Hypothetical question, (some pointers from chat a moment ago ).....

If you were to move from a Scooby (fun, 4WD, bloody expensive for us normal folk , crime target (so it would seem )) to a 2WD (not as much fun, cheaper on insurance, fuel, tyres ), what would you go for?

Would be looking at 5-7K in price, 2-4 yrs old, >30 mpg (hopefully) and not too expensive to insure. Prime requisites would be max fun and cheapness to run.

My picks would be 1.9 205 GTI, Clio 172 (probably outside this price, I haven't looked ), 306 GTI/GTI-6. Definite french flavour going on here

Give me your preferences, I may need to go down this route sometime next year.....and need some comparisons to thrash about

Edited cos it's late and my spooling went bob


[Edited by Hanslow - 10/28/2001 1:15:52 AM]

 

I had a Citroen Xsara VTS Coupe prior to scooby, sub £6k and Like a 306GTI-5 if you get what I mean! A mate had a 306 GTi6 at the same time and as far as we could tell the Xsara had slightly more grip and the 306 handled rougher surfaces better. Not much in it performance wise, Xsara tends to be about £2k cheaper for same age car.

I know you are looking at 2-4 years old but the 205 hasn't been made for 8 so of a similar age I'd have an E30 M3 for the steering and RWD factor!

I'm a big fan of french front wheel drive handling, I've actually owned 6 PSA group cars, out of only a total of 9 cars ever.
(Hmm 9 cars that's where all my money went)

But one thing to note is none of these cars are going to be that cheap to run (ie group 16 insurance on 306/Clio 172 etc, only one group lower than a scooby!).

Others to look at -
Corrado VR6 - good performance, brilliant Front drive chassis.
Toyota MR2 - RWD, not practical but some fun.
Nissan 200 SX - RWD, slightly more practical, huge depreciation from new!
Subaru Impreza Sport - !


Have considered a similar downward change if I can't go down the Skyline route for a bit

Jon

 

Go for a R5 Turbo (not GT). probably considered by most owners as a 'fun' car

 

Jon mate,

Gotta disagree with you there.

The 306GTi6 will pi55 all over a VTS - there's 40 brake difference out the box, plus the 6 speed! My brother's got a GTi6, and for a front wheel driver, it's an excellent car.

Also got an ex-Louise Aitken-Walker 1.9 GTi 205, which we're preparing for next year's Midlands rally club champs. It's also a superb handling car, but it helps with a cage, and no weight!

Aside from the ones listed, you could buy a Cossie if you're after RWD.... just like I've got!

 

Hanslow > Feel free to consider a car similar to mine. You're in the right price range, but it's a bit older (latest '96) -

http://www.gsiturbo.co.uk
Rover 220gsi turbo
200bhp, 0-60 6.4, top end 150
Rear tyres last forever, fronts take a bit more wear
Group 17 insurance
I'm getting nearly 30mpg on Optimax!!

I consider it to be rather fun

 

How about a Honda Civic VTI or a Jordon, easily get 34mpg, very understated car, you can some good mods too, and you will be keeping the Jap theme ie- doesn't break down, bits don't fall off. Prices will tumble too with the new CTR.

 

Xsara VTS and the Gti 6 both have the same 167bhp engine. I had a GTI 6 before the scoob and the wife has a VTS and I think the VTS is slightly better on handling but I prefered the 6 speed box. I also had 5 205's which are amazing little cars including a 230 bhp 6 speed one! but if I was you I'd buy a Xsara VTS you won't regret it!

 

what about the skoda octavia rs?

1.8 20v 180bhp

i nearly got one instead of my impreza gx.

 

The Octavia is a stunning car for the money, a colleague at work has one...(7.09 to 62 mph....not shabby).

THE car to get from the VW stable.

/J

 

I had a 306 GTI-6 before the Scoob, it was absolutely brilliant, going back to one would not be a hardship!

Peugeot seem to have lost the 'fun to drive' plot with the 307 so far - but I wouldn't bet against them introducing a 307 in a couple of years that will wipe the floor with the competition!!!

 

I have owned a J reg 1.9 205 (with a cat!) and a R reg 306GTi6.

The 1.9 was a great car but began to cost a bit once it reached 80k. It was a bit cheap on the build side so sold it at 96k and bought the 306 with 4k on the clock. Ran the 306 to 20k and in that time had a sticky rear caliper replaced under warranty but the bu55ers charged me for discs and pads. Also Air bag ECU replaced due to a flashing dashboard light. Battery lead corroded so sold it b4 MOT and bought the scoob.

The 306 was a great car but lacked something off the line that the 205 had. Once the 306 got going it would pi55 all over the 205.

The insurance on my scoob cost just £70 more than the 306 so it was and easy choice to head on down to scoobyland.

Cheers

Neal

 

Before I took the plunge and invested in the Scoob, I had a totally standard Saxo VTS 98R. It was a cracking little motor, even straight out of the box. It was relatively cheap on insurance (about half what I'm paying now) and even when caning it around I used to get, at worst, 32-33 mpg. On a good motorway run, I'd regularly get 40-45mpg (the best I got was cruising down to Croatia last summer when I got 500 miles on a 10 gallon tank!!). Generic running costs are not bad either.

Handling is great, its very chuckable and can very easily embarrass 'more able cars with a lot more horsepower'. It seems to be the car to be modded at the moment which seems to transform this pocket rocket into a very rapid little car and indeed ... in my humble opinion it looks the part too. Also, in my expeience, the car was ultra reliable ... 43000 miles of mostly hard driving and it never let me down. I was very sad to see it go but once in my MY99 Turbo .........

Try one and see what you think, its a good car that's firmly in your budget!!

