Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Hi all, I'm looking into getting a car on behalf of my girlfriend.

Budget 5k, preferably no more than 4 years old, less than 50k miles.

Handling, steering feedback and feel is far more important than ***** out performance and it should be fairly comfortable on the motorways.

I'm thinking on the lines of the Peugeot 106, the GTI may be off limits for the budget, but the rallye (or maybe XS?) may suit. The Punto has been mentioned, does anyone have any experience of the GT or Sporting?

Any others?

All comments appreciated

Cheers,

Justin

mixit

GOLF ! .. GOLF! .. GOLF!
Forget the French tat! Go for German build quality. Believe me, Iv'e driven GTi's for 10 years... there is nothing to touch em.
I know they are now getting the "Kev" treatment but grab yourself a late "J" plate Mk II and you won't be sorry.
At last I have a scoob, but before it there was never any other car for me. I was a member of the owners club and I'm sure there must be a BBS out there somewhere for the real "GTi" owners. Search and check it out.
Mixit

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

C'mon people, surely some of you have had experience of these cars..

Justin

NeilR

Id go the 106 Rallye route myself.

Strangly enough, was thinking of getting one myself.

NeilR

camk

Got to agree with Mixit, I've had 4 GTi's 3 MKII & MK I Sportline Cabriolet. If your on a budget this is the way to go, solid car, good performance, plenty of room,reasonable insurance and they don't break down and are cheap to maintain.
MK II is the best(IMHO).Look for a J or if your lucky a K reg. Must have is Power Steering and service history, I peronally did 150K Miles in my first GTi over 3 years in that time all I did was tyres,battery and new waterpump !!!!and it was 2 years old when I bought it, traded it in with 175K Miles and got 50% of what I paid for it back, on another golf of course !!! Don't get a white one !!! Dark colours are best with Oak green being the best. 16V ones are faster but slightly less reliable and the parts are more expensive. Best Depreciation on any car I've owned and thats on them all...... I lost the same amount of cash in total on 4 Golfs over 5 years as I did on 1 Scooby over 2 years !!!!

Regards
Cammy

RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

Boring I know - but I gotta agree with these guys.
I still maintain that £ for £ my Mk2 Gti was the best car I ever owned.
Reliable (completely)
Quick-ish
Built well
Handles well

If I had a few spare k I would buy a late Mk2 example as a play thing !

Ro.

andyp

Sorry guys, I've got to disagree

if you want a car that handles and is entertaining to drive then the 106 or 306 has better sorted dynamics that ANY car VW has produced, bar maybe a VR6 corrado & MKI golf.

Okay, so the 106 feels like it's made out of rizzla papers, but boy does it handle! If you don't like woolly or dull handling cars don't get a golf. If you want good residuals and german build quality and don't mind sacrificing the handling then go the golf route.


Cheers,

Andy

camk

I've never had a Pug so I cannot comment but I did have a Renault 19 that went thru 3 electric sunroofs in the 18 months I had it and the back door fell off. ohh and the clutch pedal snapped and needed 6K or 8K mile oil servicing. So that was enough of a French experience for me.
I wouldn't say the Golf was boring, predictable yes, heavy in comparison to a 205 yes but never boring unless you get bored not taking it to the garage to get it fixed, except for rear calipers !!!!
However I believe the Pug in all its forms has a loyal following so that speaks for itself, I would have one based on the following just to see if its as good as they say. I always liked the look of the 309 Gti better but my wife said it looked like a Lada, so I never even got to test one !!!!!
Does everyone miss their old cars like me ?

Best of Luck
Cammy

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the responses, peeps

Sorry VW people, I'd mentioned the Golf to her previously - too old I'm afraid (the car, not her )

I'm going to try to perswade her to get the Rallye (I've always wanted to drive one of those) but I feel she'll opt for the comforts of the XS. We'll see....

Any comments on the Puntos?

BTW I've owned a 309GTI previously - brilliant car

Justin

timmsky

If you want to save yourself some money, but still have Fun... i have a 96K miler '89F 205 gti 1.6 in red.

Yours for £795 ono.

Solid as a rock, new exhaust, battery, clutch (6 miles), starter motor. Be great as a first car too if anyones' son/daughter/nephew/niece etc was interested.

MarkG

Try a Honda Civic Vti. They handle well, have a fantastic engine and are totally reliable. I've owned a couple of Civic's in the past and would definately get another.

Blow Dog

Almera GTI

mixit

Blow Dog.... Puleeeeeze!
Is the "GTi" the one with the Car rug fitted to the back seat as std.

MattN

I had a Punto GT for 18 months.

Yellow!!! Great fun. would spin the wheels in 4th in the wet. Handling ggets a bit of a bugger at high speeds and is not up to much in the wet, but het you shouldn't be driving like that in the wet.

Only problem I had was some t0ssers broke in to it. Being yellow lots of boy racers wanted to race, they would even turn around and chase me!!

Overall, it was a great car, really quick too, not off the mark as the front wheels can't handle the 136bhp but through the gears it was very quick, even past the 100 mark it would still go pretty fast up to about 120 before it would start to struggle, would go on to nearly 130 without problems.

Have you considered a Nissan 200sx??? Ok not a hot hatch but still get a good one for 5k, and it would be older than 4 years. But you get so much more car for your money, RWD 200bhp, great fun, much quicker than I thought it would be. Apart from the Punto GT it's the most fun I've had, except maybe the FTO but that's a different type of fun

Matt

Nathan L

Had this Punto GT for 4 years (soon to be making way for an MY01).
The Punto GT is good car. Mine is a bit boy racerish for some. Its quick and stops well. It's reliable in European car terms and parts are cheap enough. As Matt says the handling in the wet is not up to much, but in the dry it grips well. The ride is somewhat firm but you soon learn to live with it.

I am now preparing to get shot down in flames for posting this picture

Good luck with whatever you buy, why not try all of them?

Nathan..

106rallye

Just sold my 106 rallye(1.3)after 3 years and 32000 miles, and got a VTR. The rallye was a really good car when nearly new but it got old very quickly. It was also really expensive if anything went wrong (not much change from a grand for a head gasket from a pug main dealer!!!). Saying that it handled 10 times better than the VTR and the VTR is good. The 1.6 version of the rallye shares the engine with the VTR as well as quite a lot of other things(i think) and is much softer than the first one but the originals needed thrashing to get them to go (only good above 5000rpm but went on to about 7500)they also have a large ammount of engine noise. I would say a VTR would be good or else a late N reg 1.3 106 rallye if you can find one

Good luck
Andy

stevem2k

Got an MX-5 for the missus in Feb ( used prices go up as soon as the sun comes out ). UK model 1.8i 28k genuine miles 7k on a 'M'

They're rock solid on residuals if you get a uk motor. There are plenty of Jap Eunos imports floating about at the moment that are a bit cheaper to buy - but we're back to the old uk/import argument and it's as true for mazda as the scoobs. Insurance can be a bit of a shock - they're gp13 or 14.

Mechanicals are well sorted - watch for tatty/damp interiors and anything to do with the hood, as they aren't cheap to replace.

Lots of fun to drive though, and enough legroom for even a lanky bugger like me to drive.

SteveM

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

What a difference a weekend makes!!

A bit of sunshine and the MX5 is in the running, so much for the practical hatchback theory...

Best thing to do is test drive them all, should be fun

Cheers all,

Justin

David1982

Go for a VTR / VTS

Great value for money.

Second hand 'P' plate VTS should fit the bill.

Prices low ever since importing came into play.
Hope this helps

David

VTR driver for over a year.