One car to do all??

[Mike Scib]

Maybe a slight change in direction from the BMW.

Is it really possible for one car to do all, be it family car, so really needing to be a 4/5 door. B road blaster and dare i say it occasional track car for Tut Towers and AMP3 days oh and economical at the same time

I have 1 or 2 in mind at the moment but would be interested to hear others peeps ideas



Ps, budget 10k.

[scottishselise]

Need an MPG, age budget, running cost budget.....

Possible Fabia VRS?

4WD or RWD?

[Mr Momo]

For up here, I would have thought something along the lines of an RS4 Avant, perhaps a new RS3, but ride/handling ? Costs ????

I guess non-X BMWs have the RWD winter nightmare history. What about a 330i/D Estate MSport 4wd (don't think they make one) ? OK, so you said you wanted to move away from the X5.

But as I said - why would you want to buy just one car - I guess you already have 3 ?

All rounders may be too heavy for useful hooning round KH. Scoobarooo / Mitsibooossshee ?

I think we need some more boundaries around your needs/likes.

Time for a trip to Pistonheads....

[a4drk]

BMW 335d Estate
and get a set of winter tyres for it
286bhp standard, remaps to 344bhp

Thats what i'm after ..... (well the coupe version)

David

found a nice one with sat nav for £16k
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

[jbtco]

I think that BMW M cars are among the best all rounders ( having had 2 E46 M3s and on my second E92). Fantastic performance and practical. Winter tyres make a huge difference and while not turning the car into a snowplough make it useable in all but deepish snow. I currently have the OEM 8x18 all round winter wheels with Pilot Alpines but think a better solution may be to get std18" wheels (wider for rears) and put winter tyres on them to give better traction in the dry.

Downside is poorish fuel consumption particularly around town and the E92 is a fairly big car for parking easily.

Had an RS4 which was a bit surer footed when very wet but not so much fun quite twitchy if really pushed (on track). Other Audis apart from R8 still front heavy.

I tried 2 car solution of Golf GTD and Elise SC a couple of years ago but sadly my wife has had health problems meaning that getting in and out was not possible so it had to go after a year. Golf GTD was economical but frankly awful to drive with dreadful steering and no brake feel.

[Lazydonkey]

No.

HTH

[j2 lot]

No.

HTH

[Jeremy]

I agree with the above, NO is the answer.

A Scoobie probably comes closest but then they're not exactly renowned for their fuel economy. But if you spent say £6k on a nice WRX wagon with PPP then you'd have plenty left in the pot for slightly higher fuel bills

[pete]

I agree with the above, NO is the answer.

A Scoobie probably comes closest but then they're not exactly renowned for their fuel economy. But if you spent say £6k on a nice WRX wagon with PPP then you'd have plenty left in the pot for slightly higher fuel bills

Had a PPP Scooby for a year or so. Very quick, hilarious to drive in the driving rain as you seemingly don't need to slow down. But my they are thirsty, and whilst on paper that makes sense when you keep having to put fuel in the bloody thing the novelty starts to wain.

I overcame this for a while by always making sure Mrs Pete had it when it needed fuel (every 5 days or so). That way I didn't notice it.

But that is not a sustainable financial strategy.

[Dominic]

Nope- some come close, but there will always be a compromise in one area or other.

After months of thought, and a few test drives I have ended up with two cars (although I may well change the astra for something more interesting at some point).

[Mike Scib]

I agree its going to be a compromise but only wanting to run the one car for 6 months or so while Lynda is off work looking after baby Scib I also have the use of my works van if needs be.

As said budget is 10k, i am thinking diesel as the thought of running a petrol car does not appeal as a daily driver, plus i like the power band of diesels for a daily driver with the power being where you want it.

http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/cargrou ... us_st.html

Megane 175 DCI with the Cup pack and Recaros

[Dominic]

Megane RS Dci not a bad call - are they not fairly hard to find? (which I guess will make re-sale easy)

[tuscan_thunder]

Golf GTi (MK5)

[Peter]

Clio sport.. I secretly yearn for one of the newer ones

Edit of course that hardly meets your criteria.. Megan RS?

[gorrie]

Don't quite get that logic behind that EVO review TBH.
Comparing a 'sporty diesel' against a GTI-type petrol is fair enough... but then choosing a Focus ST against the Megane DCI Cup seems daft. They could have chosen the petrol RS Megane 225 Cup (non-LSD) against the DCI Cup to give a more objective view on how the extra weight of the diesel engine affects handling.

The RS 225 Cup seems to drink less fuel than a Focus ST... so maybe there'd have been no story if they'd done that.

Anyway... you said you were only looking at running it for 6mths... how many miles are you going to be doing in that period. Is a diesel really necessary for such a short period? I get around 28mpg average out of the petrol.. so it's not too bad. There's not so many RS 175's around, so I reckon your choice would be limited if you want a specific colour/spec.