Sporty daily driver for £5K

Yeah, my vote is with a Leon of some shape/description or a Fabia vRS.

The Clio is fun to drive and quick, but that's about it. I'd not like to try and cover 20K in one, that's for sure! :p
 
Yeah, my vote is with a Leon of some shape/description or a Fabia vRS.

The Clio is fun to drive and quick, but that's about it. I'd not like to try and cover 20K in one, that's for sure! :p

i don't understand why people recommend the fabia but not the clio. they are both small cars, and not a place i'd be wanting to spend 20k a year in.

if you want to recommend a skoda, recommend the octavia. strange how skoda don't make a golf-sized car, although the fact that the octavia is built on the golf platform answers my question :o

Actually I think there are very few cars that can match the RX8 for looks and driving fun in a budget of £5k
perhaps, but the running costs are obscene
 
i don't understand why people recommend the fabia but not the clio. they are both small cars, and not a place i'd be wanting to spend 20k a year in.

if you want to recommend a skoda, recommend the octavia. strange how skoda don't make a golf-sized car, although the fact that the octavia is built on the golf platform answers my question :o

Apart from the fact that the interior is a bit nasty, there's not a lot wrong with the vRS, diesel-haters aside. It's good with fuel, reliable, and from what i've seen it doesn't break the bank to insure either. And it would certainly turn heads.

That's not to say the Clio isn't a good car either, but I certainly think the Fabia has it beat for looks, although this will vary from person-to-person. It won't get close for performance without a remap, but they're hardly expensive.

And although the interiors in both are horrid, the Fabia's won't break apart at speed. :p

The Octavia is also a good, decent recommendation, but it depends what the OP is looking for with regards to size. The Fabia, Leon, and Clio are direct competitors to one another (small family hatchback) whereas the Octavia is more a competitor to cars like the Mondeo (large family hatchback).
 
Apart from the fact that the interior is a bit nasty, there's not a lot wrong with the vRS, diesel-haters aside. It's good with fuel, reliable, and from what i've seen it doesn't break the bank to insure either. And it would certainly turn heads.

That's not to say the Clio isn't a good car either, but I certainly think the Fabia has it beat for looks, although this will vary from person-to-person. It won't get close for performance without a remap, but they're hardly expensive.

And although the interiors in both are horrid, the Fabia's won't break apart at speed. :p

The Octavia is also a good, decent recommendation, but it depends what the OP is looking for with regards to size. The Fabia, Leon, and Clio are direct competitors to one another (small family hatchback) whereas the Octavia is more a competitor to cars like the Mondeo (large family hatchback).

the fabia is tiny compared to the leon.
fabia = clio = coras = polo = ibiza
xxx = megane = astra = golf = leon

this is my point, not the fact it's a diesel, not the fact it's a skoda, etc..

the clio was rejected due to being too small, so how is a fabia going to help?
the mondeo was rejected due to being too big, so an octavia would be too big also, even though it's on the golf platform..
 
It's not THAT small - I mean come on, even though they're based on the Polo, neither the Fabia nor even the Seat Ibiza are "small" cars.

Sure, if you cram them full of stuff and people, it can start to feel cramped, but you really need to go look in something like a Toyota iQ or a Smart Car before you call the Fabia small. It's really not that small at all. :)
 
I agree i would hardly call the Fabia a small car, i would class it as average in terms of car size.

The Fabia is 3.9m long
The Clio is 3.9m long
The VW Golf is 4.1m long
The Seat Leon is 4.3m long

The above stats are based on a 2005 model, and are hardly miles apart in terms of size, its only slightly smaller than a VW Golf ;)
 
I agree i would hardly call the Fabia a small car, i would class it as average in terms of car size.

The Fabia is 3.9m long
The Clio is 3.9m long
The VW Golf is 4.1m long
The Seat Leon is 4.3m long

The above stats are based on a 2005 model, and are hardly miles apart in terms of size, its only slightly smaller than a VW Golf ;)

i think you'll find it's a bit smaller on the inside than a golf and leon though.
there'll be less space for both front and rear passengers (although tbh that's not exactly great in the leon), and the boot'll be smaller too
 
It's not THAT small - I mean come on, even though they're based on the Polo, neither the Fabia nor even the Seat Ibiza are "small" cars.

They are 'small' cars though, they are classified as 'super-minis', the Golf and Leon are small cars too, just larger than the super-mini's. The standard, 'family car' is considered to be a Mondeo/Vectra sized car.

I know this isn't even slightly important, I just feel that with the ever increasing shift towards tiny cars, people's perceptions are becoming skewed.
 
Small cars
City Car - Twingo, Ka etc....
Super-mini - Punto, Fabia, Clio etc....
Small Family Hatch - Bravo, Golf, A3, 1 Series Leon, Astra etc....

Large cars

Large Family Hatch - Mondeo, Laguna, Vectra etc....
Small Family Saloon (Executive) - 3 Series, A4, C class etc....
Medium Family Saloon (Executive) - 5 Series, A6, E Class etc....
Large Family Saloon (Executive) 7 Series, A8, S Class etc....

