10k budget - What Family Car would you choose
 

I'm thinking of upgrading the family transport in the new year and would like your thoughts/views on the options. I think I may be a little blinkered on what I am thinking of getting, so would appreciate your thoughts which may help to remove the blinkers.

Current family motor is:
Seat Leon FR PD170 with Seat BTCC kit, 19's and Remap (215bhp/332ftlb)

The above is a diesel and I have petrol in my veins, so the dugga dugga tractor noise has to go as it's polluting my brain. I much prefer noise out the back rather then through the bulkhead.

Requirements for replacement :
1. Petrol
2. 230-300bhp (starting point)
3. Not High Tax bracket
4. Hatch preferred
5. Not plain Jane or sales rep esq.
6. No chelsea tractors

Legacy Spec B. Meets all but the tax bracket issue! Unless you go JDM Twinscroll....

Its not a hatch but,

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...te-car/3091935

Can't really see the family climbing in and out of that or mountain bikes on the roof.

Too thirsty. The Hawkeye STi I had before was too juicey for day to day town work.

I did a search on PH and when you put in your power requirement most things disappear except for scoobs and evo's.:lol:

Hatch scoob ??

For that kind of money I would buy a ford mondeo st220 3.0 v6 it has a big boot , petrol , can fit bike rack on the back , family car and has the power you're after and you can still have £4000-£6000 change after paying for the car .

How about a Saab 9-3 V6 2.8T Sportwagon?

Difficult requirements list.... up to £10k will put you in the territory of post-'56 platers for most things, and you're not going to get anything that's petrol and 230-300bhp without hitting the high tax bracket.

Or are you specifically looking at something say 2004-2006 to dodge the tax?

Great car for sure, but they're nowhere near the budget..... I've seen decent ST220's for under 3k with low mileage. Also, power wise I expect they'd feel quite a big slower that Scott's current diesel.

Maybe a lazy auto Merc?
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...7500?logcode=p

Pre-tax hike on a '55 plate... and only 30k miles!

If it weren't for the juice I'd have suggested a FSTi.

This one won't work if a Spec B was too thirsty.... but a bit of a wildcard choice (spend the change on fuel ;))

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...ge/1?logcode=p

S Type R with a 4.2 V8 - nice looking car (from the side :lol: )

Golf GTI Edition 30 DSG

All too juicey being 2.5 and 3.0
If juice wasn't an issue it would be an Audi S4 Avant or I'd stretch the budget to an early RS4.

Petrol GTI or Cupra r?

Focus St with mountune map?

Audi s4 v8

Struggling to think of anything, all the interesting german stuff is 3 door or a saloon unless you go down the estate route again. Even the Octavia VRS in petrol form only has 190bhp. Jag X type is a saloon again and they're even more of an old mans car tthan my civic (sorry Jo). Looks like you need to get a 330 or M3, you've ruled out another diesel so that knocks the the 330d and 335d on the head.

Just a thought that should be instantly dismissed but Insignia VXR?

Well one of those was what I was looking at with my blinkers on.
Cupra/Cupra R or K1 with Revo map.
All £260 to tax IIRC.

And my roofrack will fit ;)

Maybe or maybe not http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-SUBAR...item4187009c9c

i know what you have stated but JDM later Twin Scroll Legacy Estate takes some beating IMO

well in budget and spend the rest on FUEL.........:nod:

r32 4 door? no tunning issues, built well and performance

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volkswagen...item2a43b2f57c

It pain's me to say it (or perhaps it pains you guy's more to hear it), but I really don't want another Subaru.

There's only one Subaru for me, and that's the one tucked up in the garage. The only Subaru that would replace it is a very good Type R (i.e one where I wouldn't have to start from scratch getting it where I want it).

I didn't realise how good the search engine is on P'Heads.

Set it to :
8K - 11K
5-Doors
2.0 Litres (Max)
200BHP - 350BHP

Quite a few Golf GTi's and SEAT's : http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...ors=005&Page=1

m5?
unsure on tax
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-BMW-M...item4ae003b8b1

If you want to drive one we have a 12 plate cupra R on the 'fleet' at the moment that has been mapped. It feels very quick, scrabbles around a bit for grip in the wet but its good fun. You are more than welcome to.

Cheers Steve, I may take you up on that.
Is that a Revo Stage 1 or 2 ?

