200 replies to this topic

[JG]

'LazyDonkey', on 21 Aug 2012 - 2:22 PM, said:

'hughcam', on 21 Aug 2012 - 1:10 PM, said:

'LazyDonkey', on 21 Aug 2012 - 1:02 PM, said:

Have you looked at new car prices lately? What else can you get for £25k that's in the same league of interesting ?

clio 200, megane 265, elise cr, ginetta g40r. Some more, some less exciting - all great leisure cars

Out of that list only the clio is on or below £25k and i'd say the "have to thrash the tits off it" comment can be equally be levelled at it. The megane may be a great hatch but for many (inc. me) it's not interesting.

The CR and G40 are good calls, but more expensive, more compromised and much much less dependable.

If i wanted to spend £25k on a fun but interesting everyday car the GT86 is one of the only cars on my short list - it covers a lot of bases that a hyper hatch never could.

EDIT : Take the example of my old man. He's a young 60 year old, he has to have a big five door estate for his 8 or 9 trips to france a year avec dog and a shed load of wine....but he wants a fun 2nd car for kicking about, going to the golf course and maybe also do france once in a while without resulting in a divorce.

The GT86 fills that role perfectly. He wouldn't even consider a hyper hatch, elise or G40. He can't be alone?

exactly that, in the same way that a VX is utterly useless as an everyday car.

i tried to live with it once, and lasted 6 weeks, 6 weeks of miserableness.

GT86 has the best of all worlds, its pretty cheap, its pretty quick, its pretty interesting to look at, its probably (i'll tell you tomorrow) a hoot to drive, its probably quiet enough and it probably doesn't use too much fuel, cost too much to insure and or to tax.and yet it will have the reliability of a toyota, a five year waranty, electric windows, heater seats, AC, and a big enough boot to cart round day to day rubbish. The only downside i can see is that depreciation could be quite steep.

I submit to anyone to find a better everyday car.

[techieboy]

'JG', on 21 Aug 2012 - 2:34 PM, said:

The only downside i can see is that depreciation could be quite steep.

I hope so. I swore I'd never buy a brand new car again. Though every time I read another head-to-head test of the Megane 265, I get tempted (have to get one of those new as it'll only last the length of the warranty).

[JG]

oh and they look great in the metal

[VXT Tim]

'JG', on 21 Aug 2012 - 2:39 PM, said:

oh and they look great in the metal

was just going to type they look better in the flesh.

There is an option of a HORRID wheel choice - avoid!

[techieboy]

Yep, wheels are bad. Proper aftermarket stylee.

[LazyDonkey]

'JG', on 21 Aug 2012 - 2:39 PM, said:

oh and they look great in the metal

That's the thing - in the metal, and in amongst other cars it looks exotic and special. A hot megane just blends in. This may suit some people but it would count against it for me.

I hate the way my nissan looks and drives, but at least it was cheap !

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

'LazyDonkey', on 21 Aug 2012 - 2:58 PM, said:

'JG', on 21 Aug 2012 - 2:39 PM, said:

oh and they look great in the metal

That's the thing - in the metal, and in amongst other cars it looks exotic and special. A hot megane just blends in. This may suit some people but it would count against it for me.

I hate the way my nissan looks and drives, but at least it was cheap !

My FIRST car was a Datsun and it was the best drive i had ever owned

Edited by Chill, 21 August 2012 - 03:08 PM.

[LazyDonkey]

[whispers] i actually think it drives quite well [/whispers]

[hughcam]

'LazyDonkey', on 21 Aug 2012 - 2:22 PM, said:

'hughcam', on 21 Aug 2012 - 1:10 PM, said:

'LazyDonkey', on 21 Aug 2012 - 1:02 PM, said:

Have you looked at new car prices lately? What else can you get for £25k that's in the same league of interesting ?

clio 200, megane 265, elise cr, ginetta g40r. Some more, some less exciting - all great leisure cars

Out of that list only the clio is on or below £25k and i'd say the "have to thrash the tits off it" comment can be equally be levelled at it. The megane may be a great hatch but for many (inc. me) it's not interesting.

The CR and G40 are good calls, but more expensive, more compromised and much much less dependable.

If i wanted to spend £25k on a fun but interesting everyday car the GT86 is one of the only cars on my short list - it covers a lot of bases that a hyper hatch never could.

EDIT : Take the example of my old man. He's a young 60 year old, he has to have a big five door estate for his 8 or 9 trips to france a year avec dog and a shed load of wine....but he wants a fun 2nd car for kicking about, going to the golf course and maybe also do france once in a while without resulting in a divorce.

The GT86 fills that role perfectly. He wouldn't even consider a hyper hatch, elise or G40. He can't be alone?

