Fun daily - £15k ish

[blueovercream]

After changing jobs I've spent the winter in a diesel Mondeo. It's all the car I need but very little that I want and life is too short. On the way home I've got an option for quite a fun wee bit of road.

I've got around £15k to spend on something to replace the Mondeo. Criteria:

- Manual
- A petrol engine that will manage an MPG in the 40s
- Passes the "look-back" test; interesting enough that I get excited about getting into it
- New enough to support Apple Car Play
- Not French

So far I've got Mk 7 Golf GTI, Fiesta ST ( I love the Mk 8 shape) and BMW M135. My other car is an Elise so while a 2 seater would be fine, I probably need something that's at least a bit practical...

Hit me!

[Tom4398cc]

Interesting challenge OP. The mpg in the 40s makes it quite hard. The Fiesta ST must be the leading contender. Perhaps a Mini could be on the short list too?

[Condi]

Audi S3 should do that.

As far as Apple Car Play goes, the cost to retrofit to most cars is pretty small so maybe you can consider older vehicles and retrofit? I think the BMW 1 series only had Car Play from 2017 onwards, which might be difficult to find for £15k.

[ZX10R NIN]

blueovercream said:

After changing jobs I've spent the winter in a diesel Mondeo. It's all the car I need but very little that I want and life is too short. On the way home I've got an option for quite a fun wee bit of road.

I've got around £15k to spend on something to replace the Mondeo. Criteria:

- Manual
- A petrol engine that will manage an MPG in the 40s
- Passes the "look-back" test; interesting enough that I get excited about getting into it
- New enough to support Apple Car Play
- Not French

So far I've got Mk 7 Golf GTI, Fiesta ST ( I love the Mk 8 shape) and BMW M135. My other car is an Elise so while a 2 seater would be fine, I probably need something that's at least a bit practical...

Hit me!

Retro fitting Apple Carplay/Android auto is the answer, also you're not going to see 40mpg if you're enjoying the road.
I think mid 30's will be the more realistic number.

The Astra GTC VXR gets the nod at this price point they're good looking get one with the Nav & you'll also get the Bose upgrade too:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202303044...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205165...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202303044...

Peugeot Sport 308 GTI:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202303275...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202303285...

I would say a Megane RS with the Cup Chassis but they're hard to find.

[blueovercream]

Hmm yes retro-fitting car play is a good suggestion.

My journey to work is mostly on a national limit single carriageway so it would be possible to achieve a car's best fuel economy at 50-60 mph. I'd be less fussed about mpg on the optional fun road home.

Thanks ZX10RNIN but having owned a couple of Renaults in the past I'm not keen to go French again.

[RichFN2]

For me it would be one of these
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/14810666

[MK1RS Bruce]

The MK7 Fiesta ST will easily do 40MPG and 50MPG is possible if you really really really try. Hammering it everywhere you will struggle to get it below an average of 25MPG over the course of a tankful of fuel, on the road anyway!.

The Mk8 is bound to be better with the 3 cylinder and cylinder deactivation tech etc

[ChrisH72]

15k will get you a 2018 ST2 with reasonable mileage. Can't remember what it was but I'm sure I read there were issues with early mk8's that were resolved in 2019. I've been looking at 2019 ST3's but they are still 17-18k for tidy ones.

[ZX10R NIN]

blueovercream said:

Hmm yes retro-fitting car play is a good suggestion.

My journey to work is mostly on a national limit single carriageway so it would be possible to achieve a car's best fuel economy at 50-60 mph. I'd be less fussed about mpg on the optional fun road home.

Thanks ZX10RNIN but having owned a couple of Renaults in the past I'm not keen to go French again.

The Astra isn't French & is just a smidge behind the Megane when it comes to driver involvement, it also can become a nice daily when you slacken off the damping.

Now some last oof the line GTC VXR's come with Carplay as standard. You'll be high 30's maybe 40mpg on the 50-60mph run.

[White-Noise]

Your budget is pretty much what mine was, i paid 17k in 2019. I bought a mk7 gti PP albeit a dsg as I wanted to make the most of the adaptive cruise on the commute which is just awesome.

40mpg though is pushing it, it will just about average it if you are doing a steady 70 on the motorway. Your commute may just do it from what you said.

For me it is a look back car I love the looks and it just does everything well, practical, plenty quick enough and in the dull grey I have its pretty discrete and I can get 2 bikes in the back. I've ds2500 pads in mine and it really does stop well