Was trying not to come across too much like I was condoning driving like a hooligan :s
Ideas for first "real" car
- Thread starter reflexx
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Was trying not to come across too much like I was condoning driving like a hooligan :s
How about a fiesta ST? There are some alright ones sub 3k.
You would get a newer, better looked after car than a 3k ep3 civic.
They aren't mega quick but will be enough for you OP especially if you've not had anything with a bit of poke before.
Best thing is they are cheap as chips to run and maintain. Only downside is the fuel economy to performance ratio.
Also, people will tell you a Clio 182 is faster. Those people will be correct but running a 10 year old Renault will bring many problems to your table that you may not want.
You would get a newer, better looked after car than a 3k ep3 civic.
They aren't mega quick but will be enough for you OP especially if you've not had anything with a bit of poke before.
Best thing is they are cheap as chips to run and maintain. Only downside is the fuel economy to performance ratio.
Also, people will tell you a Clio 182 is faster. Those people will be correct but running a 10 year old Renault will bring many problems to your table that you may not want.
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I'd vote celica, i'm 24 and driving a gen 7 both engine variants (140/190) cost me £700 to insure (whilst adding my parents as named drivers), despite not having any no claims,and a non-fault accident listed. i'd imagine insurance for yourself would be a great deal cheaper.
They are chain driven, and the only issues you have a chance of coming across are a bit of underside corrosion (would cost £60 to get each side of the car done), and with the 190, the lift bolts may need replacing at some point at a cost of £250.
You could pick up a 140 with leathers and 100k on the clock for around £1k, and the 190 for around £2k.
Definitely need to put good tyres on the front of the car though. Second vote would be for an e46, you can't go wrong with any as long as its not a 316.
They are chain driven, and the only issues you have a chance of coming across are a bit of underside corrosion (would cost £60 to get each side of the car done), and with the 190, the lift bolts may need replacing at some point at a cost of £250.
You could pick up a 140 with leathers and 100k on the clock for around £1k, and the 190 for around £2k.
Definitely need to put good tyres on the front of the car though. Second vote would be for an e46, you can't go wrong with any as long as its not a 316.
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Surprisingly the only common fault with 182 cliosports are the bearings, other than that, they don't seem to suffer from the regular reliability issues that normal renaults suffer from. The only costly issue that may come up is the cambelt needing to be changed
Hur hur hur
Not what I'd reccomend here, fast in a straight line and good budget buys but OP said fast in the twisties. These are not fast in the twisties
This screams Clio 182 surely?
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You might be able to get a 986 boxster for £3k.
If your planning on modifications for more power, you want to look at something with a turbocharged engine. NA engines are difficult v/ expensive to get any real / meaningful gains from.
My first "proper" car like this was a Mk4 Golf GTI with the 1.8T. I spent over £3k on the engine when I had it, in mods, and it was a "beast" compared to whatever else I had driven previously. I swapped it for a 4 motion Golf (2.8 V6) because I was having traction issues with the GTI (being FWD and no ESP, and 280 lbft of torque). But was soon fed up of the power, and the expense of getting any meaningful gains. Then went for an S4 with the 4.2 V8, which I felt didn't NEED any more power.
I would spend the full budget on the best car you can afford. If it's turbocharged, then a remap and possibly an exhaust can come later. Then whatever you want to spend on wheels / suspension / brakes for looks more than anything else. I quickly came to the conclusion that your better buying the more capable car in the first place, than buying a "lesser" car and modifying it to get where you want.
My first "proper" car like this was a Mk4 Golf GTI with the 1.8T. I spent over £3k on the engine when I had it, in mods, and it was a "beast" compared to whatever else I had driven previously. I swapped it for a 4 motion Golf (2.8 V6) because I was having traction issues with the GTI (being FWD and no ESP, and 280 lbft of torque). But was soon fed up of the power, and the expense of getting any meaningful gains. Then went for an S4 with the 4.2 V8, which I felt didn't NEED any more power.
I would spend the full budget on the best car you can afford. If it's turbocharged, then a remap and possibly an exhaust can come later. Then whatever you want to spend on wheels / suspension / brakes for looks more than anything else. I quickly came to the conclusion that your better buying the more capable car in the first place, than buying a "lesser" car and modifying it to get where you want.
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I was going to suggest a Fiesta ST too - not 3 door, but still a usable hatch.
