Struggling to pick a new car. £5500ish budget - "hot hatches"

Stormster

Stormster

Stormster

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,671
Location
Stoke-on-Trent
As title. Everything seems to have increased in price, or at least prices have not dropped as a year or two have passed and the second hand car market is just flooded with cars which I think are not in good enough condition for me to part 5k or so with. I don't know if I am getting overly picky or if other people have noticed it's very difficult to find a really nice car for the money when you're looking at "hot hatches" at this price point.

Nothing is really grabbing me or standing out saying "get one of those". I can tell you the kind of cars I would consider though.

Looking at cars up for £6k or just under to deal at around £5500 or less.
3 door
200BHP+
Preferably turbocharged
Sporty but not too boy racery
Sensible fuel costs and not too expensive to maintain.

That's about it.

The last few cars have been Astra 2.2 SRi, Golf MK4 1.8 20v turbo, Civic Type R EP3 and a Fiesta ST. Fiesta I found a bit small and probably a bit too young lad-ish for myself. But it was a good car, good fun, but ultimately the others were more fitting I guess.

Sensible head says aim for a MK5 GTI but reading stories about rust isn't too convincing. I know little about the DSG boxes also as a lot do have these rather than manual I have noticed from quick browsing for sale advertisements.

Is there a better car for me? Should I save and up the budget? I'm reluctant to look at older stuff as they're generations behind now... I'd love a Golf MK6 GTI or a BMW 1 series 3 door M Sport of some sort... but I'm quite a way off without finance. I live in not the nicest of area's hence generally don't go above 5k for my car to sit outside on the road for other folk to damage it.

I've looked at stuff like Focus ST's of course, but the fuel consumption may be an issue, I do 16k or so and a lot of town miles. Astra VXR, driven a friends 300BHP one, very quick but a bit animalistic, it's a lot of fun but it may get tiresome. I'd like something quicker than my Fiesta ST as it did bore me power wise. I'd also like something with nice low down shove, otherwise I'd probably have another EP3 Type R... as it was quick enough for me when being driven as intended.

Everything is saying Golf MK5 GTI, but they aren't exciting me much. At the mo I've got an old banger whilst I decide what I want, but I don't wanna get laughed at for too long :)

Any better options?
 
Any BMW.

:D :p

Just make sure it's silver with black interior.

A serious answer:

Tough choice really. I'd be tempted to save some more.
 
Last edited:
You'll need another couple of grand for a mk5 gti - even then every single one I looked at was either rough mechanically, body wise or had massive holes in the "full service history"

To be honest I found that with most cars I looked at, even within a very broad budget. It seems that as standard people just don't care about their cars anymore...despite then trying to sell them for thousands of pounds!

If you can find another grand an an octy vrs with leather that could be a good compromise

Otherwise I reckon its a case of keep more money / go with an ep3 ( and its associated image) tbh
 
Mazda 3 mps

LSD as standard and 260bhp up to 300bhp with stage 1 remap if needed also good standard gear (Bose speakers,leather) and should be able to get a good mk1 within your budget.

Only thing is it's not 3 door
 
I'm just concerned I might get bored of having to ring it's neck to get the performance. Also think the back end is a bit ugly :/ But it's a reasonable contender all in all.

MPS MK1... not really into the looks... are they not expensive tax also? I would definitely want to stick to a 3 door.

Rodenal, unfortunately most at this budget are the same as you were finding. Holes in front wings, quite heavily worn interiors - especially drivers bolsters.

Some nice generally well looked after 2005 ones if you're lucky but 6k on a near 10 year old car and still on 80-90k miles... that "am I too fussy" question is coming up again :)
 
Last edited:
It really sounds like the Golf GTI is what you're after, the A3 2.0T is worth a look too, it doesn't have the scene tax of the GTI. Or the Seat Leon 2.0T.
 
If you can't afford what you want, then you need to save / spend more. Simples.

Have you had a look at Leon Cupra R's? You could pick up a REALLY tidy late mk1 for that money, but I guess you're wanting something newer?

Or A3 3.2 Quattros. They wont be great on fuel, but same engine as R32, so sounds great.
 
Why is 3 doors a criteria? 3 door versions of regular 5 door hatchbacks are a pointless pain in the arse IMHO.
 
I was going to mention a Leon FR or 2.0 tfsi Sport, esp so if on a tight budget.
But seems someone already has :)
That Octavia seems really good for the money but considdering it is a golf it seems an awful lot bigger.
 
TBH your criteria is a little unrealistic.

200BHP+ turbocharged and cheap to maintain, cheap petrol costs do not really go hand in hand.

Also does it have to be a hot hatch or have you considered other options? 5.5k will easily net you a decent 200SX, MR2 Turbo, Blobeye WRX STi.

If it must be a hatch then I would say in your price range the Megane 225 is most likely the best option I would go for. Infact for your budget you might squeeze a Megane R26 F1 Team. One other option is the Corolla T-Sport Compressor 225 BHP, supercharged and 8000rpm red line.
 
The old shape Leon will just be a quicker version of my MK4 Golf, my Type R was a step up in how it drove in comparison, I'd feel like I am going backwards getting one of those to be honest despite the performance.

Pretty much at most me and the Girlfriend will be in the car, I have no need for extra doors and personally I prefer the looks of 3 door motors.

The only benefit a 5 door will give me is it's easier to clean the rear half of the interior :)

When I say cheap to maintain and reasonable running costs I am talking 28mpg+ going steady round town and no ridiculous 1000 quid brake bills and stuff like that. Sensible costs, as per the OP, I thought I was fairly clear with what I meant.

Those cars you mention are cool, but very old and for something I want to do 16k a year in, I don't think they're brill options for me.

The Megane I would worry about reliability. The Corollas I actually like, but convincing my missus to like it... not so sure. A bit of a full on Asian bad man car around these parts :-/
 
Last edited:
Stormster said:
Pretty much at most me and the Girlfriend will be in the car, I have no need for extra doors and personally I prefer the looks of 3 door motors.
Click to expand...

Then why compromise yourself on a hatchback? It's is not like you got kids or dogs so use your money and get yourself a proper car and not a compromised hatch ;).
 
A proper car like some massive thing I have no need for? Or are we talking something impractical. I still use it to go shopping etc haha.
 
I still think there's no point discounting a nice 5 door Focus ST or whatever just because it's got 5 doors.

They're easier in car parks as well...
 
I take it you're doing most of those 16k miles around town then?

TBH if you're looking for power and good fuel economy you'd be best off looking at smaller hatches with a small turbocharged engine but realistically you have a trade-off between low-down shove and fuel economy to make since larger engines like in an R32 will give you the low-down torque but obviously pee fuel compared to a 1.4TSI or something.

Powerful
Reliable
Cheap
(pick any two)
Also in your case, add Economical and Newish to the equation and see why this is hard.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom