Warm/Hot hatch for under £7k.

maniac886

Right I have increased the budget by £1k so now I have 7k to spend...not sure if this will bring in some other different cars but hopefully better examples of the cars I have chosen above.

ds1980

Not read whole thread but don't think anyone has mentioned the peugeot gti180

gearbox is !!!!! but better than anything else in the corner and quick. Also bit older but the anniversary golf 52 plate 1.8t petrol.

only 900 made hold price and are quicker than 32's.

Why 04 and over a g40 is supercharged and weighs about 3kg they are sweet! if you can find one!!!

Just seen the short list everything apart from the civic should be scrapped!

almillar

Thanks tali, I was getting my cars mixed up there. My current car is 170bhp. 0-60 is definately 7.2 seconds for the Almera though as that's the quoted figure and I acheived it quite a few times! But looks like OP wants something a bit pricier.

allan673

id stear clear of vauxhall and peugeot - just my opinion.

corolla t sport as mentioned is a top car and ultra reliable, very quick too and different, you dont see too many on the roads.
what about a fiesta st??? 150 bhp nice car.

those would be my two choices - let us know what you get.

jaydeeuk1

Just get an old Fiat coupe 2.0 20v turbo. £3k to buy, £3k to fix. Will spank any of the cars mentioned in this thread on fun, acceleration, top end and handling (at least on days it works) and will probably not depreciate any more.

maniac886

allan673 wrote: »

id stear clear of vauxhall and peugeot - just my opinion.

corolla t sport as mentioned is a top car and ultra reliable, very quick too and different, you dont see too many on the roads.
what about a fiesta st??? 150 bhp nice car.

those would be my two choices - let us know what you get.

Yep will do...just trying to narrow my choice down to 4 cars and will test drive them in the next week or so.

BillScarab

sebdangerfield wrote: »

I've got a work collegue who used to be a Police Officer and was surprised at the comments about the Vrs. He says before he retired he had the choice between the usual s60, 330 and the Vrs and would always use the Vrs for looking for chases around the twisty little streets in town as it was so easy to drive and although not nearly as fast as the other two it'd easily be quicker to spin around and go after stuff going the other way and the handling was more predictable so he used it more.

I love the posts about diesels, especially the 1.4 super fast boy racer ones! I agree they've improved no end but so have petrols and lets remember that if diesels were so good, petrols wouldn't exist any more as they're more economical in general and cleaner, at least as far as what the government measure. They're there simply as an option, and that option's the one for people who want cheaper, cleaner motoring.

The OP just needs to decide exactly what he wants, to me a hot hatch is what a hot hatch has always been and there aren't that many around now. They were the low cost key to fast a to b motoring. Top speeds were irrelevent as they just had good handling, moderate power and low weight. All that meant that it had accessible power which could be exploited rather than ferraris with 450 bhp that couldn't use it unless the road opened up. All hot hatches now are twice as heavy as they need be due to saftey equiptment which detracts from driver involvement and heavier, more powerfull engines to achieve pretty much (bar the odd exception) the same performence as the same lighter, less powerfull cars from 10 years ago.

True hot hatches, Clio 172/182, Clio v6 had one for a while... ran out of skill...painfull! civic type r (the old one), Old focus rs... et al even my beloved 147 gta isn't really a propper hot hatch, it's too heavy, too powerfull to be fun all the time and then there's the handling! I just dont think you get the same with diesel hatches as you do with those cars.

Depends which VRs you rcolleague used to drive. The Mark 1 Octavia VRs was mor of a hot hatch than the current one. The current one is more refined and heavier so even though it has more power it's not as nippy or responsive.

Personally I'm not a big fan of modern hot hatches, they're all too heavy and luxurious.

For £7000 I'd look at something like a Mazda RX-8, it's reasonably quick, good to drive, looks good and is cheap. Bit heavy on fuel though.

michaelro

allan673 wrote: »

id stear clear of vauxhall and peugeot - just my opinion.

corolla t sport as mentioned is a top car and ultra reliable, very quick too and different, you dont see too many on the roads.
what about a fiesta st??? 150 bhp nice car.

those would be my two choices - let us know what you get.

A little more cash might get you the Corolla T Sport Compressor (1 of 250) which is the supercharged version so you don't have to thrash it quite so much

Fiesta ST won't be that quick, Peugeot (French Cough...)

From your list

Leon - Good choice - I'd swap for the Toledo as it's much cheaper
Type R - Good choice - Have to thrash it to get anywhere though
Mazda - 2.0 Sport isn't that sporty - Certainly not even a warm hatch
Astra - More a coupe that a hatch
Corolla - Good Choice - Similar to Typre R for Driving

Other thoughts

Mini Cooper S (Bit estate agenty, might not be many in your price bracket)
Saab 9-3 (Re-babdge Vauxhall, Not Cheap to Service)
Impreza (Costly to run, insure etc - Great to Drive though)
MG Z Series (Image, Relability - Cheap!!)
Fiat Stilo Abarth (See Above )

michaelro

BillScarab wrote: »

For £7000 I'd look at something like a Mazda RX-8, it's reasonably quick, good to drive, looks good and is cheap. Bit heavy on fuel though.

Not recommended if you do short trips and very heavy on oil.

Indout96

Celica engine to peaky and needs to be worked hard

Not really, mine will sit in 6th gear at around 30mph and them pull away from there with power just getting better and better, its adictive. handling will be better than most hot hatch's (I've had a few LOL) if you replace the springs with TTE ones. For £7k you may just be able to pick up a GT which has them fitted as standard.
+ 40mpg on motorway is quite easy to get (so is sub 20's if you feel that way out)