Condsider a Honda Accord iCDTI in your diesel list. Very well specced motors, with good engines.

 

330 Ci/Cd?

I'm looking at changing my STI for something more comfy, and with a similar budget to you. The Golf's, for me, seem to be quite expensive for what they are and for what else you can get for the same money.

I might also consider the Focus ST, as already mentioned, but again the fuel thing is putting me off a bit and the interior looks a bit cheap, IMO. Might still be worth a test drive though

I also started looking at the Audi A3's but again, for me, I prefer the interior of the BMW and they are also quicker in standard form.

I will probably end up going for either a 330 Ci M Sport or a 330 Cd M Sport, haven't driven either yet but wouldn't mind testing a diesel to see how that goes compared to a petrol as they dont seem much slower (on paper).

 

Tell me more about the Astra...

The wife has been after a 118/120 but we haven't seen a good one for what we are willing to pay. Recently the Astra caught her eye and today we went to look at a few, we saw a 1.9 Diesel SRI 150 on a 57 plate for a smidging over £10k. I test drove the 120 and 150 back to back and didn't really see any difference, the sales guy said they both had the same engine. Are they that tuneable?

How many miles did you get for a full tank and how much to fill up?

Cheers.

 

tuttut

just my opinion of owning both cars,why the bu..sh.t attitude????


or aint focus st owners allowed one?


a tuned focus st will be more than capable of giving a tuned sti a run for its money through the lanes

 

I got 450++ miles per tank (60 litres), it definitely loosened up once I hit about 20k miles and it was generally a very good car - decent handling, well made (a first for VX!) and I do favour the 150 over the 120 - 30 more bhp but a fair bit more torque (same as my previous Golf R32 in fact!).

Loads do chips and tuning boxes for them - I never went for it because I had always planned to keep the car for ages and didn't want any problems to arise.

The 150s also get some extras - lowered (10mm) suspension, better brakes (310mm up front) and a few other little goodies - all worth having.

I did have an engine problem - the swirl flaps died and buggered the engine. Fixed under warranty but the dealer was pretty poor - it was fine after that but probably would have cost a couple of grand out of warranty!!

Had the car (Design Estate) from new for over four years and nearly 60k miles - it just did everything effortlessly and was genuinely fun to drive.

Well worth considering!

 

Thanks Matt, that's appreciated

 

Probably a bit of all 3! My commute is about 8-9 miles, a lot of it along A roads in a 60 limit, where at commuting times you're often sat in a queue at 40-50mph in 6th gear. I don't tend to boot it and change up early when I can see accelerating hard will just going to catch the car in front a few seconds quicker, I drive well ahead - e.g. ease off coming up to roundabouts, 30 limits etc rather than keep going fast up to them. I'll also anticipate gaps in roundabouts so I can go straight onto them at 40 rather than having to stop and pull away (a bit of maintaining momentum like you would in an old underpowered but fun small car!) Therefore, I tend to get there at least as fast as the wife and typically get 10-15% better fuel economy; it's very rare I don't get up to about 35. And I haven't bothered with chipping it, so don't get the car egging me on!

Still, whatever, it's a different league for economy that a Scoob, and a hell of a lot better on fuel than a Focus ST too.