Ideas for first "real" car

reflexx

reflexx

reflexx

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Joined
26 Mar 2016
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5
Hello everyone,

I've decided on a budget of 3k to get a decent car that could potentially outperform "most" cars on the twisties, but still have a nice bit of power at 70mph+, so when I put my foot down I can feel like the car is actually responding.

I've been driving for 9 years now, but I've only even owned a 1.1 106, 1.2 206 and briefly a 2l golf that was past its sell by date (£600).

I want to get my hands dirty and fit mods myself to whatever i buy such as cool air induction kits, cosmetic improvements and maybe brakes upgrades, so that ideally needs to be in cooperated into the budget. I'm new to all this so I wouldn't expect any mods to increase the value of the car, but I want to learn.

Ideally the car will have 5 doors, be modifiable, and any replacement parts not too expensive should anything go wrong in the future.

I am not keen on MX5 coupe style cars, and whilst I love the look of the MR2 and I think it fits most of the bill, I think its too much car too soon for a driver who will be new to thrashing a car around.

I'm thinking my best bet might be to buy an old car for around 1k, put aside 1k for mods, and keep 1k for any repairs that may be immediately needed. Or would it be better to get the best car i can for the full 3k and forget mods for now?

Really I'm looking for the best bang for my buck, but with the chance to mod the car myself right away as that what excites me about the idea most. I am open to all brands, but not a fan of coupes.

MPG and fuel costs is not really a concern as I want to use it for fun, but if reliability issues are known for the kind of old car I'd be looking at I'd like to try avoid it before the repair bill.

I realize for the low budget and wanting to fit mods i'm gonna most likely be looking at quite an old car with high mileage, but I am very welcome to any suggestions or tips you guys might have if you can see where I am coming from.

Highly appreciate any advice! Thank you!
 
You make some.odd statements R.e mx5 and mr2 - they're very similar cars (unless you mean the mk2 mr2 and not the roadster)

What type of car are you hoping to get? Is a roadster the ideal (obviously not given your 5 door statement, but then why mention)? Or a hatch, or saloon etc?

You're probably better off spending 3 grand outright in my opinion, it is likely to buy you a significantly better car IF you pick right
 
reflexx said:
if reliability issues are known for the kind of old car I'd be looking at I'd like to try avoid it before the repair bill.

I realize for the low budget and wanting to fit mods i'm gonna most likely be looking at quite an old car with high mileage, but I am very welcome to any suggestions or tips you guys might have if you can see where I am coming from.
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If you want a car that can "outperform most cars on the twisties", i don't think you will find one that isnt going to cost you a decent bit in maintenance/repairs for your budget.

Even if you spend the full £3k on the car i would still budget a decent amount for repairs , espeically if you are buying a performance car.
 
Yeah you're right I wasn't very clear. It was the mk2 MR2 I had in mind, although it's not a 5 door I'd always be willing to make exceptions for the right car.

A roadster isn't what I'm after, I think a hatchback or sedan style. I guess I do like some coupes such as the Celica, but don't think its quite right for my needs yet.

The civic looks like a fantastic suggestion, certainly something I could make an expection for.

I just cant stand the gear box, I don't know if there is anyway to change that.

Would you go for a newer one with the full budget, or get a older model with room to improve it yourself?

Thanks!
 
You can't stand the gearbox on a type R? They have a very good box, ratios well judged for the engine and the actual change is very positive - far better than that on the likes of a mk2 mr2 (to be clear I love mr2's and have had several).

There are lots of cars to consider, all of them could cost you a fair whack in maintenance or just as easily run for next to nothing for a year or two.

Type R Civic , Type R Accord, E46, E36 if you like rust, ST220, Leon cupra, Celica, Mazda6 Mps (brave at £3k) etc etc.

Lots out there for the money, you'll need to look at loads and narrow it down.

I wouldn't have another mk2 mr2 turbo if i'm honest with you so i'd drop the idea. They're fantastic cars, but now really old and most that have been here a while have started to rot. They've also prone to niggling issues. It all adds up to a car you've really got to love and be willing to either chuck loads of money at, or keep dry and effectively use as a weekend car
 
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reflexx said:
The civic looks like a fantastic suggestion, certainly something I could make an expection for.

I just cant stand the gear box, I don't know if there is anyway to change that.

Would you go for a newer one with the full budget, or get a older model with room to improve it yourself?

Thanks!
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With the way second-hand Hondas are currently selling, I think you'd be getting a rather bad example of a Type R for that money. Spending the full £3k would give you a better chance of not getting a lemon; but the likelihood of finding one that hasn't already been molested will be low for that money. If you managed to find one that was reasonable, had a decent service history - either dealer/indy or self-maintained with proof - and you kept on top of it then it would be a good car to keep hold of. They aren't exactly slow, they have a very involved drive and they have a relatively high modability now - although extracting extra performance on any NA car is going to get costly. The gearbox thing is marmite - you'll either like the look of it or you won't, the latter obviously applying to yourself. Try one though, and they feel very natural in my opinion, doesn't take long to get used to. Mechanically they are great gearboxes, as are the engines.

