg as long as you dont cane it

[John]

Ad I you want to look at anything vag and want a bit of advice, drop me a text /bell :)

[mowgli]

i'm with all the others on the 1.9 vag. there are loads of leons for decent money

[krobinson]

I had a TDI A4 (1999 in kingfisher blue), got 55mpg all day long.

Got very bored and thought you only live once, so bought my 911. 24-25mpg.

You only do 10k a year, buy someone sporty, fun and enjoy yourself, you could get knocked down by a bus tomorrow!

[Andy_L]

Dare I say an ACT?

[General Baxter]

you can have my passat for £1.5k lol

[mk1nova_rich]

Cars from the VAG group tend to be quite boring IMO, especially VWs. Not exactly cheap to maintain and repair either.

Buy something a lot more fun, I'd personally be looking at a Clio tbh

[Stuart]

My clio has 'only' had a new set of brake pads as the standard ones were dire, two new front tyres and a suspension spring in 18 months.
Insurance is stupid as its more expensive than a VX220 N/A (but then a 182 is a faster road car....) and the tax is annoying but not the end of the world, its only £30more than the old two band system.

It does about 37-40mpg when I was running it to work, but now its just an around town car and gets 30mpg. This is better than the passat PD130 round town though so its saving us money now I use the Passat for work.

I'd not touch a BMW derv for less than £5K as they will be intergalactic dogs lol
Our passat was on 137K when we got it and its now on 168K still going well but tatty. For a big girl she don't half move with a PD130 in her!

If you can wait a few months you can have my gayblue clio for sensible market rate lol

[Adam]

Keith-Yeah im kind of in the same boat, i aint got 3 kids, pipe and slippers (yet)
Which is why im keeping my options open.

Andy-Dont think id have a Mk4 turbo, nice cars and Coupes dont cost a lot, but zlet aint the most reliable engine, and i think im bored of the whole astra thing atm.

Mk1 Novarich- I like the engine options vags come with, there 1.8 T is a pretty impressive engine.
Baxter-Want something newer than my current motor really, not a huge passat fan.

Stu-I can insure a Clio 172/172 for £150ish more than the mk4 per year.
Ive never seen over 35mpg from my mk4, even on the motorway.
Definently interested in the Clio option, they seem to be going for not a lot of money these days either.
And my missus's old man has got a PD 110 engine in his vw, and its nippy as hell, feels twice as strong/"pully" as my astra, and does 60mpg on long journeys. lol

[Stuart]

Thats the only endearing feature of the PD110, you can rinse its nuts off and she'll do 60mpg all day long :(

35mpg from the MK4 is GOOD!!!!! peak I saw was once we got 33mpg on a long gentle run lol
Just picked the Clio up from home to come into the office, kicked her head in and it was claiming 35mpg :)

[Paul]

Clio 172/182 cambelt with dephaser pulley aux belt water pump service etc is approx £400+ in parts book time of 5hours for the cambelt and another 2 iirc for auxbelt. Be warned its a **** of a job.

[Mazz]

Dare i say, what wrong with the Nova as toy, and have a boring diesel daily? That's what i've done..

My 130 A4 does 50mpg mpg plus all day long..

[Stuart]

Dare i say, what wrong with the Nova as toy, and have a boring diesel daily? That's what i've done..

My 130 A4 does 50mpg mpg plus all day long..

I pondered similar before getting the clio, but with the double tax/insurance/MOT/servicing etc I worked out that its cheaper to run something in the middle of toy and boring.

Some of the clio specialists charge £500-600ish for the belts service using the proper (full) timing tool set. Or buy one with the belts already done :)

[scott.parker]

Look at the skoda's or seat's as there slightly cheaper then there Audi/VW replica's, but if you want something thats cheep, good on fuel and got some poke look at 2002-2005 passat's and the estates are cool imo, lot of good car for the money.. and they should all be 110-130 hi line PD engines etc.

OR a massively over looked outsider, is a SIGNUM CDTDI.

[pikey1986]

theirs been a lot of signum talk on here lately, are they really that under-rated?

[scott.parker]

theirs been a lot of signum talk on here lately, are they really that under-rated?

IMO yes, as they are not as ugly as a vectra estate, can have the sport vectra sri front end, the rear ends nice and round, yet practical etc, and can come with good TD engines and be nicely modified if you wish..

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTfIN1CQ7xmgg4S8BAR_5qXn_VG2pjgp FKP57OcAAm9Kf_1CTwySiLX8OJZJA

http://www.speedheads.de/artikelbilder/2008/LexmaulOpelSignum2.jpg

Or mix it up with vag wheels! lol

http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/uploader/pics/picsNov2007/2006_0227Image0003%20(Medium)%20(Small).jpg

[pikey1986]

im off to autotrader to check prices, all 3 of them look pretty nice especially on the vag rims

[Adam]

Thats the only endearing feature of the PD110, you can rinse its nuts off and she'll do 60mpg all day long :(

35mpg from the MK4 is GOOD!!!!! peak I saw was once we got 33mpg on a long gentle run lol
Just picked the Clio up from home to come into the office, kicked her head in and it was claiming 35mpg :)
That 35mpg was sitting at 60ish on the m5 for about 180mile, mk4's are horrific on fuel for what they are. 2.0 eco being the worst lol

Paul-Yeah ive heard its a right s**t to do, so would look for one that had been done recently-ish, to avoid that being a problem.

Mazz-Dont think that'll ever happen again, the whole "toy" thing is just a massive drain on funds having nova taxed/insured for a year and using it once a month(back when i could actually use it lol), its just the best part of a grand a year just to have it driveable. Its currently well past useable(no wheels, brakes seized etc :()
Dont know why ive still even got it tbh.

Think im definently going to keep a cliosport and leon cupra as my two main options, then vag tdi 3rd option if i cant find a decent example of the above.

[Mazz]

I know what your saying, but imo, going from a Cav V6 daily to a diesel, the fuel difference is most of the cost of putting the Nova OTR.