Fun/slightly practical car £2-3k

[xs2man]

Forum member had one here, pops and bangs and very fast too, can't remember his username now but his was 380bph? So hey're very much tunable, like any car if you have money.

If you have the money being the big one there. Unless you're willing to spend the purchase cost again, at least, you really do get no-where. These cars are cheap now. Couple grand or so. You'll be double that for a decent supercharger kit, and that MAY get you as far as 350 BHP. Unless you actually do that, you'll be looking at £500 for an exhaust, £300 for a map (maybe), and you might see 240 BHP. If you are willing to spend a couple grand on the car + 4k or so on a supercharger to get to 350 BHP, you could, instead, buy a B6 S4, with the same power, and will unlikely depreciate too much (I sold mine, sub-100k, about 4-5 years ago for that money, so they have pretty much bottomed out now). At least that'll be worth what you spent on it, rather than losing roughly half the mod value, if you can get it sold at all being so heavily modified.

For the OP though. If you are thinking about a V6 VAG, your budget wont be too far away from an early 8P 3.2 V6 A3. That's basically a mk5 R32 in disguise. You wont get the bodykit, but the engine, brakes, 4wd are all the same. They will be about 250 BHP standard, wont sound as nice as the R32 though, unless you go for a nice exhaust.

 

[Nasher]

Rust is a major issue on these. Finding one now without rust will be a battle. But the engines are pretty decent, and a simple remap should see around 260 BHP, combined with the 4wd, and they are pretty decent.

Yea but rust can be an issue on most cars in this country

But I mean, this looks like a bargain for the spec and condition: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...searchad=new,nearlynew,used&logcode=p&adPos=7

Even got alcantara seats and a modern(ish) looking Audi nav system fitted.

 

[xs2man]

Yea but rust can be an issue on most cars in this country

But I mean, this looks like a bargain for the spec and condition: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...searchad=new,nearlynew,used&logcode=p&adPos=7

Even got alcantara seats and a modern(ish) looking Audi nav system fitted.

Sure, of course any cars here can have issues with rust. I'm simply stating that these do have issues, so it is worth properly looking over them. Especially as the anti-corrosion warranty on these has now expired. I know a guy up here who got no-where with Audi's anti-corrosion warranty, and was so peeved off, he cut out the rust and sent it to Audi UK. Ruined the car right enough, but he had a point to make, and could afford the loss of the car to make it.

That does look like a fairly good example. And should be worth a look.

 

[Kenai]

Forum member had one here, pops and bangs and very fast too, can't remember his username now but his was 380bph? Sothey're very much tunable, like any car if you have money.

He's almost certainly spent considerably more than the value of the car on it though, which is an entirely different definition of tunable to a £250 remap

 

[xs2man]

He's almost certainly spent considerably more than the value of the car on it though, which is an entirely different definition of tunable to a £250 remap

This. I'm sure if you spent several times the purchase cost of the car on tunning a 1.8T you could also hit 380 BHP

 

[Kenai]

It's an interesting one when it comes to those particular VR6 engines though, as I've seen plenty of places say they seem almost like they were designed for forced induction but released as NA because VW simply had no applications for a turbo V6 of that sort of size in the end.

From that perspective, I suppose they're very tunable, because FI is very bolt on, with minimal messing around with the internals. Now that Mk4 4mo cars are worth about £2k though, it's an expensive folly. On a £15k R32 a few years back though, £3000 on a turbo kit to add 100-150bhp makes a lot of sense in comparison.

 

[grudas]

He's almost certainly spent considerably more than the value of the car on it though, which is an entirely different definition of tunable to a £250 remap

Well I did say that they're tunable and can take a good power I did not say that they're cheap to tune or a remap will see 380bhp haha.

 

[Kenai]

Well I did say that they're tunable and can take a good power I did not say that they're cheap to tune or a remap will see 380bhp haha.

In a thread about a £2k car though, one which needs £3k spent on it to tune it, isn't really the best suggestion of tunable is it? especially after putting down the comparison car which does get good gains from a cheap map.

 

[grudas]

In a thread about a £2k car though, one which needs £3k spent on it to tune it, isn't really the best suggestion of tunable is it? especially after putting down the comparison car which does get good gains from a cheap map.

It's one of those things, it's a capable car stock, many of them are tuned already so chances of buying one that already had work done is quite high. And of course, you dont have to go and spend 3k day one! The fact that you can improve it over time is good IMO

 

[xs2man]

The problem is that every tunning step is hundreds of pounds, for a few BHP. Exhaust will maybe see you 5-7 BHP, and that'll be £500+. Induction kit a couple hundred quid that'll net you 3-5 bhp. Cams, again several hundred quid, a few BHP. Remap, a few hundred quid, a few BHP. You could easily spend a few grand on all that, just to get you similar gains to a simple remap on a 1.8T. And you'll only be, roughly, where a standard mk4 R32 sits power wise, which will sound better, cost the same overall, and be worth more.

And after you have spent all that money, you have no-where else to go other than the relatively expensive FI.

But I wouldn't say there is a "high" chance of buying an already tuned example either. The 4mo wasn't the "sport" one. If you wanted that, you went R32, or GTI. The 4mo was the "comfy cruiser". So you are more likely to see them relatively well specced (mine had xenons, pds, full leather etc...), but they were aimed more at the older gentleman rather than the boy racer, who if they wanted a V6, would go R32 (I didn't because I wanted a nice 4wd mk4, but couldn't afford the £12k+ Mk4 R32's were still going for at the time).

Sure, there are the occasional 'charged ones that pop up from time to time. But these are really rare. Most folks entertaining the idea of FI on a 4WD V6 Golf start with the R32. Sure, you may find one with a Milltek, and if you're lucky, a remap and coilovers. But I wouldn't say there is a "high" chance of finding one. Not in the same league as there being a "high" chance of finding a 1.8T that's remapped, with FMIC, turbo-back exhaust, bigger brakes, coilovers etc...

And as I eluded to earlier, they aren't that great stock. The exhaust is FAR too quiet for the V6 engine, it's not particularly fast, and it's quite heavy, so there is definitely a fuel penalty paid for the V6 engine and 4wd, and you don't even get to hear it. My mapped A3 2.0 TDI (140) that I had at the same time as the 4mo, was easily as quick, and with half the fuel consumption. And my 1.8T would have spanked it all over the shop for fun.

 

[kinger8938]

Just as a note, im not really interested in tuning anything really, just want a good reliable car that can be a bit of fun too

 

[Vita]

This screams CTR To me.

 

[kona786]

Forum member had one here, pops and bangs and very fast too, can't remember his username now but his was 380bph? Sothey're very much tunable, like any car if you have money.

With that way of thinking then everything is 'very much tuneable'

 

[rodenal]

Type R or if you fancied another BMW and don't mind doing a bit of work now and then you should easily find a not terrible 330 for £3k

I miss my e46 now thinking about it, despite the fact it wasn't perfect and little things broke quite a lot

Cupra R could be another one to consider

 

[xs2man]

In fact, my old 330i went up for sale a couple days ago. Should fit the bill quite nicely, apart from the rank alloys on it. But well in budget.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/bmw/bmw-330i/1189095199

Of course, it struggles with the same issues as the 4motion golf, in that it really isn't economical enough for the power it produces (to me obviously, everybody else seems to love these things).

 

[rodenal]

I can get that when they're newer and more expensive, but for that kind of money its hard tonreally complain.

A better car than a 4mo in that it has a bit more feel and will feel that useful little bit quicker

Plus the mk4 golf interior has aged terribly imo