Fun, economical coupe/hatch for £10k?

[edwardcasbon1]

Hi all,

Question in the thread title really. I have a mk5 golf gt tdi which I've had for 18ish months and now fancy a change. It's my first diesel car and I've kind of got used to the good fuel economy (50-60mpg on dual carriageway driving to/from work).

Can anyone recommend any economical, but fun, hatchback/coupe for around the £10k mark?

The Golf isn't hitting it for me in terms of fun factor. Yes, it's reliable and well built etc, just no fun really.

I would really like a BMW e46 320cd but only in the 'msport' guise. I can't seem to find any however in my budget which don't have over 60,000 miles on the clock. (For some reason I consider 60k+ miles to be high miles. Should I?)

Many thanks in advance.

Edward

 

[fonzee]

I doubt anything for that money is going to be as economical/fun as your golf. Nothing worth changing for anyway.

An E46 320cd won't be fun, do not spend 10k on one.

 

[Morba]

(For some reason I consider 60k+ miles to be high miles. Should I?)

No. If the service history is fine and the car looks good (inside and out), >60k means nothing.

 

[Spamalot]

An E46 320cd won't be fun, do not spend 10k on one.

I can't see why not. RWD and what, 177bhp? There are better E46s to be had but in isolation the 320cd is by no means bad!

 

[[TW]Fox]

The 320cd is 150bhp not 177!

 

[Steedie]

I could get flamed here for suggesting it

But you could get a 120d/123d, and a very nice one for 10k. Fun and economical. The 123d especially would be great, twin turbo goodness plus easily the economy of a diesel

 

[GinG]

123D's are now coming in at 10k? Interesting!

 

[Steedie]

It would be a pre-LCI one however

 

[[TW]Fox]

It would be a pre-LCI one however

And what pre LCI 123d would that be?

 

[Steedie]

How about you look yourself?

Edit - Nm, thought the LCI came in 08 not 07 Still, shut up Fox

 

[[TW]Fox]

You want me to shut up? You are the one suggesting cars which don't exist, not me.

 

[Steedie]

Oh lighten up.

Deary me, it was a joke, or do you not understand the use of smilies? You should, you use them enough

 

[ci_newman]

Stop bickering children O/P, what kind of mileage do you actually do? There are a large number of fun hatches available which are arguably more fun in a petrol variant than a diesel.

 

[Relentless81]

People should stop putting fun and diesel in the same sentances or otherwise explain how a diesel is fun to drive

 

[Gribs]

People should stop putting fun and diesel in the same sentances or otherwise explain how a diesel is fun to drive

Agreed. Though a 3 series 4 pot diesel would probably seem quite fun coming from a diesel Golf.

 

[Wossi]

People should stop putting fun and diesel in the same sentances or otherwise explain how a diesel is fun to drive

I test drove a 2.0TD Seat Leon FR for a week and while it was a diesel it was immensely fun to drive, bloody quiet for a diesel.

 

[[Olly]]

I test drove a 2.0TD Seat Leon FR for a week and while it was a diesel it was immensely fun to drive, bloody quiet for a diesel.

I was just about to suggest a Leon aswell.

Either that or an Alfa 147/159.

 

[Relentless81]

The handling might be there but wafting around below 4k RPM on a miniscule wave of torque with the most awful noise known to motoring isnt particulary fun

 

[pcoltrane]

People should stop putting fun and diesel in the same sentances or otherwise explain how a diesel is fun to drive

Completely agree. Go for a decent fun petrol car (plenty out ther that will be way more fun than your diesel Golf) and suck up the extra fuel costs or stick with the Golf.

A halfway house like a 320CD really isn't going to be that much more fun than the Golf. With something like that you'll be compromised both in terms of cost and fun, so it'll probably frustrate you on both accounts.

 

[ThieveryCorp]

Remap your Golf. For a few hundred quid, it's quite a cheap solution.