Help to choose my next car..

Franspeed

Franspeed

Well-known user
Feb 23, 2014
673
576
Nottinghamshire
Just considering getting a new car... (not brand new, but new to me ) I can raise about £4000 and have been looking at:

Ford Focus ST2 (or ST3 if price is right.)

Honda Civic Type R or Type R GT.

VW Golf GTi Turbo.

Just wondering if any of you guys have any experience of the above cars, and can give me pointers on things to be aware of, or to look out for, or even alternatives to the above, any help or tips etc will be greatly appreciated, I will be keeping my cat, but I'm looking to take it off the road and get some work done on it.
 
Paul my brother has been running a 2003 (EP3 model I think) Type-R for a couple of years now. We bought it for £3200 and it's a totally standard car. On a twisty road you would have to be in something seriously quick to keep up, yet the six-speed box means that it's civilised on the motorway. It has been totally reliable, parts are reasonably priced, and no sign of corrosion, unlike the equivalent Focuses we looked at. I can't praise the car highly enough.
 
Old-ford-fran said:
Just considering getting a new car... (not brand new, but new to me ) I can raise about £4000 and have been looking at:

Ford Focus ST2 (or ST3 if price is right.)

Honda Civic Type R or Type R GT.

VW Golf GTi Turbo.

Just wondering if any of you guys have any experience of the above cars, and can give me pointers on things to be aware of, or to look out for, or even alternatives to the above, any help or tips etc will be greatly appreciated, I will be keeping my cat, but I'm looking to take it off the road and get some work done on it.
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It depends on what you want to do with it as far as modifying or anything like that.

The civic is going to be the easiest to find aftermarket parts for. However japanese cars are a different monster to work on compared to the cougar. Owning 2 civics myself I've had my fair share of wrench time on them.

The GTI is german and the last one I road it felt similar to BMW and other german cars. It was a fun little thing. However when I worked in the body shop we had to buy special sockets and stuff for working on some of it. German engineering is a mix of wizardry, insanity, and modern miracles.

The Focus is going to be fun. And would be about like working on your Cougar. My silver car had the shift tower and cables out of an old focus bolted into actually. Fun little car and would be very familiar to work on.

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St2 runs the volvo 2.5t engine, it has a hell of alot of potential but the liner is weak... it's pot luck, some guys are running 3-400bhp with not rectifying it and some have had it crack just after remapping... If you brought one I would suggest getting it done as a preventive measure (or look for one that has had it done)
I'd steer clear of the st3, they are unbelievably easy to steal... Hence they will come with a high insurance premium..

It all depends on what you want? For instance I have brought a new car to keep the cougar for a special occasion and I went for both comfort and power.
If you want power with no mods - GTI
If you want something to tune and play with Civic
If you want something to relive your youth (No offence intended) get the focus
 
Don't discount any of these either:

Golf R32 (3.2V6 and 4x4)
Mazda3 MPS (2.3T and 256 BHP)
Mazda6 MPS (same engine as the 3 but with 4x4)
And... (dare I say it?) - The RX-8. Fantastic cars.

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What generation of Golf?

:edit: And not to be insensitive but, Golf or not, how much do you want to pay? And what is your use-case?
 
Mako said:
What generation of Golf?

:edit: And not to be insensitive but, Golf or not, how much do you want to pay? And what is your use-case?
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It would probably be a mk5 golf for the money I have Chris, as I put in my op, I have up to £4000 available as for useage it would be my daily drive, so looking for comfort, and something fairly nippy..
 
I used to own a 2004 civic, not type R but it was a great car, roomy, quick and reliable. Sold it to my brother who still has it today with over 200k miles on it.

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