What should I be look at?

RoyMi6

RoyMi6

RoyMi6

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Joined
9 Mar 2010
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My first and only car, MX5 MK2. Love it.

Can fit anything in it, even a christmas tree!

However, trying to fit the other half in at the same time can sometimes be an issue... she's not always willing to get in the boot, since the last time...

In no particular order I'm looking for the following qualities:

1) I like driving my MX5. Something that's able to feel grounded would be nice
2) A non convertible will hopefully allow us to do more traveling without my other half going deaf, so looking for a bit of a cruiser to make that more pleasant. Of course this is likely contradicts the point above!
3) It will be my daily driver for work so good MPG would be nice as I also hope to use it for the long drives for short break holidays.
4) A boot capable of taking a washing machine and then some - most hatchbacks really should allow this yeah?
5) We're doing our house up it will also likely become the car used for the skip... :(
6) Ability to take a roofrack

In short:
Budget: £2.5K
Doors: 5
Storage: Largish boot without being an estate and able to take a roof rack
MPG: Above 40mpg

Had my eye on something like an A3 Sportsback, or Golf GTD but honestly only because I don't have a clue!
 
mccarf said:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201711091087909?atmobcid=soc3

Since you want a lot of cabin space for stuff you maybe better off going for mondeo sized cars rather than mid sized hatchbacks.
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To me, those style of cars don't "look" like they hold something like a washing machine or large tv due to the slope of the back roof... Am I wrong?

TacticalFish said:
Well it only fulfils about half your criteria, but I've been considering getting rid of my Mk8 Civic for an MX-5 :p
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Ha! Swapsies? :D

Na, sorry, I think the Civic isn't going to cut muster :)

acemastr said:
Get rid of the other half, much cheaper
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Definitely crossed my mind!
 
RoyMi6 said:
To me, those style of cars don't "look" like they hold something like a washing machine or large tv due to the slope of the back roof... Am I wrong?
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To be honest I'd say my civic could probably hold a washing machine and the Mondeo is bigger. Think a lot of it depends on how the seats fold.

TacticalFish said:
Don't blame you, great family car, and v. reliable (why I bought it) but it's not a great deal of fun...

A Type R on the other hand...
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I've got the type r and the 1.8 and I honestly believe the 1.8 is a great package for the price. I've taken it up the local mountains many times and its always been fun. Granted the type r is more fun but it also cost over 3x the price for me to purchase!
 
mccarf said:
To be honest I'd say my civic could probably hold a washing machine and the Mondeo is bigger. Think a lot of it depends on how the seats fold.


I've got the type r and the 1.8 and I honestly believe the 1.8 is a great package for the price. I've taken it up the local mountains many times and its always been fun. Granted the type r is more fun but it also cost over 3x the price for me to purchase!
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I've had a washing machine and dishwasher in the back of mine :D pretty unbelievable how space is there when you put the back seats down.

I don't disagree, you get a lot for the money, especially with the better specced models (ES myself). Or do you mean 'all round' package for the price? The acceleration/ toque is a lot better than the majority of NA 1.8's out there, however I think the handling lets it down quite a bit. Granted, doesn't need to be Type R stiff, but a bit less roll would be nice.

You know what, if the only bad I can say about it is the handling, it must be pretty good :p I need to get it into the countryside again!
 
TacticalFish said:
I've had a washing machine and dishwasher in the back of mine :D pretty unbelievable how space is there when you put the back seats down.

I don't disagree, you get a lot for the money, especially with the better specced models (ES myself). Or do you mean 'all round' package for the price? The acceleration/ toque is a lot better than the majority of NA 1.8's out there, however I think the handling lets it down quite a bit. Granted, doesn't need to be Type R stiff, but a bit less roll would be nice.

You know what, if the only bad I can say about it is the handling, it must be pretty good :p I need to get it into the countryside again!
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Yeah I've also got the ES. Purchased it last year for £1500 and I've done 20k in it now. Awesome machine! What tyres are you using on it out of interest? I've got hankooks on mine and they're pretty good. Going to stop hijacking the thread now:D.
 
I once had a fridge freezer in the back of a mk2 Astra, so a hatchback sized car should do. Admittedly, the boot didn't shut, but it was possible. I'd imagine a washing machine would have allowed the boot to shut properly.
 
mccarf said:
Yeah I've also got the ES. Purchased it last year for £1500 and I've done 20k in it now. Awesome machine! What tyres are you using on it out of interest? I've got hankooks on mine and they're pretty good. Going to stop hijacking the thread now:D.
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What mileage was it at then if you don't mind me asking? If you say 60K I'm going to throw my laptop out the window. I've got 3 Maxxis and one Nexen N'Blue HD+, soon to be 4 Nexen. Think that should help with under-steer a bit.

And yup :p sorry OP.

Back on topic though, if that 2.5k is a deposit for finance, you might be able to get a GTD. Outright, you'll be looking at 100k+ Audi A3's. Which isn't a problem in itself, but you'll want to make sure it's got good service history. If I were you, I'd be looking at Mondeo's, Civic's, Astra's. The benefit of these is that parts will be cheap(ish) and plentiful too.
 
TacticalFish said:
What mileage was it at then if you don't mind me asking? If you say 60K I'm going to throw my laptop out the window. I've got 3 Maxxis and one Nexen N'Blue HD+, soon to be 4 Nexen. Think that should help with under-steer a bit.
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Nah it was 124k when I bought it. On 144 now. Last thousand miles or so the steering is getting noisy so the steering rack maybe on its way out. It does have a hard life though because it does delivery work
 
MissChief said:
Surely an Octavia VRS is your ideal car? Massive boot on them.

This one comes with Sat-Nav. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201802213934580

Sat-Nav seems very rare on these, only 1 car, that one seems to have it! This one does too, but it also has 133k miles! https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201703283787736
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Satnav is an easy retrofit on these though. Could probably pick up a unit for around £300 or so, plus antenna at around £20, then around 20-40 mins to fit it all up, depending on how handy you are (I'm not at all, but still did mine in around 30 mins). So wouldn't be getting too hung up on finding one with Nav already. If it's there, great, if not, I wouldn't worry. The £350 it'll cost you to retrofit you wont likely lose, as you can always take it back out before sale on the other side, or use it as a bargaining chip to get full asking price (i.e. if someone tries to knock £500 off, you could tell them you would knock £300 off but will put the standard stereo back in or something).

Also, up to date maps are easy enough to find online. I flashed the most up to date firmware to mine, then grabbed a copy of the latest maps, and updated them straight to the HDD (via DVD).
 
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