Phil

 

Thanks for all your input so far, I'm still mulling it over

I would like a car that I can make some initial minor mod's to, and maybe some major ones later. I might stick with the Scoob anyway, I just get very paranoid at the moment leaving it anywhere. Then again, I spose in todays society, I'll be like that with any car

You've come up with some good ideas that gives me a broader list to choose from when the time arises. I would like to start doing some of my own maintenance as well on these things.

RichardPON, what are the running costs of your brothers GTI-6 (I like the look of these if you hadn't guessed ), with insurance, mpg, servicing?

Haven't got my heart set on anything (cos it may not happen), but I need to get a car to go for, and then another type might just blow it away

I did an online quote on elephant for my current scoob and a gti-6 and the difference was about 300 quid Think something isn't right there. I put it down to the current media attention and the like of the scoob.....

Saxo is quite nice, but I don't know if I could hang out with 17 yr olds again (being somewhat older )

GTI-6 gets a good write-up, hence my current car of choice....but a lot can happen over 4 months. I may decide to part with Scoob, test drive all these cars suggested, find they're naff, and stick with the expense

Any more suggestions?

 

fiesta rs turbo, if you can find a good one. very quick in the dry, and a bit of a handfull in the wet. not very good on front tyres tough. handling is prity good too. 0-60mph in 7.5, top end 135mph so its quite nippy.

 

Astra Gsi - look great, 150 bhp standard, fairly big and comfortable.

 

And there you were wanting to buy my spoiler

I used to have a W-reg Ford Puma, the 1.7, (1.4 waste of time)

ASked about what I would improve on it I suggested getting the bloody thing LOWERED!!! And transplanting the 2.5 V6 24V engine into it

I think that would be a bloody good 2WD car Albeit front wheel drive

 

Yeah, think the spoiler is on hold for the mo 'chelle. Unless you want to part with yours on the cheap

Missus has my old puma (1.7), and it is indeed now lowered and looks a lot nicer Good car, but still pricey 2nd hand.

Been out in the Scoob today and am currently in the mind of keeping it I'll keep changing my mind over the next 4 months or so until I see my insurance quote and we decide spring time whether to start looking for a new house (with double garage )

Ideally, I'm gonna be looking at a little run around to start with, then when I can afford it, I will make plenty of use of the garage building a Caterham/Westie

Donington will probably put my mind back to keeping the Scoob Oh for a nice windfall to pay it off, then I'll be sorted.

 

Rich, any figures from your brothers pug? What are the service intervals of the GTI-6 and costs? General running costs?

'Chelle, in the light of day, wasn't that a somewhat sensible post for you? Must be all them pain killers (hope your getting better )

 

Hanslow,

I had a GTI-6 too before the scoob. It is a cracking piece of kit and no matter how similar it was to a Xsara VTS it still got all the raves and the Xsara didn't - Xsara looks naff next to the GTi-6 The GTi-6 was constantly acclaimed by the motoring press as THE best hot hatch available for about 5 years.
With a slight drop on the suspension it will handle like its on rails and theres plenty of mods available if you get the bug. Eg. 200bhp is easily gained
Mine was a P plater and back then the service was every 9k miles and cost about 150 quid, I think they extended it around S/T reg to being every 20k miles, cambelt is due at 65k or something like that. Never had major expense to pay on it - new front discs and pads were about 200 quid and I had to get a new CAT put on it which cost 250 quid.
Oh and the 6 speed box is a bewt, but be prepared to drop a couple of cogs for overtaking as it takes until about 4k revs to really start getting some pace

Hope that helps, if ya wanna know anything else, give me a shout

Cheers
Neil

 

What are you lot on about? 2WD doesn't necessarily mean FWD. I'm sure you could find something RWD in your price bracket (BMW325/328 springs to mind).

 

I didn't specify FWD (did I? ), would take RWD, in fact would probably take 4WD, such as Celica GT-4 for the right price.

Spose the natural thing would be to go back to FWD as they are more common and hence wider variety of choice.

Would welcome rear wheel as much as anything

 

Why do people seem to get Saxo VTR rather than VTS? Is there something we should know about the VTS? THey are supposed to be more powerful so I m surprised you never see them.

Adrian

 

Neil, thanks for the info. Will look into things a bit more and assess finances and the like before I call upon your top knowledge

Choices choices, and none that will make me happy

 

Either an E30 325 sport or a RWD cossie. Or anything with RED and an LSD. I would never go back to FWD now that I have visited oversteer city.
My ultimate would be a MkII with a Cossie lump in it. Heaven.
astraboy.

 

Hanslow,

My brother should reply to this tonight or tomorrow, and I'll try and get some pics up in the meanwhile.

He's also selling his 306 GTi6, but I'll get him to tell you about it.

 

Steve, I think what you need is a full Grp 'A' 205.....
And I know just where you can get one

Pete

 

Gimme a price Pete and I may just take it off your hands Unless you want a partner in getting it on track

Will you be there at Donno?

Rich, cheers mate

 

Hmmmm, going on a previous suggestion, the Nissan 200sx look to have quite a nice power to 2nd hand purchase value ratio

Rear wheel fun for sub 10K.....hmmmmm

 

BMW 325/328, Sierra Cossie (RWD), Nissan 200SX, Mazda Mx-5, Fiat Barchetta, Westfield, Vauxhall Carlton GSi 24v. For more muscle try a BMW E30 M3, E28 M5, or Porsche 944 if you can find a good one and afford the running costs. For FWD try Peugeot 106 Rallye/GTi, 306 Rallye/GTi-6, Ford Puma, Renault Clio Williams, VW Corrado VR6.

P.S. Edited to include the Honda Integra Type-R

[Edited by matt d - 10/30/2001 3:29:38 PM]

 

P.S. RWD is more fun than 4wd