An 'economical' car on a par with a Golf VR6 for performance?

JustAnotherSaver

Relative bought a MK3 Golf VR6 as wanted something a bit quick. He was aware of the fuel consumption being poor & says he thought it'd actually be worse than it is. Still, running it in reality is another matter & it's simply costing too much with the mileage he does, so he's thinking of getting either a different or another car, certainly for a daily drive/to work car.

He's happy with the performance of the VR6, which IIRC is 0-60 in about 7.2, 7.4 seconds thereabouts. About 170ish bhp.

The car would have to be sub £2k certainly.
I dare say we're talking exclusively diesel?
A remap can be an option, as can't these often cost just a few £100? However, stage 2, 3, 4 etc remaps, which i suppose tie in with engine overhauls & upgrading many components would be out of the question due to additional cost. So in short, a standard motor with a remap would be fine.
MPG, he hasn't said, but i'm taking a stab at minimum of 40mpg.

Is there anything?

I don't know if you can pick them up for under £2k, but what would a MK4 Golf GT TDI 150bhp be like in comparison?

DUTR

When I had my MK4 GTI , the VR6's were nowt in the traffic light grand prix, likewise with the MK5 the R32other than standing start and top end were little to no difference in performance other than the economy (after all the VR6 and R32 have 6 cylinders) , have a look on autotrader or piston heads you may find a decent example for sale.

JustAnotherSaver

Unfortunately, my brother seems to struggle to look beyond the Parkers 0-60 quotes, which anyone with half an ounce knows isn't the be all & end all. However, his episode with the V5C shows he doesn't have anywhere near half an ounce.

Looking at the GTI variants, i see the 1.8T is the fastest, aside from the Anniversary though i suspect this will be costly.

This is quoted as 35mpg. I actually trust parkers MPG quotes as they've always been pretty spot on with my cars.
This is too low for him really. Coupled with the insurance group & road tax band & it's just going to cost too much.

He'd need something quick, cheap(ish) to insure & tax & reasonable on the juice - so more than the GTI. He was actually going to get the GT TDI 150 once upon a time, though i don't know what the performance is like on these with a basic remap on a standard 150.

OddballJamie

Has he considered a similar Skoda (not sure if VRS's have hit £2k yet) or Seat, might get more for his money.

Retrogamer

He might be able to pick up a Bora/Golf/Leon/Toledo with the 130bhp turbo diesel engine for around the 2k mark.
Very torquey (same engine in my Ibiza) and with a remap on any of the cars above i reckon would keep up or maybe show up the Golf VR6 and still be better on fuel.

It's similar engine to the one the GTi TDI a bove uses, but smaller intercooler and turbo and a few grand cheaper

JustAnotherSaver

Yeah i remember reading the 150bhp has reliability issues. Parts made out of chocolate & that the 130bhp is much better in these terms. Although how exactly it'd stack up vs say his VR6 i don't know. I can read bhp comparison figures but they mean nothing to me. 0-60, 30-70 i can understand.

custardy

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Yeah i remember reading the 150bhp has reliability issues. Parts made out of chocolate & that the 130bhp is much better in these terms. Although how exactly it'd stack up vs say his VR6 i don't know. I can read bhp comparison figures but they mean nothing to me. 0-60, 30-70 i can understand.

You havent even mentioned torque
which is where its at if you want that saddo off the lights acceleration

ILW

1.2 Micra is quite nippy.

JustAnotherSaver

custardy wrote: »

You havent even mentioned torque
which is where its at if you want that saddo off the lights acceleration

Correct. What i've mentioned is - what car fits the bill[question mark].

Obviously if you have a quick car, where you want it is both from standstill & also from say, 30/40mph-70mph.

ILW wrote: »

1.2 Micra is quite nippy.

Compared to a pushbike, yes.

scheming_gypsy

Compared to a VR6 a Micra would be nippy. I had a VR6 about 6 years ago, I liked it but the performance wasn't amazing because of the size of the engine, a great big huge lump weighing down the front end.
If he wants 40mpg then he's looking at a turbo diesel but I can't think of any in a 2k budget that'll give a 7 second 0 - 60.

custardy

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Correct. What i've mentioned is - what car fits the bill[question mark].

Obviously if you have a quick car, where you want it is both from standstill & also from say, 30/40mph-70mph.

Which still comes down to torque