For that budget and wanting something fun and mod-able, while also being reliable, I would have thought a Celica or even Hyundai Coupe would be a safer bet than trying to get a non lemon type R or anything with a turbo. Something different and a bit sporty while not being expensive to insure or run.
yes, a turbo will be more mod-able, but a cheap easily mod-able turbo will likely already have been tinkered with... Plus the concerns of how previous owners have looked after the turbo (warming up and cooling down carefully), would make me worry about an expensive repair bill around the corner of a 1-2k turbo hatch. Thus my thoughts of a NA as it will have less to go wrong - at the end of the day, a 1-2k car will likely need a few bits and bobs over time (old clutch or rusted exhaust, etc) so the fear of a turbo going too would put me off.
a 3k 6mps - I'd run for the hills... I had a 6mps a couple years ago and was a horrific money pit. I think they would have been amazing new, but mine was only 7 years old with under 80k miles and was falling apart. I had a Hyundai Coupe before it, which wasn't anything like the power/pace, but it was more enjoyable to drive, simply because it was reliable and I wasn't constantly listening out for clunks and noises of the next thing to break.
For that budget and wanting something fun and mod-able, while also being reliable, I would have thought a Celica or even Hyundai Coupe would be a safer bet than trying to get a non lemon type R or anything with a turbo. Something different and a bit sporty while not being expensive to insure or run.
yes, a turbo will be more mod-able, but a cheap easily mod-able turbo will likely already have been tinkered with... Plus the concerns of how previous owners have looked after the turbo (warming up and cooling down carefully), would make me worry about an expensive repair bill around the corner of a 1-2k turbo hatch. Thus my thoughts of a NA as it will have less to go wrong - at the end of the day, a 1-2k car will likely need a few bits and bobs over time (old clutch or rusted exhaust, etc) so the fear of a turbo going too would put me off.
a 3k 6mps - I'd run for the hills... I had a 6mps a couple years ago and was a horrific money pit. I think they would have been amazing new, but mine was only 7 years old with under 80k miles and was falling apart. I had a Hyundai Coupe before it, which wasn't anything like the power/pace, but it was more enjoyable to drive, simply because it was reliable and I wasn't constantly listening out for clunks and noises of the next thing to break.
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Soldato
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I'd spend the full amount on a car if you can as you'll get something better and then save up for mods in the future. Also depends what your end goals are, do you want to mod it to eventually do track days etc or just a fast cruiser?
Also how handy are you already?
I'll suggest my stock answer of some form of Subaru Impreza, you can get a 'newage' (2001 onwards) WRX or an older 'classic' (pre 2001), the newages are nicer inside and 225bhp standard and very very tunable (260bhp from just a remap). The classics are a bit more complicated with their model variants but you can pick up 280bhp Japanese import versions. The great thing is they're easy to work on with lots of very cheap parts out there if you want to start to tinker, blow your turbo up? no problem that'll be £150 on the owners forum for a new one, need upgraded brakes? no problem tones of people sell stuff for them and you can use all the cast offs from the higher up models as pretty much everything fits everything in impreza land.
From a quick look something like this or this
Otherwise i think the clio 182's are good shouts at this money, you could JUST about get a 197 for 3k like this one but as they are french they do tend to have more niggle problems. My wife had a 197 and it never properly broke but did have quite a few annoying things like handbrake cables kept snapping, microswitch for the brake pedal broke, calipers seized etc etc. I also absolutely hated working on it with a passion as it was a nightmare as i'd only ever really worked on my own japanese cars or her previous 2 MX5's.
Also how handy are you already?
I'll suggest my stock answer of some form of Subaru Impreza, you can get a 'newage' (2001 onwards) WRX or an older 'classic' (pre 2001), the newages are nicer inside and 225bhp standard and very very tunable (260bhp from just a remap). The classics are a bit more complicated with their model variants but you can pick up 280bhp Japanese import versions. The great thing is they're easy to work on with lots of very cheap parts out there if you want to start to tinker, blow your turbo up? no problem that'll be £150 on the owners forum for a new one, need upgraded brakes? no problem tones of people sell stuff for them and you can use all the cast offs from the higher up models as pretty much everything fits everything in impreza land.
