Scottish Elises

I noticed that there was only one of these threads on the front page, so thought I’d do my bit by adding another...

Having lived in London for the past four or so years, I really haven’t had the need for a car - Laterally, I bought a £250 banger for Ikea trips and the like, but I’ve had better things to spend my hard earned cash on.

I’m now on the move to north of Dublin in the Spring, and the rural nature of where I’m looking to live means I could probably do with some new wheels.

Yes; I could just wait and buy over there, but the choice is poor compared to the UK, specs are generally inferior, and cars are more expensive because of limited supply.

(The only downside of buying in the UK, is that the ROI government will charge import tax (VRT) on any car you bring in, but provided you’ve owned (and used) it for at least six months in the UK, they'll waive this...)

Another thorny issue is road tax – It’s completely insane over there – Anything older than Sept 2008 is charged on engine size (i.e. a pre-08 Elise would cost £530 PA to tax…A V8 Esprit would be £1500 PA!)

So, in summary:

Fun to drive (Road only...Won’t be tracked...)
Economical
Reasonably reliable (or still under warranty!)
Practical(ish) – Needs to cope with an Ikea trip etc, so two seaters are out
Decent array of toys (prefer leather / Bluetooth / iPod connection / nav if possible)
Newer than 01/09/08
Emissions preferably less than 155g/km (£325 PA to tax) – At the very most, 170g/km (£475 PA to tax).

Finally, the budget – Around the £12-14k mark.

So far, I’ve come up with:

BMW 123d Coupe / hatch
Audi A3 S Line 170
Audi A4 (B8 Shape)
Audi A5 (with the 2.0 'diseasal' engine)
Skoda Octavia vRS 170

But the current fav is an R56 MINI Clubman Cooper S



(Yes; I like them – I’m weird... )

Any more, for any more?

Golf GTi too high emmisions I guess? GTD

Skoda Yeti...

GTD will be way out of budget. You'll struggle to find one for much under £20k.

I'm not much help as your list would probably be my shortlist too!

(p.s my Octavia is an awesome all-round car.)

I looked at golf GTDs last week; there were loads from £13k?
Abarth 500? I have been looking at all of your options this past week, as the other half isnt enjoying the manual fiat500 for commuting.

Not that mini!!!!! anything but that horrific looking mini!

Used to have a 123d hatch. Awsome pace v's ecconomy but for Ikea runs etc, not as roomy as a Golf / A3.

Also, diesel is around 5c/liter cheaper than petrol over there so might help offset the astronomical tax and influence your decision.

Dominic wrote:Not that mini!!!!! anything but that horrific looking mini!

It's not so bad in the flesh in a dark colour - Plus it handles better than the hatch (slightly longer wheelbase), has more room for rear seat passengers, and a much more usable boot.

The attraction is low emissions (149g/km), 45+ mpg and they're usually well spec'd for a car in this class (leather / nav / xenons etc).

£12k gets you into a nicely optioned, low mileage 2010 car, with ~1 years warranty, and 2 years TLC package left to run.

Did consider the 500 Abarth, but I'm not convinced they're worth paying a premium for - The interior quality isn't much better than the Panda 100HP I owned 5 years back. (Not really enough room inside, either).

The GTD is an interesting suggestion - à la:

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/clas ... 009/922897

Only issue is that £14k is the entry point for a sensible mileage / well-spec'd car, so there might only be a couple in the UK which fit the bill price-wise.

(Same goes for the Mk6 GTi - Emissions are 170g/km, so around my self-imposed road tax limit at ~£490 PA - Over 170g/km and the tax leaps to £650 PA!).

As for the Octavia vRS - I pointed out a nice / shiny new saloon in RS Blue to the Mrs while over in Dublin last week, and she reckoned that it looked like a real 'skanger banger' (Irish for 'barry boy mobile' )

Thanks for the food for thought!

(RE: The diesel vs. petrol - I don't do a huge amount of miles (4-5000 PA), so provided I got around 35-40 mpg, I'm quite happy).

Fluoxetine wrote:

Dominic wrote:Not that mini!!!!! anything but that horrific looking mini!

It's not so bad in the flesh in a dark colour, in the dark with a blindfold on from a distance

fixed

Scirocco, C30 or 1 series (I love mine)

jj wrote:I looked at golf GTDs last week; there were loads from £13k?

Not sure where you are looking but on Autotrader now the cheapest is £14k and there are only a couple at that price (plus a couple more which aren't actually GTD's as they are 140hp).

But yeah, they are a fair bit cheaper now than the last time I looked!

