Recommend me a tiny, fast little car

[chris667]

Hello

I am selling my current hobby vehicle and already looking for the replacement.

I fancy a car that is little, quick but doesn't look too boy racerish. I have to admit I really love my other half's new Puegeot 107. I like that size of car and it is very chuckable. It's just so sloooow. Reasonable parts availability - I am starting to run into that with my van.

Gawd knows what cars cost at the minute - anything up to 4k, let's say.

Any ideas, gang?

[wesacosa]

[chris667]

Oooh, what's that?

[camryv6]

Kia picanto 1.0 turbo remap to 140 bhp

[wesacosa]

8 minutes ago, chris667 said:

Oooh, what's that?

Clio 182.  One of the last of the light flimsy over engined hot hatches, although newest ones are now 15 or so years old and weren't that well built when new. huge fun though especially with the Cup suspension.  I had mine, shown in the pic, in 2009ish. wouldn't mind another

[D.E]

Panda 100HP is good fun!

[chris667]

2 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

One of the last of the light flimsy engined hot hatches.

Thank you, that is exactly what I am looking for. My old Corsa nearly put me off driving. So boring. Like a big, underpowered tank.

It's the thing I like about the 107 - it feels flimsy.

[Dan29]

Panda 100HP

Swift Sport

Ford Puma

Maybe some other ideas here. 

[wesacosa]

The Twingo sport is supposed to be quite good too if you want something a bit more modern

 

[wesacosa]

I bought my 182 pretty much on the strength of this 

https://youtu.be/aZtSeNBI-iA

[Matty]

Swift sport

St150

[motorpunk]

Twingo 133.

Abarth 500 - I bloody love these.

 

[Fabergé Greggs]

Nothing is as tiny or as fast as a motorbike 

[BorniteIdentity]

Metro with 1.8vvc conversion. Ideally a “Kensington” branded model in giffer green. 

[Dan29]

2 minutes ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Nothing is as tiny or as fast as a motorbike 

A mouse?

[Stanky]

Worth looking at any Daihatsu IMHO. I have the cream of the crop, a Sirion rally 2 but they are vanishingly rare and parts are *ahem* challenging. Not impossible, but not ECP website material either.

As a general rule they rev like mad, mine doesn't redline until 8000rpm and some of the 660cc Kei cars keep going through to 10,000rpm (!)

They are also - generally - mega light. My Sirion is apparently 790kg, some of the Kei cars are under 700kg so the modest BHP figures are actually far more important as a bhp/tonne metric.

Also Saxo VTS or 106 XSi (?)

Also also - @loserone's 205 1.4

ETA - and i've mentioned this before - but you can get a supercharger kit for the toyota 1KR-FE engine HERE which will turn it into a proper sleeper with a dogs trust sticker in the back window and a walking stick (securely mounted) on the parcel shelf.

[Nullzwei]

Vauxhall Meriva VXR. 

2007 vauxhall meriva vxr 1.6 turbo | in Blackburn, Lancashire | Gumtree

[bigfella2]

Twingo 133, it's basically a 172/182 suspension setup without the engine,  I so wanna try one and I've got a 182.

[chris667]

3 minutes ago, Nullzwei said:

Vauxhall Meriva VXR. 

2007 vauxhall meriva vxr 1.6 turbo | in Blackburn, Lancashire | Gumtree

Ha! That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen!

I quite like it, but it's a bit bigger than I fancied.

[goosey]

VW Lupo GTIs go quite well

[chris667]

14 minutes ago, Stanky said:

Worth looking at any Daihatsu IMHO. I have the cream of the crop, a Sirion rally 2 but they are vanishingly rare and parts are *ahem* challenging. Not impossible, but not ECP website material either.

As a general rule they rev like mad, mine doesn't redline until 8000rpm and some of the 660cc Kei cars keep going through to 10,000rpm (!)

They are also - generally - mega light. My Sirion is apparently 790kg, some of the Kei cars are under 700kg so the modest BHP figures are actually far more important as a bhp/tonne metric.

Also Saxo VTS or 106 XSi (?)

Also also - @loserone's 205 1.4

ETA - and i've mentioned this before - but you can get a supercharger kit for the toyota 1KR-FE engine HERE which will turn it into a proper sleeper with a dogs trust sticker in the back window and a walking stick (securely mounted) on the parcel shelf.

Those are exactly what I am thinking about. The supercharger is particularly interesting.

[McRusty]

27 minutes ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Nothing is as tiny or as fast as a motorbike 

you 'aint whistlin' Dixie sister. I had a GPZ900r in the day. Weighed a ton but it was far more capable than I was.

[Matty]

39 minutes ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Nothing is as tiny or as fast as a motorbike 

@chris667 on the basis of the advice of the honourable member above can I recommend the Kawasaki ZXR750. I might also have one available soon when it's back from the menders. More exciting and frightening than a fiesta at any rate

[AnnoyingPentium]

21 minutes ago, goosey said:

VW Lupo GTIs go quite well

Is it possible to get one for under 4k though? Best I could see was a Cat D one at £4,400 on AutoTrader. They're nice wee motors though.

[Missy Charm]

Puma.  

[straightSix]

41 minutes ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Metro with 1.8vvc conversion. Ideally a “Kensington” branded model in giffer green. 

I saw one of these conversions on a track day once. Absolutely stripped to the gills. Never seen anything corner like it, it almost skipped along! Looked great fun though

[GR8 PL8 M8]

Excuse the Americanism, but...

Miata

Is

Always

The

Answer?

[95 quid Peugeot]

Celtic remap, 190bhp

[cobblers]

You might be able to get a low end abarth 595 for nearly that.

I fucking loved mine. Not actually that fast, but usable, has character and they sound just fantastic. 

infact I'm going to look for another one. 

[Fabergé Greggs]

9 minutes ago, Matty said:

@chris667 on the basis of the advice of the honourable member above can I recommend the Kawasaki ZXR750. I might also have one available soon when it's back from the menders. More exciting and frightening than a fiesta at any rate

Talk to me about this bike! I’m looking for my first licence-loser