Boring spec me. £2000, 18000 miles p/a, somewhat fun.

Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
29,074
Location
Ottakring, Vienna.
I don't think I've ever posted a spec me before.

Current vehicles

2004 Fiesta 1.4 TDCi. Daily driver. Done 10,000 flawless miles in it. It's slow and not that involving to drive though it handles tidily enough.
1982 Escort XR3. I use this every now and then. It's 37 years old, I just enjoy owning it. It's not a realistic daily driver.

Daily Driver requirements
£2000 budget
18,000 miles p/a - 50% split between motorway and tight rural lanes
Something I can chuck about
Doors don't matter
No 2 seaters
Economy that won't make me cry. 18,000 miles can chew through a lorra lorra juice.

The Fiesta is a bit slow and boring, but is fantastically cheap to run (genuine 50+mpg, £30 tax, cheap insurance)

I fancy something with a bit more oomph, something a bit more dynamic.
I had a go of a Civic Type-R FN2 the other day and surprised myself with how much I enjoyed it. Enjoyed it to the point I went and looked at a few. Unfortunately, having done some reading, the economy of the FN2 looks really poor - even trundling about I'm going to double my fuel spend, maybe more.

So hit me up OcUK, what should I consider?
 
Associate
Joined
1 Apr 2019
Posts
1,523
You're not going to get a very good FN2 for two grand.

IMO: Keep the Fiesta as a daily because its cheap and reliable. If the Escort doesn't fill the fun factor, sell it, and put the 2 grand + whatever the Escort goes for towards something fun for the weekend.
 
Soldato
Joined
15 Apr 2004
Posts
2,670
Location
Nottingham
I'm thinking similar at the moment, I want to change my boring diesel for something more interesting without increasing fuel spend too much and have decided a Swift Sport is the way to go.
 
Man of Honour
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25 Oct 2002
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31,706
Location
Hampshire
My initial thoughts were you aren't going to get much better for £2k so just keep the Fiesta but just looked it up and didn't realise it was only 67bhp and over 14s to 60mph. Maybe a remap as suggested above is the way to go, as the car won't have much value to lose if it causes problems.
 
Caporegime
Joined
26 Aug 2003
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37,491
Location
Leafy Cheshire
I'd probably go with something that has a turbocharger, as that way you can drive off boost to get respectable MPG, but power there for the odd hoon.

As for what that would be, given the budget and the want for driving dynamics, I'm not sure off the top of my head. VAG group would certainly have the power, and economy, but not really the dynamicisn. Umm, are early MK2 Focus STs in budget?

Edit, no doesn't look like it, but Renault Mégane 225s are.
 
Soldato
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5 Jul 2003
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Location
Cheshire
Soldato
Joined
9 Jan 2016
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3,727
Location
Derbyshire
The 1.4 has a tiny turbo, it has no intercooler, you can either buy a tuning box and get 80-90 hp plus 40nm which from 160nm will be 200nm which I think equates to around 130-140ft/lbs as 160nm is 118ft/lbs or get an intercooler from another ford diesel and get It remapped.

A car is as fun as you make it, I had a 1.25 fiesta back in 2003, was fun car, they don’t have great straight line speed hence the ST versions, but it’s a city car not a speed race, slow cars usually get made to handle better, so if your in to modifying then upgrade the handling.


That aside, you won’t get a new car for 2k that will be what you want, you can buy used cars that are better and a lot of options for 1000-2000 quid, mk4 golf gti 2ltr 115hp 120-140lbs/ft or the 150hp turbo version, A3 versions and so on.
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Jun 2009
Posts
3,456
Location
Weston-super-Mare
190BHP celica (VVTL-I)

Easily in budget

0-60 in 7 seconds.

4 seats (Adults would suffer in back though)

Mine was fantastically reliable in the 4 or so years I ran it, fuel seamed fine to me, I never worked it out, not 50MPG though lol.

I got rid of mine as it got tiresome to drive every day on the motorway and its a little bit hard and raw for the everyday commute, but sounds like it could be the antidote for your current mundane drive.

Inb4 Acme memes

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201903296412870?make=TOYOTA&sort=price-desc&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&price-to=2000&postcode=bs227tb&model=CELICA&advertising-location=at_cars&zero-to-60=TO_8&radius=1500&page=1
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
1 Jul 2015
Posts
2,844
Location
UK
I don't think I've ever posted a spec me before.

Current vehicles

2004 Fiesta 1.4 TDCi. Daily driver. Done 10,000 flawless miles in it. It's slow and not that involving to drive though it handles tidily enough.
1982 Escort XR3. I use this every now and then. It's 37 years old, I just enjoy owning it. It's not a realistic daily driver.

Daily Driver requirements
£2000 budget
18,000 miles p/a - 50% split between motorway and tight rural lanes
Something I can chuck about
Doors don't matter
No 2 seaters
Economy that won't make me cry. 18,000 miles can chew through a lorra lorra juice.

The Fiesta is a bit slow and boring, but is fantastically cheap to run (genuine 50+mpg, £30 tax, cheap insurance)

I fancy something with a bit more oomph, something a bit more dynamic.
I had a go of a Civic Type-R FN2 the other day and surprised myself with how much I enjoyed it. Enjoyed it to the point I went and looked at a few. Unfortunately, having done some reading, the economy of the FN2 looks really poor - even trundling about I'm going to double my fuel spend, maybe more.

So hit me up OcUK, what should I consider?

Deviating from the topic somewhat, but as a fan of old Ford... Pics?
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,898
Depends what you're after, but you can get a well used E90 320d or 320i for £2k. Big improvement over a Fiesta, RWD and the 4 cylinder cars handle a little sweeter than the 6's due to less weight up front.

If that's too big for you, Clio 182 maybe?
 
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