One thing you haven't mentioned, however, is insurance. No "performance" car is going to be cheap to insure; and judging by the amount of scrotes that drive around in things like Civics, the insurance won't be cheap even before thinking of modifying it.
 
rodenal said:
You can't stand the gearbox on a type R? They have a very good box, ratios well judged for the engine and the actual change is very positive - far better than that on the likes of a mk2 mr2 (to be clear I love mr2's and have had several).
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He means its location on the dash I'd imagine.
 
bJN said:
One thing you haven't mentioned, however, is insurance. No "performance" car is going to be cheap to insure; and judging by the amount of scrotes that drive around in things like Civics, the insurance won't be cheap even before thinking of modifying it.
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He has been driving nine years, which makes him at least 26 so unless it is something bonkers, insurance isnt going to be that bad.
 
rodenal said:
You can't stand the gearbox on a type R? They have a very good box, ratios well judged for the engine and the actual change is very positive - far better than that on the likes of a mk2 mr2 (to be clear I love mr2's and have had several).

There are lots of cars to consider, all of them could cost you a fair whack in maintenance or just as easily run for next to nothing for a year or two.

Type R Civic , Type R Accord, E46, E36 if you like rust, ST220, Leon cupra, Celica, Mazda6 Mps (brave at £3k) etc etc.

Lots out there for the money, you'll need to look at loads and narrow it down.

I wouldn't have another mk2 mr2 turbo if i'm honest with you so i'd drop the idea. They're fantastic cars, but now really old and most that have been here a while have started to rot. They've also prone to niggling issues. It all adds up to a car you've really got to love and be willing to either chuck loads of money at, or keep dry and effectively use as a weekend car
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Yeah it was more the look I am not use too, it's different to anything I've seen before, maybe I should actually try it before I knock it.

Thank you for the list of suggestions, lots to look at there, I'll take a look now!

BJN - Yeah I'm expecting to have to spend around £1k a year on insurance, outside of budget, anything greater than that would be too extreme for the amount of money I actually want to spend on the toy. Better type Rs seem to be around the 5k mark from a brief search.
 
rodenal said:
Possibly - OP are you certain you want / need / are prepared to run a hot hatch or relatively powerful, old saloon/coupe?
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Need - No, just a toy :)

Want, absolutely!

Raymond Lin - Nice! I really like the look of this. It ticks basically all the boxes. Slightly scary mileage, Do Saab have any reputation for bullet proof engines?

Blackhawk47 - Yeah I would but think I need to build up to that type of car, and I've never experienced anything close to snap over steer as mostly driven start cars.

Jono8 - yep you got it :)
 
Guessing here, but i would have thought a corolla T sport would be in budget. Can get a 5 door one, 190bhp. Probably pretty reliable and wont be too mental performance or running costs wise.
 
Jono8 said:
He has been driving nine years, which makes him at least 26 so unless it is something bonkers, insurance isnt going to be that bad.
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Different people have different perceptions of what is good and bad when it comes to insurance - prices have been going up recently and the EP3 Type Rs were expensive to insure due to the large amount of people smashing them up when they dropped in price over the last few years. At the end of the day it's a postcode lottery, just thought it was something worth mentioning as £1k insurance inside the £3k budget doesn't leave much room for a car; but as is now clarified the insurance budget is outside that.

@reflexx - the thing you'll find with Hondas is that they have either been owned by someone who hasn't looked after the car properly, ragged the arse out of it and got bored and is trying to sell it cheap; or, someone has looked after it and consider themselves an enthusiast and want an inflated price for the car. £5k would buy a very tidy and well looked after EP3 Type R I would imagine, or a mediocre FN2 Type R. They're definitely cars worth looking into though as they do fit your requirements quite well and certainly can be fun cars.

On a similar train of thought, what about Renault Clio 172s? They must be around this budget now, they weren't exactly terrible cars, but then I've not had any exposure to them.
 
reflexx said:
Raymond Lin - Nice! I really like the look of this. It ticks basically all the boxes. Slightly scary mileage, Do Saab have any reputation for bullet proof engines?
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I have a friend, who also is on this forum has one, he bought it at 120k and had it for 3 years + now, it's been very reliable for him, driven it all over, including to Belgium, and the car now is in Spain.
 
I will get hate now but I bought a 5 door Astra 2.0 SRi turbo for £2200. I stuck a full exhaust and remap on, it had coilovers on and was actually quite good fun, it ran 261BHP and 270 odd lbft torque. Stick a bigger turbo, intercooler, injectors on and you could have 300BHP. But it's a Vauxhall I suppose :D It was a laugh though! Dead easy and cheap to work on, parts ten a penny.
 
rodenal said:
Mazda6 Mps (brave at £3k) etc etc.
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I doubt anything at 3K would be worth looking at but a stage 2 with the remap is interesting - gets off the line* like the proverbial though handling on twisty roads is so-so - the power kicks in nicely how and when you need it though which makes up for it somewhat.


* Makes for some interesting looks on people's faces driving ostensibly faster cars as it'll beat many within the realms 0-30 or so which they don't expect.
 
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