Thinking of trading in the Golf for something a bit more fun. Suggestions?

Freeman

Freeman

Freeman

Soldato
Joined
24 Jul 2004
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5,565
Hi.

I've been driving a 1.4 Golf Match for a few years now and have become incredibly bored of it. The main problem is how normal it is. It does a great job of getting me from A to B, it's comfortable, quiet and reliable. But I'm looking for something fun now. I love motorsport, but just haven't got off my butt to do something about get involved with it.

Admittedly I don't know much about cars, and I plan to work on this myself, so I'm looking for a car that a beginner will find easy to take apart and put together. I'm lucky enough to be able to buy the second car, do it up, and then sell the Golf. I think it'll be the best way for me to understand and learn about how a car works.

I'm preferably looking for a hatch back or similar size, but with a good weight to power ratio - something light. I'm in no way looking to chav up a car, I'd love to eventually enter it into a rally X race in the future. But for now, I'm just looking for a good place to start. (it will stay road legal - can a car be road legal with no rear seats and a roll cage!?)

I briefly drove my sisters 1998 Kia pride a couple of years ago. It was completely run into the ground, had no power steering, stunk of petrol and oil and sounded terribly amazing - it was brilliant!

Any ideas on what car I should be looking at? I have a few ideas but really...I don't know what I'm looking for.

I'll be sure to post pics once I start the project. My budget for the car itself is roughly £1200-2000 as tools/parts will no doubt cost a bit.

Cheers!
 
Was mentioned in a few threads recently - bit of a pig to work on but probably fills your other requirements - gti6 (or rallye I guess)? Maybe something like a vti-s civic if you can find a decent one

1500 would buy a rough 325ti - good chance to get practising on the mechanical aspects - 2k should get a perfectly decent one

Leon cupra could be had for about that cash too and in better condition - not as good a drive as the other two

Might be a bit heavy but they're good to drive -zs 180

Something like a 106 gti or saxo vts might be what you're looking for - as much as they have an image problem they're a cracking drive and made of paper.

What you really want is a 205 gti and a crashed 405 mi16 then swap the engine in....good luck with that one though!
 
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£1500 doesn't buy a 325Ti at all, other than a dodgy one parked in the middle of the road in Wakefield there is nothing below the £2k mark and even they are likely to be a bit shonky. Too many of the bits cost too much for this to really fit the OP's breif. He'd be better off with something more simple.
 
Freeman said:
I briefly drove my sisters 1998 Kia pride a couple of years ago. It was completely run into the ground, had no power steering, stunk of petrol and oil and sounded terribly amazing - it was brilliant!



!
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mk2 golf gti . drive it around fairly fuss free learning about mechanics as you go along (almost zero electronics) cheap parts , loads of space in the engine bay for working etc , well documented

then when you want to get more into the motorsport aspect theres a million and one options you could go with it

big plus for me is if you change your mind you could sell it pretty easily with no loss


it would be between that and an mx5 for me and all the above still applys
 
172 lol

yea a highly tuned car with no space at all in the bay and things like £500 quid cambelt changes and silly electronics is exactly what someone learning about mechanics wants.... cant even learn to do the belt changes on those yourself due to how much of a carry on it is

cant imagine one rally crossing for cheap either

80s is the way forwards... big meccano sets even your gran can dismantle and put back together
 
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[TW]Fox;22509174 said:
£1500 doesn't buy a 325Ti at all, other than a dodgy one parked in the middle of the road in Wakefield there is nothing below the £2k mark and even they are likely to be a bit shonky. Too many of the bits cost too much for this to really fit the OP's breif. He'd be better off with something more simple.
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That is harsh. Wakefield is not bad at all. :p

Maybe not what the op is looking for but Fiat Coupe? :o
 
[TW]Fox;22509174 said:
£1500 doesn't buy a 325Ti at all, other than a dodgy one parked in the middle of the road in Wakefield there is nothing below the £2k mark and even they are likely to be a bit shonky. Too many of the bits cost too much for this to really fit the OP's breif. He'd be better off with something more simple.
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Yes it does - they come up fairly often for that kind of money, as I said however it'll be rough and need a good bit of tlc with potentially not too cheap parts. I don't disagree that something a bit more common and generally simpler (though the bmw 6's aren't too bad engine bay wise) would be a better buy.

Blackhawk47 said:
That is harsh. Wakefield is not bad at all. :p

Maybe not what the op is looking for but Fiat Coupe? :o
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Great fun but again difficult to work on and tbh they break quite a lot!
 
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Matt82 said:
what year is your golf that youre starting with?

why not carry out a conversion on that?
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I think the only the newer lardy ones were called match (google image, yo), a conversion will give him more straight line fun, but I think a lighter chassis would be a better idea overall. +1 for mk1/2 Gti.:cool:
 
godinman said:
I think the only the newer lardy ones were called match (google image, yo), a conversion will give him more straight line fun, but I think a lighter chassis would be a better idea overall. +1 for mk1/2 Gti.:cool:
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The match name was used on the mk2 and I'm pretty sure it was used on the mk3 as well.
 
godinman said:
I think the only the newer lardy ones were called match (google image, yo), a conversion will give him more straight line fun, but I think a lighter chassis would be a better idea overall. +1 for mk1/2 Gti.:cool:
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im sure they did a mk2 match, one of my friend's mum had one when we used to go to football matches at school. it was a nice car and she wasnt bad looking either
 
Peugeot 205 GTI would fit the bill nicely I think.

Great for learning mechanics and great for Rally-X
 
Freeman said:
Hi.

I've been driving a 1.4 Golf Match for a few years now and have become incredibly bored of it. The main problem is how normal it is. It does a great job of getting me from A to B, it's comfortable, quiet and reliable. But I'm looking for something fun now. I love motorsport, but just haven't got off my butt to do something about get involved with it.
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Can I make a totally different suggestion.

Keep the Golf but buy yourself a kart!

Karting is the perfect way to get into motorsport.

It'll teach you the mechanical side cheaply and effectively. You don't need many tools and everything is simple and easy for someone without much mechanical experience. You'll be stripping and rebuilding carburettors and engines in no time! Even if you do make a mistake and break something - the cost to replace bits is £1s not £100s

IMO a decent kart will also be a lot more fun to drive than a modified road car at that sort of budget.

You could pick up a nice TKM package for £500-600 .. or perhaps something like an Easykart for £800-1200. The beauty is that you can stick it on a roof rack, or a small trailer - take it to a local circuit and have a whole day's play on track for £50 (assuming you don't break anything).

If you love it (which I'm sure you would) .. then later you can join a club and start racing.

Don't underestimate how quick these karts are either - they are a world apart from any kind of rental karts you might have tried.
You won't be bothered that you're driving around in a boring car either - because you'll know what a huge grin you'll have on your face come the weekend :)
 
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