I understand your point entirely and agree with you to a point. The thing is what do you define as interesting? The gt86 imo is the same old bland japanese design to look at yet most likely a great handling car. The only thing it has as an advantage over the clio and megane is rwd. Both of the hatches have great handling, adjustability, practicality ect. You just cant drift them (you cant really drift the gt86 as it has a shite power to weight ratio) In short i think it needs to be either £5,000 cheaper, 50 bhp more powerful or 200kgs lighter to make sense. As it is its just not interesting enough.

[LazyDonkey]

'hughcam', on 21 Aug 2012 - 3:21 PM, said:

I understand your point entirely and agree with you to a point. The thing is what do you define as interesting? The gt86 imo is the same old bland japanese design to look at

Have you seen one on the road? Compared to a megane with big wheels it looks AMAZING

EDIT : Interesting defined - it has to pass the mrs donkey test. Does she look and go "meh" or does she go "ooh that looks nice" To a fiat panda driving primary school teacher any hyper hatch looks like a normal hatchback but with boy racer add ons.

Edited by LazyDonkey, 21 August 2012 - 03:25 PM.

[hughcam]

No i havent seen one in the flesh yet. Despite my moaning about them im skiping gym to see if i can see one at the Toyota dealer tonight

Edited by hughcam, 21 August 2012 - 04:11 PM.

[slindborg]

Clios and Meganes are just warmed up mass market cars... nothing special about them and they have an equally gash interior as the GT86/BRZ

[techieboy]

The Toybaru interior doesn't look too bad, to me. Just a cheaper version of a first gen Audi TT. Much much better than just about every other ricer out there.

[JG]

'slindborg', on 21 Aug 2012 - 4:37 PM, said:

Clios and Meganes are just warmed up mass market cars... nothing special about them and they have an equally gash interior as the GT86/BRZ

to be honest it can't be as bad as my gtd:



Looks ok there doesn't it?
Well it creeks and rattles like a bag of spanners. I've fixed some of them, but its not great for a 6 month old 20k mile car which is suppose to be semi-decent in that area. And there is something in the back that also rattles and drives me up the wall. The daft thing is that its the sound box in the footwell to make it sound nice which causes the problem.

So i'd rather start in the knowledge that the interior is a bit low rent, rather than expect a decent one and for it still to be poor. Perhaps the worst thing is that my shed cost £3k more than a GT86.

[slindborg]

^^ kill it, kill it with fire!

[JG]

I quite like driving it other than that.

[Rosssco]

Interestingly (to me anyway) the GT86 has a few statisitics practically the same as one of my old MR2's - 1,220kg, 200ps / 197bhp, ~150lb/ft torque, LSD, well put together inside although nothing fancy, driver-centric driving position etc. It was never a rapid car as some of the equivalent model turbo cars, but it had a sweet engine, and as said previously, to me, just the right amount of performance for the (albeit, less capable) chassis. It was still sufficiently powerful punch you out of a slow country road bend, you just had to be a bit more selective with gearing, but allowed you to develop a good 'rhythm' along a fun road, rather punting it up to the next bend, standing on the brakes, hustling it round, and repeating. You could play with the throttle a bit mid-corner, rather than being scared of it, as there wasn't a massive amount of torque to break the rear tyre grip. It was pretty decent on fuel too. Me 2p..

[jameso]

I thought it was closer to 28k now it finally got here? Chris harris's review is really good (vs cayman and 370z) He says it's a 10/10th car that gets more enjoyable the more u push, which is why u used to enjoy ur NA so much. Well worth a YouTube if ur serious about it Matt. My only concern for you would be I think it would disapppint you on track, but it looks like if ur willing to accepts its about fun not lap time I reckon it's a blast.

[hughcam]

Well after having a 30 min test drive this evening I am now eating a big slice of humble pie....... The GT86 is absolutely fantastic and not dissimilar handling wise from a vx220 (im not insane). The steering has the same light but granula feeling the vx has with feedback flooding through the wheel even at the modest speeds I was driving - it gave off the feeling of being mid engined. The seating position was almost perfect apart from the pedals being about 1cm to far apart. Funnily enough I found the gearshift to be the best I have ever used. I was also surprised at the quality of the trim. The soft touch dash and doors felt quality and the suede/leather seats felt very well made. The nav system looked gash though. The negatives were useless rear seats (there was nil legroom when I put the drivers seat in place), small and shallow boot, tractor like idle and....................lack of go. Although i knew it wouldnt set the world a light the car was brisker than expected and was very free reving - It would be so great with another 100bhp In summary I now see why it costs £8,000 more than a clio 200 and agree 100% that it is worth it. I may actualy buy one if/when the dealer demos start coming on sale around the 20k mark. Unfortunatey I still think it will drop in value like a copper turd

Edited by hughcam, 21 August 2012 - 07:53 PM.

[LazyDonkey]