From a quick look something like this or this
Otherwise i think the clio 182's are good shouts at this money, you could JUST about get a 197 for 3k like this one but as they are french they do tend to have more niggle problems. My wife had a 197 and it never properly broke but did have quite a few annoying things like handbrake cables kept snapping, microswitch for the brake pedal broke, calipers seized etc etc. I also absolutely hated working on it with a passion as it was a nightmare as i'd only ever really worked on my own japanese cars or her previous 2 MX5's.
Some seriously great suggestions here that I would never of considered before, thank you all very much!
I'm concerned of the potential repair bills/part costs for the e46 or scoobies, aside from that they have more than enough stock power for me right now. The future modding potential for a scoobie is super tempting too.
I take everyone's point on putting my money on the best car I can rather than modding right away, solid advise and I see the logic. Plus it gives something to work towards and get excited about for the future, whilst learning to control the power of the new car in the meantime.
Something about Fords don't do it for me, and the suggested clios look beastly, but unfortunately too similar in looks to what I've spend the last 9 years driving, mainly Peugeot's, need a change from French cars.
Stormster - that's pretty tempting, seems like a good bang for my buck! gonna check prices.
Vish Petrol - liking the look of the celcia 190, do they have any resale value with 150k+ on the clock? fits perfectly within budget and some for potential known repairs. what are they like on twisties? are they easy to play around with for extra performance etc?
xs2man - yeah I think you're right, if I dont get a good enough engine to start with, I'll soon get bored regardless of any decent mods I put on.
sovietspybob - sounds like a good idea. I'm sure the more i'd spend and more time i'd put in, testing it out on the track would become important. I really like the 2nd scooby you linked, I can see myself owning that.
I'm concerned of the potential repair bills/part costs for the e46 or scoobies, aside from that they have more than enough stock power for me right now. The future modding potential for a scoobie is super tempting too.
I take everyone's point on putting my money on the best car I can rather than modding right away, solid advise and I see the logic. Plus it gives something to work towards and get excited about for the future, whilst learning to control the power of the new car in the meantime.
Something about Fords don't do it for me, and the suggested clios look beastly, but unfortunately too similar in looks to what I've spend the last 9 years driving, mainly Peugeot's, need a change from French cars.
Stormster - that's pretty tempting, seems like a good bang for my buck! gonna check prices.
Vish Petrol - liking the look of the celcia 190, do they have any resale value with 150k+ on the clock? fits perfectly within budget and some for potential known repairs. what are they like on twisties? are they easy to play around with for extra performance etc?
xs2man - yeah I think you're right, if I dont get a good enough engine to start with, I'll soon get bored regardless of any decent mods I put on.
sovietspybob - sounds like a good idea. I'm sure the more i'd spend and more time i'd put in, testing it out on the track would become important. I really like the 2nd scooby you linked, I can see myself owning that.
I had a Focus ST soon after thinking I really wanted one and granted it was a bit quicker but more was done to it, I spent 4k more than the Astra buying it and it really wasn't 4k's more of a car performance wise. I quite liked the "CDTI" looks shall we say, wish I kept it to be honest! They aint too bad on fuel either. I would have another for cheap 5 door fun to be fair! This was mine, I raised it up a bit after this pic, I'd just bought it then. Not bad 06 plate 70k miles, a few mods before I carried on with exhaust, remap, crossover delete and a few tid bits. £2200 I paid, think I bought it Oct 2014 to give you an idea of current worth.
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A Starlet GT/Glanza V could be good cheap fun. 130bhp 1.3 turbo engine coupled with a weight of less than 1ton. They do have a rear beam axle though and the handling isn't the greatest until decent suspension and a rear anti-roll bar are on. On top of that, most of them are getting on for, or are past 20 years old now.
Could probably pick one up with light mods from anywhere between £1.5 - £2.5k depending on condition etc. With basic power mods (exhaust, short route intake, boost increase to ~0.7-0.8 bar, you'd be looking at 160bhp-175bhp. Everything is fairly easy to do yourself and work on.
Maybe I could be a little bit biased, owning a Starlet GT myself
Could probably pick one up with light mods from anywhere between £1.5 - £2.5k depending on condition etc. With basic power mods (exhaust, short route intake, boost increase to ~0.7-0.8 bar, you'd be looking at 160bhp-175bhp. Everything is fairly easy to do yourself and work on.
Maybe I could be a little bit biased, owning a Starlet GT myself