The Chief

Well after 15 months of Scooby ownership my baby is going.
to say i'm devastated is an understatement.

truth is in fuel and mods and maintenance it has cost me a fortune and something has to give.

Anyway i may be asking the impossible here but i am going to buy a car for a grand or so no here lies the problem.


i want a nice handling quick (ish) drivers car for this money that is reliable and will return 30mpg plus - impossible?

Well i was thinking along the lines of a 2.0 Mondeo (supposed to handle well) or a MK2 Golf GTi, now i realise it will be a big step down in peformance from my Scoob but it has to handle well and i realise that it will not perform half as good.

any suggestions apart from the above.

cheers

TopBanana

Last time I heard the 1.8 Mondeos handled better

AudiLover

last I heard mondeos do nothing you are asking of.

The Chief

You've obviously have never drove one

i rate them and so do the motoring press - although yes they do earn their name mundano.

StiX

iTrader: (4)

I used to own a 94 2.0 Mondeo Ghia - pretty rubbish handling imo., not very quick and struggled to get 30mpg.

I also used to own a 91 Mk2 GTi - pretty good handling, quicker but no rocket (8v) and also struggled to get 30mpg.

The Chief

Aren't the revised ones i.e. 97 onwards meant to be better.

hmmm thats put the cat amongst the pigeons,

StiX

iTrader: (4)

I also briefly owned an R-Reg facelifted 2.5 Ghia X, that was also a bit of a boat handling wise?

Perhaps other peeps can comment?

The Chief

i suppose anything handles well compared to my old Chavalier

Moonloops

If you want a small car the Rover 200vi gives good performance and economy.

The Chief

How much do these run at???

graham22

Civic 1.5LSi - go for the post 96 model with VTEC (not the VTI as these are not £1k). I was in a similar situ a couple of years back & bought a high miler one of these, very good on petrol & will run with a Mk2/3 Golf GTI. Bit bland as standard but most alloys will fit, otherwise electric windows/roof etc plus Honda reliability.
My sister bought it from me, has now done 180k miles & earnt her 6 points for speeding!

bushiwarrior

civic type-r ep3 model can be got cheaply atm and are very good at handling and reasonably good on fuel.

Longjing

You could get an MR2 for that - MK1 or early 2. Might be a bit rough, but ought to be fun and mildly fast.

Or perhaps something like a Prelude? Never very fashionable, should be a fair choice at that sort of price.

The Chief

I must admit i have thought of an early prelude

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Yea right! The cheapest ones are currently fetching around £8000!
Think you mean the vti, but these are still going for 2K.

RUDDY

if you could stretch to 2k civic vti would be the best bet! very good cars!

TopBanana

A friend of mine had one and hated it. Not enough torque.

Mondeos are great all-round cars if you want the max for your money

stoneface

iTrader: (6)

Highly recommend a Nissan primera Gt.

k.b

you can get civic vti's for a grand.it might be an eg vti but they are supposedly the better of the vtis,or alternatively you could pick up a very nice crx for that sort of money.

or as mentioned a primera gt or egt.

Moonloops

usuallly £800 to £1400

I got mine off ebay for £350 LOL - mechanically perfect, slight dent in one wing. Runs like a dream 145BHP, car weighs nothing so quite fun!

wrxcraig

IMO i would definatly look at buying a cavalier gsi 2000 16v, 2l saloon,owned one for 3yrs and never let me down, they go really well and if lowered with 17" they really do handle, really good on fuel and maintance is next to nothing.
The interior is nice with recaro seats, all windows, mirrors and sunroof are electric and a real nice drive.

Andy M3

Another vote for this car, or Civic 1.8VTI

Brendan Hughes

With Konis all round they can out-handle a scoob

delcbr

i think your best bet is a honda civic vti saloon they come with the 1.8 vtec engine i think its 177 bhp and can be had cheap as their not desirable and their gonna be reliable!!!which is what you want when buying something older.
i wouldnt bother with a cavy ive heard lots of people with camshaft sensor faults on them which screws things up.
the car mechanics choice is the primera up to 99 plate as you will never need to lift the bonnet and they also handle superb and iam not even talking about the sporty models.my pal bought a primera 2litre 16v fully loaded gte was lowered as standard had a 6disc multi changer black leather seats with the piping i cant remember if they were heated but it came with a momo steering wheel and gear **** which was supposed to be a limited edition model as he checked it on the net not some chav who fitted these bits lol
it wasnt a fast car but by f**k it handled well!!! and he said it was the best handling car hes owned and better than the clio williams he had before he only sold that cos his missus was having a baby!!
it just goes to show you that ppl jump on the bandwagon and say the clio williams is one of the best handling cars then he buys a primera gte and says it outhandled it but who would mention a primera for handling?
if these dont fit your budget id sugest another honda i think with fords and vauxhalls and french s***t your only gonna get hassle.
theres my 2p worth.

Billgtt

I've got a '93 Mondeo. When I got it the handling was more than crap. It was so scary it felt like it was going to fall over every time I breathed on the steering wheel, and I used to dred driving it in the rain. However, a new set of lower arms and some decent Michelin tyres (albeit second hand) and it's a whole different kettle of fish! I'm now very suprised with how well it handles for such a big, FWD car. And dare I say it, it's actually a right laugh chucking it through the twisties

The Chief

I totally agree with the Primera - a lad at work has the SE model and i was amazed at how that handled, the thing is i'm not struck on the interior.

(says me coming from an Impreza)

RoRu

I assume that it needs 4 seats/doors?

hades

206 2.0XSi? Can't get a GTi-6 for that money, but plenty of the 5 door XSi's about, which definitely handle well, and whilst the engine is nothing special are in the same kind of performance league as 1.8/2.0 Mondeos etc. Can't comment on reliability of petrol engines, may be not great, but I do know my old D Turbo I had for 25k miles (in 7 months!) never missed a beat.

B9GLY

think you mean 306!

206 XSI is only a 1.6. and would cost more than a grand! i wouldnt buy frence, they are cheap for a reason

AudiLover

NISSAN 200SX