Which car?

[stug45]

(i know this would probably be best put in a car forum but.....)To all you car enthusiasts out there:

 

In may i'll be looking at getting a new car (swapping them on my insurance policy.

 

Im 20 and my budget is about £8-10,000 and that includes the extra in insurance cost.

 

theres a few cars im looking at but all are around 2005 in manufacture and need to have very few miles on the clock.

 

-Skoda Fabia VRS 1.9 Turbo Diesel. Group 9 ins. 50-60mpg 130bhp

-Honda Civic Type S 2.0 Petrol Vtec. Group 11 ins. 30-40mpg 160bhp

-Renault Clio 182 2.0 Petrol. Group 15 ins. 30-40mpg 182bhp

-Seat Ibiza Cupra. 1.8 Turbo Petrol. Group 15 ins. 30-40mpg 180bhp

 

I need some opinions on which to get. My current car is a 2003 Fiesta which is big enough as a car (only the clio is a bit smaller) so im okay for kite space i just want some opinions on these cars.

 

My main aim is for some performance, fun and a low mileage good value car that will go for at least 60k miles.

 

Any other cars i should be looking at? if the insurance groups are higher than group 11 the car will have to be a bit cheaper to add the cost of insurance on.

[Dan Masochist]

I voted for the clio 182 but actually as your only 20 i'd say the VRS

[Lem]

The Fabia would be the sensible choice.. chippable to 150-180bhp if you're feeling less sensible. If you're doing many miles this would be a good choice too. Also suprisingly quick. The light grey interior marks easily though.

 

If you want to just go daft, the Clio is a hoot. Not overly well built, but has that old-school hot hatch friskyness. However.. it will also put you backwards in a hedge quite happily.

Ibiza Cupra also a good choice. Chassis not so able, but plenty of grunt from the 1.8T which will happily hit 220bhp with a chip tune (I had an Octavia turbo). A Leon might be a better choice though.

 

However.. as you're 20, group 15 will be a stretch... the Fabia vRS will still be fun, practical and the engine/gearbox is pretty hardy.

 

I'm on my second Skoda now.. the jokes fade as quickly as your mates from your rear bumper

[kite geek]

Im voting for a mk4 golf but you dont have it.

[Blade rider]

Pointless voting.

 

20 years old, it will cost you £5k just to get full comp insurance

[dbcrx]

Honda. But then I am a Honda fan (well most things Jap actually). Will keep you smiling and should never go wrong.

 

Second to that for me wouls be the Seat, but if you're only 20 you're going to struggle with insurance on that I would think. Have actually got quotes for any of these? Might be an idea before you think too hard about it.

[Spyke]

If your going for the Seat ask them for a quote through their own insurance, i just got the slip through saying how much mine was on my new Ibiza and was about half what i was expecting....didnt matter too much though because the first year was free anyway

[stug45]

had a misspelled reg on a quote for the type s and it came up with a group 15 2.4 litre audi a6 for £1700 (tesco). im pretty sure that with 3 years driving experience (jan05) and insured with tesco since oct04 that they should just allow me to adjust the policy. £5000 for a group 15 car? where do u live? im currently paying 1100 fully comp for my group 5. at the renewal (at 21 years old) insurance premiums seem to drop.

 

im hoping to get the honda as its probably the most expensive but will last the longest.

but for reliability how good are the seat's? (vw's underneath)

 

the skoda i test drove but thought i could maybe get something a bit more (i like redlining so vtec would be nice)

[abba]

Ford fiesta?

Ford Focus?

 

Very powerful engines these days... out perform most mid range manufactures... (vw, skoda etc)

[Crispy]

I love my Celica 190. It had a couple of miles on the clock when I picked it up and turned 100000 a couple of days ago with no major money spent yet, aside from tyres, brake pads and discs. With the seats down it has a massive load area for a coupe, all my kiting gear goes in without any trouble. The servicing and insurance (for me, anyway) are very reasonable, as is the fuel consumption if you're sensible with the revs.

 

If you're not sensible with the revs, a high lift camshaft drops in at 6200 rpm and you all the way to 8200 and another beautifully slick gear change. And aside from the red Toyota badge you couldn't tell it apart from a standard Celica.

[windjammer1599968715]

mmm vw transporter sportline would of got my vote

[ban]

Get a van.........

[Sand-Yeti]

Toss up between the Clio & Honda Civic but voted for Honda.

 

I wouldn't entertain the Fabia.

One of the guys at work bought one and it seems to spend more time in the garage than on the road.

The windows are a known problem for falling down & costing a fortune to fix once the warranty has expired. I looked at the mechanism after it was disassembled. Terrible rubbishy design.

[dbcrx]

had a misspelled reg on a quote for the type s and it came up with a group 15 2.4 litre audi a6 for £1700 (tesco). im pretty sure that with 3 years driving experience (jan05) and insured with tesco since oct04 that they should just allow me to adjust the policy. £5000 for a group 15 car? where do u live? im currently paying 1100 fully comp for my group 5. at the renewal (at 21 years old) insurance premiums seem to drop.

 

Well for starters, there is a huge difference between group 5 and group 15 so you can expect your £1100 to go up quite a lot. Secondly, I think premiums dropping when you hit certain aged (ie 21 or 25) is a thing of the past. I didn't notice any difference apart from another years no claim bonus.

[stug45]

from the accidental quote im guessing that it shouldnt be too much higher than 900. even keeping my current car next years preium would only be just below £1000. i dont mind paying over 40% more on a premium for over 100% more fun and performance.

 

i plan to take a big step away from ford as so far theres always been niggles and big problems with their engines (no need to go into detail about my faults here)

 

i just need a car that puts a massive grin on my face every time i drive it!

