As per title,

Ive had alot of quick cars over the last few years from the usual 300bhp jap turbo cars to good handling b road blasters (Integra type R) and well im currently at a stage where ive got a cheap runabout car worth about £2k which im going to sell and £6k to spend on my next car.

My dilemma is that although ive got a budget of around £8k max to spend i dont want to spend it all on a car, Ive only ever owned older cars the newest been a 2003 which was my last fabia vrs which i owned in 2008 and cost me £6k.

Im at a stage where ive been looking at other high powered petrol turbo cars and dont really find them apealling, I hardly ever go out for a drive for sake of it anymore and 95% of my driving is too and from work but i do occasionally still like to have a bit of fun every now and again and i do like the idea of a stripped out hot hatch .

The most ideal solution would be to have 2 cars but this isnt an option, I dont need a practical car nor do i really need economy but the typre of driving i do 95% of the time is on hilly B-roads with the odd stretch of straight road which i know the fabia excells on SO....

Im thinking about buying antother fabia vrs and doing a few choice mods to make it a bit more fun than a standard car, Id want to keep it fairly simple mod wise as i know that with some of my previous cars id need at least 250bhp from a fabia to get anywhere near the performance ive had.

I am just at the stage where im seriously thinking of buying another fabia and have actually seen a yellow one but wanted to hear a few opinions thoughts from you guys, My thoughts/plans are in order....

:Buy one fabia vrs which is HPI clear, Ideally a tidy exterior example but im more fussed about it been mechanically sound

:Fit some 312mm front brakes

:Replace the suspension for a decent damper/spring combo or possibly coilovers, Also fit uprated ARB and replace any worn bushes with poly items

:Fit some 16" possibly 17" pro race 1.2s in gloss black with decent rubber

:Custom code stage 1 remap, Milltek cat-back purely for looks

:Strip the whole interior apart from front door cards and fit 2 x lightwieght bucket seats

I figured with the above mods i can have a hot hatch which is Fun, Economical, A bit more driver focussed, Will stop and handle reasonably well, Will be pretty quick and very usable with the remap and 100kg-ish weight loss and ill be able to do it all well within budget and leave some cash spare.

Am i mad????

Answers on a postcard

Edited 13 June, 201016 yr by bonelorry

I'd say that'd be a decent fab then, however I imagine you'll get bored of the power easily having had quicker previous cars

The most ideal solution would be to have 2 cars but this isnt an option, I dont need a practical car nor do i really need economy but the typre of driving i do 95% of the time is on hilly B-roads with the odd stretch of straight road which i know the fabia excells on SO....

Am i mad????

Answers on a postcard

Imo practical and economical is a strong part of what a fabia vrs is, obviously with a kick of fun/power. IF I were to throw these two out of the equation I wouldn't pick a Fabia.. I'd much prefer something smaller and more nimble.

My personal choices would be; Yaris T-sport with turbo (150-170bhp? weighing 970kg std), Swift Sport with supercharger (iirc 180bhp? around 1100kg) or Colt CZT (not done much research on potential of these but they are not v common).

Edited 13 June, 201016 yr by JLneonhug

I'd say that'd be a decent fab then, however I imagine you'll get bored of the power easily having had quicker previous cars

Am already board of my RS! I won't something a bit quicker and wot makes it worse I've been offered my old cupra back!!!

Imo practical and economical is a strong part of what a fabia vrs is, obviously with a kick of fun/power. IF I were to throw these two out of the equation I wouldn't pick a Fabia.. I'd much prefer something smaller and more nimble.

My personal choices would be; Yaris T-sport with turbo (150-170bhp? weighing 970kg std), Swift Sport with supercharger (iirc 180bhp? around 1100kg) or Colt CZT (not done much research on potential of these but they are not v common).

Thanks for your input but the cars you have mentioned are no contest for an integra type r which i had last year, If i where to buy another lightweight fwd petrol hatch then id get an ITR no question because they simply are that good out of the box.

Its somthing im giving thought to and the fabia is probably one of about 10 cars i might end up buying, The fabia is probably the only TDI id buy at the moment which is why id throw it into the equation

Edited 13 June, 201016 yr by bonelorry

Thanks for your input but the cars you have mentioned are no contest for an integra type r which i had last year, If i where to buy another lightweight fwd petrol hatch then id get an ITR no question because they simply are that good out of the box.

Its somthing im giving thought to and the fabia is probably one of about 10 cars i might end up buying, The fabia is probably the only TDI id buy at the moment which is why id throw it into the equation

Lol by performance wise I agree theres no contest, but for personal enjoyment and 'fun to drive' they are v v good for the price range.

Whats the other cars you were thinking of? - Maybe give a better idea what your looking for

Lol by performance wise I agree theres no contest, but for personal enjoyment and 'fun to drive' they are v v good for the price range.

Whats the other cars you were thinking of? - Maybe give a better idea what your looking for

I see where your coming from regarding fun to drive as opposed to performance but i need something with a bit of poke to make it worth my while, I fancied another fabia becuase not many people strip them out and consider them a proper HOT HATCH. I thought that if i did the right mods the car would become a Hotter hatch thats much more drivable than its more powerful rivals having much more torque and ofcourse giving excellent economy aswell as been super cheap for me to insure.

Its a tough one for me as ive had so many cars, I havnt really got a shortlist of motors im just scanning pistonheads, Autotrader etc for ideas

A diesel warm hatch to hot hatch would be the following in my eyes:

Fiesta Zetec S TDCI - only 90bhp, be alot of work to get power as good as the rest, handles well though.

Peugeot 207 GT HDI - only 110bhp but good chassis.

Fabia vRS, Polo GT, Ibiza FR and Cupra TDI all same platform and fun out of the box, depends what can be had for decent money