My friend works for a French car tuning company. His advice is "don't buy a french car" They make those bumper stickers for a reason you know? How does it go again? BMW 120D is pretty quick also now that I remember. Eco too.
Before the change, in how they insure you (Boy/Girl) It was increased - I then changed my Job title from HGV 1 Driver to Tanker Driver, and had a huge saving... Since the change, I have now had multiple Insurance company's offering me cheaper insurance, as they see HGV 1 Drivers as 'Advance highly trained professional drivers' (Very debatable, with the amount of idiot truck drivers I see on the road...)
You've had 'the change', Si? Ha! Back on topic, I'd probably call a Fiesta ST or a Polo GTi? My bro was looking at a Polo GTi for a bit and was mad keen (and then bought a Golf TDi)
Punto and Corsa are brothers along with Mito, if you fit in a Corsa you will probably fit in a Punto, though Punto does have fully adjustable steering. You can get a Punto for about £7k it’s not as powerful as the others and with the old AGP you definitely want the esseesse for the bigger turbo. I couldn’t buy a cheap VXR knowing that the good VXR is out there with a trick diff and suspension setup. Buy the hatch you want now and don’t worry about the insurance, shop around you will find insurance for a reasonable price. I assume running costs aren’t an issue? If so a V6 Alfa 156/147/GT is a lot of fun, quite a few petrols have been retro fitted with Q2 differential look out for those, They exist below your budget and could cover your insurance. On the diesel side Alfa again is a good bet, the 170bhp Q2 variants of the 147/GT are absolute corkers, the amount of hot hatches I have embarrassed with my old Alfa GT JTD Q2 on a trackday is a pretty long list. Not bad for something with a quoted 9.6 0-60 of course it was tuned. Never had any issues with my Alfas so no need to be aware of Alfa-itis if you shop well. Renault Megane R26 perhaps.
Personal I wouldn't waste 7k on a hot hatch... much more fun car out there for less money. http://pictures2.autotrader.co.uk/imgser-uk/servlet/media?id=151951109 Take this 4k VR6 corrado, brilliant drive, bullet proof engine, low miles - faster than most mid class new hot hatches and it stands out - OK you might want to swap the 15's for a nice set of 17's to bring it up to the 21st century but other than that you can't go wrong... Best of all, buy it for 4k, keep it clean, drive it for 18months then sell it for... 4k again.
Lovely suggestions guys, I'll trawl the PH Classifieds for a bit, see what I can dig up. Will start looking at some BMW's as well, see what the insurance comes out at. Shirty, my uncle had one of them. Had to amputate my legs just below the knee in order to fit into it. Excellent fun, just no hope of driving it
It's a classic in the making. I want one. Lots. Problem is, I'm 6'6" and mostly made of legs. It makes cars like that a bit of a challenge...
You could save a pretty penny and grab a Mk1 Focus ST170 3DR for about £3000. Dam fine chassis, plenty of poke too.
for 7k u could find a nice scooby, but then i'm biased since i have one Its not a hatch, but its deffo worth a look
Well, I've looked at 1 series BMW's. I feel if I got one of them, I'd just hate it. Something I've discovered is it's increasingly difficult to find anything unmolested. I had a tough time finding a Focus ST170 that wasn't remapped. Having found one, I do like the look of the Focus. Still feeling good about the Brera though. I still would prefer something more 'hot'. This is becoming an interesting hunt! The £2000 insurance quote says otherwise unfortunately. Same with Evo's.
Pretty sure I've seen a thread on RSOC about the Corsa VXR.. Something about shitty maps ruining the engine through overheating pistons. I'll double check the model he was talking about though.
Yeah, that's the one. Apparently there's some company that does a decent map that doesn't dick the engine over though. Courtney or something? I'm more into my Fords >.> Side note, considered an RS? There's a couple around 7k on RSOC >.>
I can tell you now that they would be too much for me :/ The newer the car, the cheaper it is to insure for me. Only trouble is, all the very nice things are way out of my budget.
Suzuki swift sport is a option. The clutch takes some getting used to, but my friend has one and he thinks its great. http://www.pistonheads.com/classifi...uki-swift-sport-1-6-vvt-3dr-hatchback/1208270
I love the Brera but unless you get it in S spec or are happy to modify its like driving a boat, no very sporty at all. In S spec though even the under power 2.2 litre is enjoyable even if most things on the road will burn you off, same is true of the ST170 too though I suppose. As some one who put his money down on a Mk1 focus RS when they were released I get in the old Focus now and think to myself 'what the feck was I thinking' interior is hideous.