[--ruud--]

Honda Type S is a wet end version of the Type R...so don't bother.

 

All the good bits will fall of the Clio, but atleast you'll be left with a light and very agile car...and they're soooooooooo cheap second hand!

 

VRS is really nice, but comes with 5 doors which is a no no on a hot hatch. And you're 20...get a Skoda when you've got kids.

 

Cupra, aslong as it's the R version then it's really good value for money and has the same engine as the old TT, but isn't as tight as you'd expect.

 

Don't look at any Golf bar the R32...most GTIs have 150bhp unless they have a red I (which is rare) and they weigh more than your average American family. So are neither fast or hot.

 

Try looking at an old Civic Type R, saw one for around £9000 with 20 000 miles on it down here from a main dealer.

 

Insurance shouldn't be much past £1500 on any of these, especially not the Clio.

[stug45]

the cupra im looking at is the 180bhp version and im hoping to get one then chip it to 210bhp.

the type S is is basically a well equipped 5 door type r but with less harsh suspension and a little less power. its not really tuneable to type r standards.

 

the type r is pretty much out of insurable range. my brother (basically same postcode area as me) is 23 and is paying £1000 for the insurance. arent they group 17 or 19? i'd love one but to get a unabused one is pretty hard. he paid £11000 for his about 6 months ago and it had about 20k miles on it :S i'll have to find someone who will insure me!

 

insurance shouldnt be a lot better for the cupra over the type r and can get more power, and being a turbo petrol it should be a bit better for economy.

[stug45]

£10500 is cheapest under 30k miles type r on the honda approved site. and im looking at approved sales for manufacturers as i dont really want to worry too much for the 1st year.

was it the 1.6 type r you were thinking of? i could get one of those its just they arent designed to have a big boot so might not fit all the kite stuff in!

[--ruud--]

No it was a 3 year old Type R, it was at the Portsmouth dealership. Imagine it was snapped up! Honda have never had a Vtec break on them so getting one with uptp 60k on the clock shouldn't put you off. Think they're group 18?

 

But because they were so expensive to start off with most haven't been thrashed and the Vtec won't kick in until the engine has properly warmed up anyway...again they're impossible to break!

 

I think you'll be surprised with the insurance though...Try and decent broker you can actually talk to as opposed to all these online things. They're a quite a few Cupra Rs though...still expect to pay Type R prices for them though.

 

What's your budget? If it's around 10k then look at Audi TTs or imports, my mate just picked up a nice RX7 for £7k, you could use the left over cash to insure it!!!

[Lem]

I'm sure I remember that you can get an Ibiza with the same engine as the Fabia vRS. Maybe another option?

[Schern]

I've got a Fabia vRS and I'm really pleased with it. Got it August '06 and I'm now knocking on towards 30k miles. The only thing thats needed replacing and it was annoying rather than a fault was the anti-roll bar links needed replacing as they were knocking over speed bumps. Think the bushes had failed. Since that, no problems at all. If I'm being good I can get 60mpg on a 40 mile run. If I'm being bad I still get over 45mpg, although this will drop if your hammering it round town a lot and not doing any A roads. Its all nice a solidly put together and is reasonable to service and run. Tyres aren't too expensive, and I always go top end (Eagle F1's). I got through a set of fronts in just under 20k I think, which considering the amount of torque going through the front wheels I was impressed with. I thought I'd get through a set in 10k!

 

Out of the choices you've put up there are faster cars, but the Skoda has its own charm and is a bit different. I don't regret buying mine. They also seem to hold their value quite well, which should always be a consideration when your spending that type of money on a car.

[nickd]

-Skoda Fabia VRS 1.9 Turbo Diesel. Group 9 ins. 50-60mpg 130bhp

-Honda Civic Type S 2.0 Petrol Vtec. Group 11 ins. 30-40mpg 160bhp

-Renault Clio 182 2.0 Petrol. Group 15 ins. 30-40mpg 182bhp

-Seat Ibiza Cupra. 1.8 Turbo Petrol. Group 15 ins. 30-40mpg 180bhp

 

Nice list of cars but have you got a seperate stash of money for the petrol:eek:

[stug45]

my current car ive used tyres in 8,000-10,000 miles, brake pads in 6,000 and dont normally get more than 35mpg on average (including long journeys). i never dump the clutch and dont have abs and i'd like a car with more power and really good reliability.

 

I'm currently plumbing to get the seat but if i can get a civic type r with no more than 40-50k miles on it i'll be glad!

 

my brother is saying to get the honda. cos at 40k miles the seat wont have the 180bhp it had from new, and the honda will have 200hp from mile 1 to mile 100,000. but i really want a fun car that'll put a smile on my face on empty roads!

 

dont the rotary rx-7s need rebuilding aty 60k?

 

the ibiza comes with the 130hp and 160hp diesels (the diesel cupra version has 160hp)

 

if i was in the league to getting a leon cupra r i'd have the type r!

 

well i'm working towards getting enough money for may and i'll be doing millions of test drives!!

[--ruud--]

The Ibiza Cupra R 20v petrol comes with 180bhp...

 

Can get it remapped to 225bhp like the nicer TTs!

 

After thought...have you looked at the new Grande Punto 1.9 TD Sporting? Same as the VRS train of thought, but looks nicer, comes with bigger wheels, only has 2 doors AND..........Fiat were doing 0% finance on them!!!

 

However it is a FIAT (Fix It Again Tomorrow) but the build quality seems really good on them this time!

[jimbohuc]

id also have a look at the astra 1.9tdci. they do it in 120bhp and 150. i have the 1.7 cause i couldnt afford the insurance. ret the sri model though.