Cheap fast and reliable! Pick 2 game.

Soldato
Joined
14 Jul 2005
Posts
8,343
Location
Birmingham
Hi all,

Cheap, fast, reliable. Pick 2. Or so the saying goes.

Often a phrase rolled out to people like me looking for something beyond their budget.

I thought it would be 'a bit of fun' to get people picking cars which fall into the various category combinations. The combinations available are:

1. Cheap and fast (I think will be an interesting category)
2. Cheap and reliable (boring but necessary)
3. Fast and reliable (the least useful as no upper limit on price)

I would like to define cheap for this game as <£2k, and fast as >200bhp or <7 seconds 0-60. Hard to define reliable so make a judgement and we can all argue about whether its right or not! Please don't everyone post £80k cars in the fast and reliable category as the real idea is to challenge you to find good cars in the first two categories.

Clearly the class of car matters, so when posting please nominate your car class out of the following. Lets try to get a good mix of car classes going on.

A. Small hatch/supermini
B. Medium hatch/saloon
C. Large hatch/saloon or any estate
D. 4x4 / SUV

To add some further interest the category you don't pick you have to make a judgement on.

So for example I might post:

Class C / Cheap and Reliable:
Honda Accord Type S 2.4 petrol estate -available for sub £2k and Honda reliability is renowned. Possibly fast enough if you rev the balls off it.

Or I might post:

Class C / Fast and cheap:
Honda Accord Type S 2.4 petrol estate - available for sub 2k and 190bhp (not quite at the threshold but just using as an example). Reliability is Honda but at this price you take your chances.

(yes I do have an Accord :))


Thanks for reading. If no interest or you don't think the game will work then I'll just ask for it to be removed.
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Dec 2011
Posts
10,401
The accord fails your own criteria though as its neither 200bhp nor 7 seconds ish/less to 60

An accord type R would work however

330i probably creeps in there, so do a few of the early 2000's hot hatches/coupes etc
 
Associate
Joined
25 Nov 2011
Posts
1,355
Location
Cumbria, United Kingdom
Cheap and fast -
Clio 172. Pick it up for a grand. Won't get touched on the twisted and due to their size and weight there isn't much touching it at the same price point.

Cheap and reliable - Honda CRV - easy pick an 04 plate up with around 100k on the clock for 2k, 2.0 petrol probably the most reliable 4x4 going.

Fast and reliable - Saab 9-3 turbo? Depending on year and what not, a late 90s spec (b204) those engines can take 400bhp no bother as they are forged. Tonnes and tonnes under 2k
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Oct 2012
Posts
5,272
Location
Leeds
Cheap and fast A: Suzuki Alto 1.1GL just take everything out and although its not actually fast, it just feels really really fast :eek:

Cheap and reliable: toyota yaris :o

fast and reliable: if its reliable then its too slow :p but a supra with a single big turbo would be ok i suppose. :cool:
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Mar 2010
Posts
4,967
Location
Aberdeenshire
Fast and cheap:

Audi A4 2001-2004, 1.8T or 2.0FSI
Just behind your 0-60 goal but they can do 8s which is still pretty fast.
Could get the 1.8T for £1000 and spend the rest on remapping it which would get 40 or so hp out of it. Brings it just about to 200.
 
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Soldato
Joined
12 Jul 2007
Posts
16,316
Location
South East
1. Cheap and fast - Mazda RX8, Audi S3 (first gen), Mini Cooper S

2. Cheap and reliable (boring but necessary) - Honda Jazz, Toyota Yaris, Toyota Avensis

3. Fast and reliable (the least useful as no upper limit on price) - Lexus LS600h
 
Caporegime
Joined
22 Oct 2002
Posts
26,907
Location
Boston, Lincolnshire
Fast Cheap and Reliable. Saab 9-5 Aero

Fast 0-60 <7 seconds (Remapped to 270BHP, 400nm and ~160mph top speed for the price of a tank of fuel)

Cheap (Cost me £1800)

Reliable (Apart from a crank positioning sensor which was a £30 part and a 10 minute fit it only owes me servicing and tyres. It also did a 4000 mile trip across Europe this summer without fail @130k. Including a 1300 mile non stop stint with the exception of fuel and toilet breaks.)

No one mentioned anything about going round bends however!

A combination of Saab going bust, people too worried about MPG regardless of their annual mileage and insurance prices means you can get some stonking deals on big barges without really having to sacrifice anything.
 
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