Then you have MPV's, Coupes, 2 seaters etc... but they are nearly always based on one of the above classes (A5 is just a coupe A4), Fusion is a pumped up Fiesta etc....
 
You know your 'large family hatches' are smaller than your 'medium family saloons' ...yet many of those hatches are available as a saloon, so what does this make it then? ...boot type doesn't really have much to do with it in my opinion.

I would classify them as so;

City Cars - Stupid plastic junk with sewing machine engines, I can hardly think of any names even, I pay so little attention to this lot.
Super-Mini - Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa, Renault Clio, etc
Small/Compact family car - Ford Focus, Seat Leon, Vauxhall Astra, etc.
Traditional Family car saloon/hatch/estate - Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Insignia, Citroen C5, etc.

Compacy Executive cars (these are smaller than family cars though) - BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, Mercedes C class, etc.
Executive Saloons (most can be bought as estates too) - BMW 5 series, Jaguar XF, Mercedes E class, Audi A6, etc.
Luxuary Saloons - BMW 7 series, Jaguar XJ, Mercedes S class, Audi A8, etc.
Super Luxuary - Rolls Royce Phantom, Maybach ? ...perhaps, not really sure about these.


There used to be another class in there, 'full sized saloon cars' for the Vauxhall Omega and it's ilk, not really executive or luxuary but larger than Mondeos and Vectras, most American saloons would fit into that aswell I imagine, but the market doesn't really offer much to fill that catagory with now, so I dropped it.
I haven't bothered with all the SUV's and such either, no need. We put the same cars together, just call the groups different names, I like mine better anyway :D
 
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20k+ in a clio?
not spent any significant time in a 172/182, but would that be comfortable?

Yeh aslong as you didnt do the 20k in one go :D

I did 20k last year in mine but wont be this year, the noise is more annoying than anything else.
 
You know your 'large family hatches' are smaller than your 'medium family saloons' ...yet many of those hatches are available as a saloon, so what does this make it then? ...boot type doesn't really have much to do with it in my opinion.

Compacy Executive cars (these are smaller than family cars though) - BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, Mercedes C class, etc.
Executive Saloons (most can be bought as estates too) - BMW 5 series, Jaguar XF, Mercedes E class, Audi A6, etc.
Luxuary Saloons - BMW 7 series, Jaguar XJ, Mercedes S class, Audi A8, etc.
Super Luxuary - Rolls Royce Phantom, Maybach ? ...perhaps, not really sure about these.

Yeah I couldn't think of the word, was having a memory freeze, Compact Executive, Executive and Luxuary were what I was looking for. I class cars together as Autocar does, which is pretty much spot on how you typed it out.

I'd say the 3 series (E90), A4 and C Class all come pretty close to large family cars like the Mondeo, Vectra, Accord etc....

Some like the Mondeo are freakishly big but iirc the Laguna is about the same size as a 3 series?
 
Err tbh I would think the Laguna is a bit larger, the 3 series really isn't that big. I noticed quite a difference when I swapped from an E46 to a MK3 Mondeo. Although less than swapping from that to the Jag. The XJ is just short of 5.1m long, that's 16.7ft :D
 
Err tbh I would think the Laguna is a bit larger, the 3 series really isn't that big. I noticed quite a difference when I swapped from an E46 to a MK3 Mondeo. Although less than swapping from that to the Jag. The XJ is just short of 5.1m long, that's 16.7ft :D

New Mondeo comes half way between 3 (E90) and 5 (60) series doesn't it, but is about the same size as the E39?

Apart from the Mk4 Mondeo I've always considered Large Family Cars and Compact Executive Cars to be pretty much the same size.
 
Yea I should think so, I haven't checked the precise figures, but sounds about right. I do know the MK4 Mondeo Estate is 'noticeably' larger than the old E39 Touring. It's a bit longer but quite a bit wider and chunkier over all.
 
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Cheers for all the replies.

After talking to him he's not keen on the Clio, mainly due to the size.

Budget could scrape to 6K (not sure if that helps a a lot)

He's going to look at an Astra GSi (Mk4 Turbo) which was my idea (flame suit on) It's just short of 5K and 200BHP out of the box. Not the best but fairly good on fuel and nippy.

Good on fuel, hahahahahahahah.................hahahahahahah.......... hahahahah er no :rolleyes: The 2.0 or 2.2 were thristy enough but the 2.0 GSI is a very thirsty beast (ignore manufacturers/parkers guidelines on this)

Not the right sort of car to be doing 20k in. These are nice cars but not 5k budget cars unless he has a decent amount comming in for ongoing running costs etc.

I get the impression that he is on a tight budget full stop.
 
Yea I should think so, I haven't checked the precise figures, but sounds about right. I do know the MK4 Mondeo Estate is 'noticeably' larger than the old E39 Touring. It's a bit longer but quite a bit wider and chunkier over all.

I still think the E39 best feature was its size, its just right. My S80 was only a tad bigger but it made it such a pita in some situations
 
The E39's size is perfect - big enough to offer comfort and refinement on the Motorway yet still small enough to be enjoyable off the Motorway. It loses little to the E46 in terms of handling yet is a more comfortable and spacious place to be on a long trip. And is now cheaper for an equivilent model because the rude bois want a 3 Series.
 
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