tell me what car i want to buy.

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,619
righto

after a wee dally with the 200sx a while ago, i decided it wasnt the car for me. i've made a list of my requirements, and a few cars that seem to meet them (i'm not going to post these - i want to see if you all agree with me without biasing it)

-£5-6k
-a degree of practicality (4 seats)
-reasonably quick (genuinely and palpably quicker than my 2.0 focus)
-a comfortable and pleasant place to be
-steering feel and handling. i know there's a lot of debate on it, but i like good steering feel, and the focus has it. whatever any of you may say about it, it was evo's benchmark car, and for what it is, it's an absolute hoot

things that DONT matter to me

-Fuel economy, i do 8k miles a year
-"image" - i dont care if it's an old mans car, or a chav's car. i drive my cars for me

i'm open on front, rear or all wheel drive. i dont want a diesel, i like to rev my cars.

i throw it open to the wisdom of ocuk.
 
it was actually on my list, i've loved them forever. until i tried insurance quotes for them. basically, if i want one i have to consent to everyone in the head office of the insurance company coming round and fisting me.
 
it was actually on my list, i've loved them forever. until i tried insurance quotes for them. basically, if i want one i have to consent to everyone in the head office of the insurance company coming round and fisting me.

Sounds like a win win situation for you;)
 
Impreza WRX? Not exactly refined but by no means it's not an unpleasant place to be.

Steering feel seems ok on my 05 model, think they did something to it in the minor 05 updates. And it grips like hell rather than handles, although I've had the back end squealing on mine in places where my old clio didn't have any bother. But thinking about it I do think I was carrying more speed through in the Impreza ;)

Doesn't rev like an NA but isn't bad.
 
What did you not like about the 200SX?

If you still like the idea of a Turbocharged Japanese car, but are after something better built and more comfortable, then a Supra/Soarer may be a good shout?

- You can fit in 4 adults with relative easy
- Are pretty damn quick (Mid 5s to 60 on a TT Supra, I'd expect low 6s for a Soarer but figures on the net are sketchy and I've never done a Timed 0-60 run in mine.) Delimited they'll keep trucking to to 160MPH/170MPH, and of course can be made far quicker with simple bolt on modifications (A TT Supra will be knocking on the door of 400BHP with around £1,000 spent on it :eek:)
- I can't comment on the Supra interior, but I do really like the setup in my Soarer. Well built and (in my opinion) good looking - Not a sea of horrible black plastic that some have come to expect.
- Handling wise given the sheer weight I've been extremely impressed by my Soarer. With it weighing almost twice as much as my old car, I was half expecting all of the handling finesse of an Oil Tanker, but it felt completely 'planted' at absoultely all times. Really confidence inspiring. Read any review on a Supra (the vast majority of the chassis is shared between the two cars) and they'll praise it for it's handling.

Running costs are low given the performance. Outside regular servicing (which is cheap) there shouldn't be any reason to open the wallet. Neither engine has any real major weak points (Turbos on the Soarer can be a weak spot though).
 
Impreza WRX? Not exactly refined but by no means it's not an unpleasant place to be.

Steering feel seems ok on my 05 model, think they did something to it in the minor 05 updates. And it grips like hell rather than handles, although I've had the back end squealing on mine in places where my old clio didn't have any bother. But thinking about it I do think I was carrying more speed through in the Impreza ;)

Doesn't rev like an NA but isn't bad.


cracking cars - colleague used to have one and it FLEW. felt a bit cheap though, and i'm not sure it's exactly what i'm after because of that. Said colleague now has an ST220 and he just LOVES to talk about it, which is why i'm queitly shunning such a near-perfect choice for now - i couldnt take the endless ear-bending
 
Gulp, a Cliosport? Doesn't match the 'pleasant place to be' spec though, but I'd say it ticks the other boxes?
 
What did you not like about the 200SX?

the nineties-ness of it all, which i guess makes much of the below irrelevant.

If you still like the idea of a Turbocharged Japanese car, but are after something better built and more comfortable, then a Supra/Soarer may be a good shout?

- You can fit in 4 adults with relative easy
- Are pretty damn quick (Mid 5s to 60 on a TT Supra, I'd expect low 6s for a Soarer but figures on the net are sketchy and I've never done a Timed 0-60 run in mine.) Delimited they'll keep trucking to to 160MPH/170MPH, and of course can be made far quicker with simple bolt on modifications (A TT Supra will be knocking on the door of 400BHP with around £1,000 spent on it :eek:)
- I can't comment on the Supra interior, but I do really like the setup in my Soarer. Well built and (in my opinion) good looking - Not a sea of horrible black plastic that some have come to expect.
- Handling wise given the sheer weight I've been extremely impressed by my Soarer. With it weighing almost twice as much as my old car, I was half expecting all of the handling finesse of an Oil Tanker, but it felt completely 'planted' at absoultely all times. Really confidence inspiring. Read any review on a Supra (the vast majority of the chassis is shared between the two cars) and they'll praise it for it's handling.

Running costs are low given the performance. Outside regular servicing (which is cheap) there shouldn't be any reason to open the wallet. Neither engine has any real major weak points (Turbos on the Soarer can be a weak spot though).
 
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