Anyone know about euro hot hatches?

[1X83Z]

Originally posted by Famine
Hmm. Well, there's a pepper red Cerbera 4.2 been in our local paper for 12 months - 1997, 28,000 miles, £14k. Stuff fits in the boot, if you don't mash the accelerator you get decent fuel economy and you get "the sound"

Meh - it's outdated, impractical, unreliable, bad-looking (opinion) and it gets very poor gas mileage. I could have a pretty nice '97 3-class for £14k and they're more than likely cheaper (could I have an M3?)

they're probably better than Vauxhall (owned by GM) and Rover (owned by BMW).

Blasphemy!

If I got the chance, I would own a TVR - probably not the Griffith though, as I don't have a death wish. Although it IS the best looker. They're coming in at new-Mondeo money for 3-4 year old cars now, they tend to have not been thrashed (if you ever open up the throttle on a TVR you'll know why ), most are low milers with FSH...

But what's the draw? Everybody wants one. It's not cool at that point.

 

[Famine]

Most "old" people that can afford one go for an XKR instead. Most "young" people go for something daft and rice it. My brother - in the middle at 34 - bought an Impreza RB5 (which is cured, since he took it to a tuner's, rather than a Subaru main dealer...).

In the UK, a TVR turns heads - with it's looks sometimes, but most often with it's noise. When people see one, they say "I want one", but few people realise just how cheap they are... A 1997 Cerbera 4.2 with 28k and full service history is so much a better buy than a 2 year old Integra - and gets the same fuel economy too (few people realise that, although VTECs give power AND economy, they don't do it at the same time... ).

I'd have one in a heartbeat. Maybe even over a Supra, or the Clio V6 250, which are direct competitors on price.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

The early Cerberas do suffer from appalling reliabilty though, and that reduces them to the role of "second car", in my book at least. This is also why they're so cheap: people get fed up of them breaking down.

If you've got some company repmobile and some spare cash though, you could do a lot worse for a weekend car.

 

[Famine]

Strangely enough, me girlie is about to get a work car - 1600cc thang to hoon around between hospital sites, which apparently I'm allowed to drive.

A plan forms...

(although my dad's just offered me his 1998 R MX-3 V6 for £3200!).

 

[miata13B]

Originally posted by M5Power
No WRX wagon?

And where's the Subaru Vivio?

Now Doug, what about an Evolution ???? I think for the cost it outperforms that WRX . . . But what about some oldtime greats like the VW Corrado???

 

[Famine]

Corrado is a good point, but according to my book it's a "Small coupe" - along with the Integra-R, FIAT Coupe Turbo Plus, FTO, 200SX, MX-6, Ford Puma, Audi TT and the Hyundai Coupe (forriners say "Tiburon").

 

[miata13B]

ok, what about a third gen Iroc-Z28 ???? it has a hatchback. 1 is also in my garage. Excuse the non-euro though please.

 

[Yazza]

Heres a few good reasons why PD shouldnt give up on aquiring the ///M licence.

what a view! and the house aint bad either

http://www.e30m3therealm3.com/gallery/black/1.sport.evo/blk.sport.evo.033.jpg

 

[1X83Z]

Originally posted by Famine
Most "old" people that can afford one go for an XKR instead. Most "young" people go for something daft and rice it. My brother - in the middle at 34 - bought an Impreza RB5 (which is cured, since he took it to a tuner's, rather than a Subaru main dealer...).

XKRs are another car I never understood - they're HUGE, EXTREMELY expensive for what they are, and by now grossly outdated. They tried to bring back the E-Type and failed. XK8/XKRs bore me to tears.

In the UK, a TVR turns heads - with it's looks sometimes, but most often with it's noise.

I went to the UK in 1999 and saw them all over - I've got photos to document it. At the time I had no idea how to distinguish TVR models so I took pictures of them - when I got back I had nearly twenty pictures of Cerberas, Griffiths, etc - I realised then that Britain had much cooler cars than TVR. Head-turning, yes, similar to the Corvette, but I certainly don't want either.

 

[Race Idiot]

Originally posted by M5Power
Well - I hate most supercars. I think they're impractical, stupid, and overly expensive. I would never in a million years own one - TVR is, in my opinion, the worst offender, and Lotus isn't far behind (though, to be fair, Porsche and all those 'independent' supercar makes like Pagani easily make my list too).

That doesn't leave much in the way of British cars - I'm not an S-Type or XJ Jaguar fan, but I do love the Land Rover products even though I had a bad ownership experience with a Discovery and I like the Jaguar X-Type. I do absolutely love the current MG line - should've mentioned that.

Also to be fair - I like just about every non-supercar Britain gets; I spend hours daydreaming about cars I will never even see in the US.

I've never really considered TVR's to be supercars, more like Muscle cars. I mean look at the Griffith, it's not showy or flashy. Although the more modern TVR's seem to be heading towards that supercar look. Lotus, well there only supercar is the Esprit, which is the only supercar I have ever liked. The Elise is just a track racer car.

 

[Famine]

Originally posted by miata13B
ok, what about a third gen Iroc-Z28 ???? it has a hatchback. 1 is also in my garage. Excuse the non-euro though please.

It's a coupe. And a large one at that.

Almost none of the cars on the list exceed 13' in length...