ak47mh

Hello

I am currently driving a 5 door Ford Focus ST170 and also have a Suzuki GSXR Sports bike, which I have owned for the last 3 years.

The car is great practical wise with 2 young boys and handles well, plus I get the speed kicks on the bike and runnings costs are not too bad between the two. Yet I find myself using the bike less and less with taking up road cycling plus a young family and really miss owning a nice car as I owned a Audi S4 B6 Avant before this.

The car needs to be practical, it won't do high mileage as we both work from home, but I don't want massive running costs with servicing etc. So with a budget of roughly 10K, what would you choose:

VW Golf R32 MK5 - 5 door, lovely sound, is it that exciting to drive?
Ford Focus ST - 5 door, nice sound, not sure I will love it and get bored quickly?
Ford Focus RS MK1 - RS badge, bit old now, 3 door and even choppier ride than ST170?
BMW M3 Coupe - Probably my favorite, yet practical at all, plus servicing & tyres expensive?
Audi RS4 B5 - Love the looks & power, but getting old & again that exciting to drive?

What would you choose & any others I have missed out on?

Cheers,
Ant

SamUK

iTrader: (1)

BMW 535d

Trout

iTrader: (1)

In my own humble experience - anything from the VW/Audi stable is like driving under the influence of an anaesthetic

tony de wonderful

M3 would be my chariot of choice. RWD and importantly not VAG.

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

R32 supposed to be a bit dull to drive, Focus ST drink fuel like no tomorrow, Focus RS supposed to be terrible on anything other than racetrack smooth tarmac, M3 good but be lucky to get a 3rd gen M3 for ten grand or will have a lot of miles on the clock and RS4 will cost way more than 10k.

Found one of these on autotrader, supposed to feel a bit more racey to drive than equivilent Golfs http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...11ll?logcode=p

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Mazda 6 mps

STI hatch or hawkeye

megane r26

cuprajake

iTrader: (11)

leon cupra r 55 plates with 50k go for 5 grand now, simple map will see 260-270 bhp 6 speed box, good mpg cheap to service, pretty reliable and very understated


im after another at the moment,

ak47mh

Thanks for all the replies.

I think the comments about VAG are still true, pretty much one of the reasons I sold the S4 and didn't miss it much afterwards. Just thought the R32 and RS4 might be less understeery.

I think the car needs to be special like an M3 to be worthwhile selling the bike as could could see me getting bored soon with a Focus ST or Leon Cupra as nice as they are. I would have one no probs if I could also afford to keep the bike. Practical wise the M3 would be a compromise, but I have driven one and is always the car I come back to with what to get next. Maybe I need to have another serious look..

EddScott

Whereas I get the VAG comments they are still great cars IMO.

I'm getting a B7 Avant 170 TDI SLine in the next month or so. I'd love a TFSi petrol but need the TDI legs.

Taken my Jeep to a garage for a service and they have an B7 RS4. Stunning car IMO.

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

Well, you've answered your own question, and looking on autotrader there seems to be many M3's for around 10k with not drastic mileage on them so off you go fella . Don't know what the running costs are going to be like but pretty high I would imagine.

scoobyc

iTrader: (2)

running costs are not great.

as a very rough cost
tyres = 1k
service 250, 400, 1k intervals
brakes will be around 1k for all disks and pads
few weaknesses i.e. subframe, alternator(180), wishbones (400), rear springs(200), heated seats fail (free, broken wire usually). supercharger (5k )

Fantastic car tho. cannot be beaten £ for £ for what you get. Not perfect however, but closest 10k will come to getting perfection i rekon!

If you really like driving but dont want to have tcs disabled, try and get an 04 plate. As they usually come with teh same ecu & instrument cluster as the CSl which means you can enable m-track mode.

SMG imo = loads of win, but pump failures do occur around 2k i believe.

fpan

iTrader: (11)

Forester Sti.

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

Astra VXR
Leon Cupra
Focus ST/Golf (heard they're boring to drive)

Dingdongler

As somebody who uses those everyday I can use my professional experience to confirm your humble one

Saying that the B7 RS4 was actually great to drive on the road. I know it was always beaten on track by a M3 but it was still great on the road.

It seems that every once in a while an Audi escapes from the design board before it is destroyed by the guys that work in steering and chassis depts.