Spec me a new car. Looking for a bit more poke!
- Thread starter T0M0
- Start date
Caporegime
Mondeo 2.5T / ST220
Audi A4 2.0T FSI / 3.2 / S4
Octavia VRS / L&K + remap
E46 325i/330i/325Ci/330Ci
Mazda 6 MPS
Little smaller:
Focus ST225
BMW 125i/130i
Audi A3 2.0T FSI / 3.2
Civic Type R EP3/FN2
Mazda 3 MPS
Corrola T-Sport / T-Sport Compressor (if you can find one...)
Golf V GTI / R32
Even smaller:
Polo GTI 1.8T
Renaultsport Clio 197
Mini Cooper S
Fiesta ST
Or if you wanted to look at sports cars um...
S2000?
Can a 350Z be had for that money?
I would steer clear of RX8's because I know a couple of people who have had very expensive problems with them, one of which has gone through 2.
I haven't looked into this type of car much, but I'm sure others can help...
Audi A4 2.0T FSI / 3.2 / S4
Octavia VRS / L&K + remap
E46 325i/330i/325Ci/330Ci
Mazda 6 MPS
Little smaller:
Focus ST225
BMW 125i/130i
Audi A3 2.0T FSI / 3.2
Civic Type R EP3/FN2
Mazda 3 MPS
Corrola T-Sport / T-Sport Compressor (if you can find one...)
Golf V GTI / R32
Even smaller:
Polo GTI 1.8T
Renaultsport Clio 197
Mini Cooper S
Fiesta ST
Or if you wanted to look at sports cars um...
S2000?
Can a 350Z be had for that money?
I would steer clear of RX8's because I know a couple of people who have had very expensive problems with them, one of which has gone through 2.
I haven't looked into this type of car much, but I'm sure others can help...
Last edited:
Soldato
To be honest I don't think servicing should be a worry. They are just like any other boosted car. Having had a couple of Imprezas I'd take the Evo8. Although I'd want an MR not a 260
Soldato
Z4.
Cheers for all your advice lads, some cracking cars in here.
Based on what has been recommended in here I've drawn up the following list.
Does anyone have any personal experience with these?
What's the annual tax on the Mondeo? I've seen some places say its £285, then other places say its £485?
I can only really find high miler S4's, I heard they're good for upwards of 150,000, is this true?
I'm trying to stay away from Alfa's, heard they're a nightmare for reliability.
If anyone's got any other comments on the others would be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Tom
Based on what has been recommended in here I've drawn up the following list.
- Ford Mondeo ST220 - Autotrader Ad
- Audi S4 - Autotrader Ad
- E46 330CI - Autotrader Ad
- Mazda 6 MPS - Autotrader Ad
- Focus ST - Autotrader Ad
- Mazda 3 MPS - Autotrader Ad
- Audi S3 - Autotrader Ad
- Nissan 350Z - Autotrader Ad
- Subaru Impreza WRX - Autotrader Ad
- Audi TT Quattro Sport 225 - Autotrader Ad
- Mitsubishi Evo - Autotrader Ad
- Vauxhall Vectra VXR - Autotrader Ad
Does anyone have any personal experience with these?
What's the annual tax on the Mondeo? I've seen some places say its £285, then other places say its £485?
I can only really find high miler S4's, I heard they're good for upwards of 150,000, is this true?
I'm trying to stay away from Alfa's, heard they're a nightmare for reliability.
If anyone's got any other comments on the others would be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Tom
I've got the St220 and it's a great car but there's obviously better cars on your list like the 330, Audi and 350z etc but some of them have potential expensive bills written all over them were as the Mondeo Is cheap to run and maintain.depends how much spare money u have for maintaining the car.
The tax is only 485 from March 2006 onwards so 55 plate and older will only be half that. Do u do motorway driving or loads of miles?
It's still a massive range of cars your looking at probably best spending a weekend test driving some!
Ah right okay, that's good to know regarding the tax! Not really many motorway miles any more, 30 mile a day round commute in and out of Birmingham. So it's a bit of stop, start traffic unfortunately.
Even though the St220 is great value for money and the cheapest on your list it's more a motorway cruiser IMO and unless u need the boot space etc your probably better looking for a faster car that people on here seem to love like the 350z, 330 St Focus etc.
have u test drove any?
No, not yet mate. Lease runs out end of November so I'm just spec'ing out a list of candidates I can look into further. My next car's going to stay with me a for a while so want to make sure I get it right. I only leased because I was doing tons of motorway miles every day, then I changed job so it's kind of redundant, hence the opportunity to go for something with a bit more kick.
Yeah, I saw Clarkson test driving one the other day and he said it was pants (handling). It was the straight line speed that caught my attention.
Are the Jags really unreliable? Or is it just the diesel? Kind of like the way they look...
S-Type - Autotrader Ad
X-Type - Autotrader Ad
I'm pretty sure I heard that the fella' Vectra Vxr they used on top gear was modded and re mapped etc as on paper it shouldn't have trounced the Mazda and St220 like that.
If your no longer on the motorway then it's probably best picking a smaller faster car. U will have fun whenever u get round to test driving some of them.
S type is a proper old mans car for the motorway and I considered the 3.0 x type but people on here recommended the St220 over that when i posted a thread. A lot of people slate the x type on pistonheads also
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Soldato
X Type Jags look good, yes they can have some mechanical issues, but not really any worse than some of the other cars on your list. The big problem with them is that they love to rust on the sills. I've looked at quite a few, but they all had rusty sills, some quite bad. All were what you'd call good examples too.
Soldato
The diesel is the main weak point on the S Type, but they're still not exactly trouble free. Gearboxes can fail, and suspension components such as the lower rear wishbones wear out quickly and can be quite expensive.
The X types with the 2.5 and 3.0 V6 are generally better, and running-costs wise I'd expect them to be around the same as the ST220.
It's not that I don't like Jags (I own one myself!) but if I was looking for something sporty, the only Jags I'd be looking at would be the supercharged V8 ones, which are quite a commitment in terms of running costs.