I cant find a car

Relentless81

Relentless81

Relentless81

Soldato
Joined
18 May 2010
Posts
12,852
Has anyone else noticed this, there isn't anything, anywhere!

I've been looking for a 5 door petrol hatchback for months now to trade in my corolla against which is slowly growing a list of more money that needs spending on it, all I ask is for something that's fun to drive, relatively quick or not frustratingly slow so under 9 secs to 60, reliable and sensibleish running costs IE around 30mpg give or take

Am I asking to much? The only cars I can seem to think of are the civic type s but I've owned an fn2 and there a few things I didn't like about it.
Skoda Octavia but as soon as one pops up its gone in an instant if its not massively over priced or an Auris 1.8 SR but they rare as rocking horse faeces.
Mazda are out due to owning a Mazda 6 and hating it. 2.0 Focus seems quite rare and the performance lacking compared to the others.

I'm starting to think I might just keep my corolla for a while longer but I dont want to spend any more money on it

My budget is 8 to 9k at a stretch inc my car as a trade in, what am I missing anything obvious?

Thanks
 
What about VAG? A3/Golf/Leon/Octavia - in descending order of price/increasing VFM. Most have a decent range of petrol engines that fit the bill. Or BMW 120i?
 
Leon FRs are over 10k for a facelift, the interior on the pre is really really bad

Not a fan of BMW and most VAG stuff seems to be quite old for my budget apart from the VRS
 
Relentless81 said:
Leon FRs are over 10k for a facelift, the interior on the pre is really really bad

Not a fan of BMW and most VAG stuff seems to be quite old for my budget apart from the VRS
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I've seen quite a few facelift FR's for well under £10k?

New style wrx isn't actually a bad car, neither is the vrs
 
Are you looking for performance orientated cars? Your requirement of "not frustratingly slow" doesnt necessitate the performance variants. The 1.8TSi (read up on cam chain tensioner issues also affecting the 2.0 in the vrs/GTi/FR) in the Octavia has 160bhp, does 43mpg combined and 0-60 in 7.5 seconds. Your budget would buy a top spec L&K with higher mileage or even approved used lower spec variants

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201507155208627

Drop down to the 1.4TSi, which doesnt have the tensioner issue and you're still doing sub 10s to 60 - a remap would have it well under 9s if that's your bag

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201507095044678
 
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late well specced mk5 gti (dsg), biased, but that's where my money would go, probably less than 8k too.
 
Another vote for the Impreza WRX hatch, they are nice cars and got undeserved hate because they moved away from the traditional saloon format.

I would also take a Beemer over an equivalent VAG, which are extremely dull cars to drive.
 
OP asks for "not slow, sub 9 to 60" and "sensibleish" running costs and gets a 2.5L 4WD car that does 60 in 6.5, costs £500 a year to tax and will do 20mpg.

Good old motors lol
 
iaind said:
OP asks for "not slow, sub 9 to 60" and "sensibleish" running costs and gets a 2.5L 4WD car that does 60 in 6.5, costs £500 a year to tax and will do 20mpg.

Good old motors lol
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Well in my defence I only gave the WRX a thumbs up as I saw GTi's, VRS, FR's being mentioned which are all hot versions of their respective models (i have no idea how much they cost to run).
 
 
I think the Mk5 Golf GTI is the best shout. Piston heads did a buying guide a couple of months ago too. Can get 40MPG on a run if you're careful and still has 200HP for those swift overtakes. It would get my money. In Tornado Red. Or a Pirelli/30th anniversary with more HP but I'm not sure you'll get one in budget.
 
rodenal said:
I've seen quite a few facelift FR's for well under £10k?

New style wrx isn't actually a bad car, neither is the vrs
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I cant find any, they seem to be valued quite high, dont forget I need to PX so private is out

iaind said:
Are you looking for performance orientated cars? Your requirement of "not frustratingly slow" doesnt necessitate the performance variants. The 1.8TSi (read up on cam chain tensioner issues also affecting the 2.0 in the vrs/GTi/FR) in the Octavia has 160bhp, does 43mpg combined and 0-60 in 7.5 seconds. Your budget would buy a top spec L&K with higher mileage or even approved used lower spec variants

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201507155208627

Drop down to the 1.4TSi, which doesnt have the tensioner issue and you're still doing sub 10s to 60 - a remap would have it well under 9s if that's your bag

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201507095044678
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Arent the 1.4 and 1.8 TSI's really unreliable. Especially in the previous generation Octavia?

I live ten minutes from Awesome GTI and there is a Skoda garage close by so it would be nice to consider something with a TSI engine but there are far too many horror stories about

mccarf said:
I know you've looked at 2.0 focus but have you looked at the 1.6 ecoboost like these?

http://www2.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201507034870978
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Yeah it would be an early one but just about doable, I have been looking at them but really cant stand the multi spoke 16's some have nice 5 spoke 17" alloys but they seem quite rare

nas said:
late well specced mk5 gti (dsg), biased, but that's where my money would go, probably less than 8k too.
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A MK5 GTI will be too old for my budget but I'll have a look, when I've looked in the past the examples available seemed to put me off

I should have said, anything £500 a year tax is out on principle, I'm just not paying that kind of money and dont need 4WD
 
MissChief said:
I think the Mk5 Golf GTI is the best shout. Piston heads did a buying guide a couple of months ago too. Can get 40MPG on a run if you're careful and still has 200HP for those swift overtakes.
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Won't hit 40mpg ever - a lad at work has the gti, I have an audi a3 with the same engine 35 is a realistic best case if you drive like a granny - 32 is more normal. Can have a thirst for oil as well, although not as bad as the newer recalled audis.

Relentless81 said:
Yeah it would be an early one but just about doable, I have been looking at them but really cant stand the multi spoke 16's some have nice 5 spoke 17" alloys but they seem quite rare
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Wheels can be changed though if it meets all other criteria.
 
Relentless81 said:
Arent the 1.4 and 1.8 TSI's really unreliable. Especially in the previous generation Octavia?

I live ten minutes from Awesome GTI and there is a Skoda garage close by so it would be nice to consider something with a TSI engine but there are far too many horror stories about
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There's horror stories about most cars if you look hard enough. I'm no expert in the TSIs - I have a 2.0TFSI myself. I do frequent the skoda forums though and most of the horror stories I see are with the diesels. I don't think I've read any horror stories about the 1.4 actually. Remember neither are the twin charger that VW used in older golfs - they're just turbo petrols as far as I'm aware. The 1.8 AFAIK is just a smaller displacement version of the 2.0 in the VRS - this does have an issue with the tensioner as I mentioned but budgeting a few hundred quid to replace it with a revised part for peace of mind negates that. Some have a bit of a thirst for oil but otherwise I don't believe they're unreliable.

If they appeal - and they would be very good value for money - then head over to briskoda and ask on there, plenty knowledgeable people who'll tell you exactly what issues they might have and how to avoid them if possible.
 
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