Sub 1.5k Smoll Hot Hatches

[LessThanEqual]

15 hours ago, Spurious said:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108216500962?atmobcid=soc3

This doesn't look too bad. 

Then again, it's at the very ropey end of the market considering you can struggle getting anything with an MOT for the 1k mark. 

Celica TSport is a little more common albeit less practical. I keep looking at these but the condition/price ratio is all over the place. 

[Spurious]

6 minutes ago, LessThanEqual said:

Celica TSport is a little more common albeit less practical. I keep looking at these but the condition/price ratio is all over the place. 

The Celica seems to rot for fun from what people say here.  Seem to remember something about the rear subframe hiding all sorts of nastyness which unless you go properly looking, you cant see.

[tooSavvy]

17 minutes ago, Spurious said:

The Celica seems to rot for fun from what people say here.  Seem to remember something about the rear subframe hiding all sorts of nastyness which unless you go properly looking, you cant see.

IIRC someone here tried a 'preMOT tickle' / tidyup on a Ceeleecar... 

Did Not End Well.... ?🤐

[grogee]

I was half looking out for a Clio with the 2.0. Not the RS, but there's a lower power one (Dynamique S maybe?) that's probably pretty good. And seems to be slightly ignored/shunned in terms of values. Hopefully it stays the right side of OMGTAX band.

I remember having a 1.2TCE Clio for a short time and it was really fun to drive, in a similar way to that Fiesta 1.25 you describe in OP.

I'm talking about the 3rd gen 2005-12 type one. 

[Spurious]

4 hours ago, tooSavvy said:

IIRC someone here tried a 'preMOT tickle' / tidyup on a Ceeleecar... 

Did Not End Well.... ?🤐

Yea, was it a Scottish person who'd got one. 

[grogee]

4 hours ago, Spurious said:

The Celica seems to rot for fun from what people say here.  Seem to remember something about the rear subframe hiding all sorts of nastyness which unless you go properly looking, you cant see.

Mine had a rear subframe that was a bit crispy. I did treat as much as I could with the usual goops but from memory there were some strut things that pointed forwards and were obscured by fuel tank, so hard to get to. 

It also was going around where the body meets the front subframe around the wheelarch area. 

Neither were terrible and I did my best to slow it down but this would be the areas that would kill them I think. 

[Ghosty]

7 hours ago, grogee said:

I was half looking out for a Clio with the 2.0. Not the RS, but there's a lower power one (Dynamique S maybe?) that's probably pretty good. And seems to be slightly ignored/shunned in terms of values. Hopefully it stays the right side of OMGTAX band.

I remember having a 1.2TCE Clio for a short time and it was really fun to drive, in a similar way to that Fiesta 1.25 you describe in OP.

I'm talking about the 3rd gen 2005-12 type one. 

@Conrad D. Conelrad had one of those. 

They have a very weird cat that's about £700 to replace. 

[Pete-M]

I was thinking this a while ago so I did the right thing and bought a Mini Cooper S (R53).

It's quick enough to be fun and corners ludicrously well. Mine does have sorted suspension though.

I paid slightly over £2k for one with nav, leather, cruise, xenons etc. 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

20 hours ago, grogee said:

I was half looking out for a Clio with the 2.0. Not the RS, but there's a lower power one (Dynamique S maybe?) that's probably pretty good. And seems to be slightly ignored/shunned in terms of values. Hopefully it stays the right side of OMGTAX band.

I remember having a 1.2TCE Clio for a short time and it was really fun to drive, in a similar way to that Fiesta 1.25 you describe in OP.

I'm talking about the 3rd gen 2005-12 type one. 

 

13 hours ago, Ghosty said:

@Conrad D. Conelrad had one of those. 

They have a very weird cat that's about £700 to replace. 

Yeah, I had a 56 plate 2.0 Dynamique S. It looked like a brand new car, but I only paid £750 for it because it broke down on the test drive. Once fixed I absolutely loved it. 136bhp in a little car is a perfectly adequate amount of power. It felt rapid when pushed and returned good fuel economy. Plus it had tons of cool shit like power folding mirrors, keyless ignition, cornering lights etc. 

I'd have kept it forever but not only did it need a weird cat replacement but the airbag light was on and I didn't want to MOT it. Would def. have another though. 

[S2000]

12 hours ago, Pete-M said:

I was thinking this a while ago so I did the right thing and bought a Mini Cooper S (R53).

It's quick enough to be fun and corners ludicrously well. Mine does have sorted suspension though.

I paid slightly over £2k for one with nav, leather, cruise, xenons etc. 

We have a Cooper S Cab in the home fleet that I treated to a pulley reduction and a remap, it’s a lunatic of a thing and probably I have spoilt it by making it pretty undriveable  on anything but dry roads, in fact it gets locked away until spring! Back in 1995/6 I worked for Massey Ferguson in Coventry and had a Clio 16V pool car at my disposal to run between the factory and Stoneleigh and I remember being able to drive that on the limit and have fun, back in the day it was a rocket compared to my XR2 but today it would be underwhelming… I went out in the Fiesta again today and loved it, I suspect eldest daughter has given up on driving so may sell it and contemplate a ‘hotish’ Clio 🤔

[BeEP]

This has just popped up on Gumtree for £1195 with MOT to Jan 23...

https://www.gumtree.com/p/ford/ford-fiesta-st-150-long-mot-drive-away-/1425730342

[vaughant]

21 hours ago, BeEP said:

This has just popped up on Gumtree for £1195 with MOT to Jan 23...

https://www.gumtree.com/p/ford/ford-fiesta-st-150-long-mot-drive-away-/1425730342

Cheap that. 

I've got an ibiza cupra 1.8 20Vt thingy but it does need some work from standing for the same sort of money. 

They're exceptional fun on twisty roads and the engine is infinitly tuneable. 

They have stupid niggles like odd displays on the radio which also does the heater controls but are generally a really nice car to drive. 

Getting quite rare now. 

I'm losing storage hence the cheap price.