I know the guy's at Bartlett's SEAT quite well and I am sure they could find me one.
They have also commented highly on what I have done to my FR (which I got from them, then bought the BTCC kit through them), so a deal should be quite straight forward.

If the Cupra/Cupra R sourced has no BTCC kit I could probably get that at cost price.

Not sure on the stage of tune but it took it to about 315bhp i seem to remember. It looks the part as its white with black 19's, twin centre pipes and some awesome carbon (effect?) front seats. It goes back to the lease company in March when it will be replaced with a Golf R (on that crazy £199 per month lease deal :shock:)

535 BM estate

Too big and another gas guzzler.
I know I said I have petrol in my vein's but didn't expect to have to cut my wrists to run it.

I know a couple of guys who have had Cupra R's and they all rave about them, awesome car apparently.

I run a 330i touring as my sensible family car.

Mine is a 2010 model with the N53 Engine with 270bhp. Engine changed in 2008 so if you went 2008 you could get the older more reliable (better sounding) N52 Engine this has 260 bhp. Should be able to pick one of these up for £10k. My wife just recently sold her 130i with the same engine. I am not saying get the 1 series. Buy the 3 and get the N52 engine.

On a motorway cruise I get mid 30's and have has 38 mpg if you keep it 60-65mph.

Get yourself a n/a straight 6 before they are all dead.

http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...psc445406a.jpg

Go H6!

Although I said don't buy the 130i it is fairly rapid & developing a following. Small boot & rear seats though.

http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...psbc1fb791.jpg

Audi diesel, stick a chip in it and off you go....

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...tronic/3133646

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...ne-5dr/1007822

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...ns-etc/3054986

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...-satnv/2719056

You won't have the noise you're after but they shouldn't sound like a tractor either, gets the mpg too.

That's just an expensive version of what I already have. With exactly the same engine.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...psb86e03f4.jpg

http://pictures2.autotrader.co.uk/im...024&height=685
http://pictures2.autotrader.co.uk/im...024&height=685

Audi RS4 Quattro 2.7

Very nice....

ford s-max

Doesn't quite fit the original brief.
The only time this family will be getting a people carrier is when I'm 6ft under.
Why does everyone want to drive with 500% more air inside a car than they would ever need.
MPV'S are the curse of the 20th century, roll on the return of the estate car.

Unless you have 5 kids :lol:

Lol....
I've managed to get my 2 kids moved around from the age of '0' to '14' in a 3-door cosworth and 3 subaru's. So the need for an MPV now is zip/narda/zero/never.

Wait until they go to university. Our Galaxy was fantastic for moving our son's stuff, just take out all the rear seats and you have a van! Also worked well for moving flats when the time came.

Having had most of the people carriers available the Galaxy is certainly one of the best. It's massive, has 7 proper seats and in 170bhp diesel form is good to drive too with minimal body roll for a big car. It also rides like a limo.

BMW E61 550i manual

LOL....like a 5 litre is a good family car !!!!!!!!

Nice, Bullet proof engines, A future classic that will only ever appreciate in value. And go like stink even in standard form. But Low 20's even with a very light foot.

But to fill the brief has to be a Vag TFSI I reckon, whether it be another Seat Leon, Audi A3/A4...

nice

:agreed:

Are nt the rs4 gear box s the weak point??

Thinking outside the box volvo v70r??

J26 now have one of these in :

http://images.junction26prestigetrad...27-640x480.jpg

Budget went up a bit today, as sat in a very nice Audi A4 S-Line on a 2012 plate.
I didn't realise it was an S-Line from the advert, so wasn't expecting much.
However, clocked the seats and flat bottomed wheel before getting the key, and when the bum went on seat I thought Hmm.....this is nice........

It has a huge amount of power.....all of 120PS.....but that helps the screen price compared to the 160PS version parked next to it.

Doing a little research, it's the same power plant as the 160PS and therefore can be 'adjusted' with a little help from Revo, APR, AMD, Superchips etc....to get it upto 210BHP & 285ftlb Torqs.

I think that ticks a big box.

I am coming round to the idea that the 'Fast' SEAT (As very nearly in a position to get a Cupra/Cupra 'R') will tick too many boxes that the Subaru ticks, so I need to reign it in a bit for the family car.