Fluoxetine wrote:


So, in summary:

Fun to drive (Road only...Won’t be tracked...)
Economical
Reasonably reliable (or still under warranty!)
Practical(ish) – Needs to cope with an Ikea trip etc, so two seaters are out
Decent array of toys (prefer leather / Bluetooth / iPod connection / nav if possible)
Newer than 01/09/08
Emissions preferably less than 155g/km (£325 PA to tax) – At the very most, 170g/km (£475 PA to tax).

Finally, the budget – Around the £12-14k mark

Resisting the temptation to suggest a Pony and Trap for North Dublin................
You could tick every box listed above with a one year old Seat Leon
Go for one of the smaller engines.................even the 1.2 petrol is surprisingly nippy
They are well kitted out and the COPA models have all the toys.........even leather
The New Leon has been announced so deals to be done on the run out models
Some models of the New Leon are being offered VAT free which is only a midge's dick above your budget

As a frequent visitor to the Emerald Isle, I would be concerned about keeping your investment safe
The Irish are ten times worse than the French when it comes to pride of ownership of vehicles and poor driving standards. You willl struggle to find a "ding free" panel on most cars making your existing Peugeot the ideal choice

PS
Remember its an easy journey up to the border from Dublin. Most of the economy is based on selling to the cash strapped in the South and the garages in the province are very conversant on all the scams

Actually, that's a fair point regarding driving standards - Even pensioners on a Sunday run seem to favour a McApe-style speed of approach to roundabouts & junctions...

(And yes - Lots of touch parking / scraped & dinged cars are evident, too!)

I did consider taking the 205 over, but will likely keep it in the UK to maintain my NCB / for runaround duties.

The Leon is a good call I hadn't considered - Mk5 Golf underneath?

(Although not so sure I'd be comfortable dropping over £14k on one, when it comes to future depreciation).

Having been driving an asthmatic 23 year old / 954cc car for the past year, I miss torque and would probably plump for a diseasal - Maybe the FR170, such as this:

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/clas ... 008/984383

That said, I note they underwent a facelift / cabin quality improvements in 2009 - Would it be better spending the extra £2k, to secure a later car?

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/clas ... ome/994419

The R56 Mini Cooper S have problems with timing chain tensioners. Search Mini Death Rattle on Google & YouTube.
It starts off as a really loud rattle but eventually the timing chain can jump a tooth or two causing potentially fatal damage.
The 07-10 cars are certainly effected, they introduced a new tensioner in ~2011 which was supposed to fix it but you still hear complaints.
The fix can be fitted to 07-10 cars but it involves a new timing chain, new tensioner & new chain guide so not a cheap or simple fix.
If buying make sure there's no rattle or that the problem has been fixed under MINI warranty. No guarantees it won't happen though!
Cheers, Mark

Fluoxetine wrote:

That said, I note they underwent a facelift / cabin quality improvements in 2009 - Would it be better spending the extra £2k, to secure a later car?

Yes, definitely. My mate has just bought a 2011 Cupra and it is actually ok inside- the earlier Leon interiors were horribly scratchy and cheap feeling/looking.

I was going to say the same thing about the Octavia actually - the 2009 facelift made a masssive improvement. The pre-facelift is ok but the post-facelift is very very nice (much nicer than the Leon).
Effectively the facelift on the Leon and Octavia is the equivalent to the jump from mkV to mkVI Golf. The facelift interiors in both use the same switchgear etc as the mkVI.

I think Leons look good from the outside but the interiors put me off- don't be fooled by the perception that Skoda is VAGs budget brand. Seat is very much 'bottom of the barrel'. Things like monochrome radio displays while the equivalent Skoda gets a colour touchscreen, and Seat supplying only one fancy 'flip key' while all the other marques give two give the game away.

If the missus won't let you get an Octavia or you don't need the space then the Leon is still a good choice though

Fluoxetine wrote:Actually, that's a fair point regarding driving standards - Even pensioners on a Sunday run seem to favour a McApe-style speed of approach to roundabouts & junctions...

(And yes - Lots of touch parking / scraped & dinged cars are evident, too!)

I did consider taking the 205 over, but will likely keep it in the UK to maintain my NCB / for runaround duties.

The Leon is a good call I hadn't considered - Mk5 Golf underneath?

(Although not so sure I'd be comfortable dropping over £14k on one, when it comes to future depreciation).

Having been driving an asthmatic 23 year old / 954cc car for the past year, I miss torque and would probably plump for a diseasal - Maybe the FR170, such as this:

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/clas ... 008/984383

That said, I note they underwent a facelift / cabin quality improvements in 2009 - Would it be better spending the extra £2k, to secure a later car?

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/clas ... ome/994419

Newer the better..........

Although your midlife crisis move towards a TDI CR puts you into rubber band tyres potentially..................did I mention the road surfaces in Eire?
Come to think about it ..........The Irish roads coupled with your Mini on runflats will have your spine moving like a Slinky

my mate went from a new S4 to a new old burning FR leon and loves it.