Recommend your 500 quid 'hot hatches'

[pinkaardvark]

R5 Turbo

Engine Size 1397cc
Valves 8
Cylinders 4
0-60 mph 7.3 seconds
BHP 115/120
Max Speed 122 mph

Astra 16v GTE
Type: XE
Capacity: 1998cc 16v
Compression Ratio: 10.5:1
Cylinders: Four, in-line
Cylinder Head: Alloy
Block: Steel
Installation: front mounted, transverse
Valve Gear: double overhead camshafts, overhead valves, four valves per cylinder, toothed belt drive
Induction: Bosch Motronic M2.5 multi-point fuel injection, mapped electronic direct ignition system
Max power: 150 bhp @ 5600 rpm
Max speed: 137 mph
0-60 mph: 7.4 seconds

Max torque: 144.6 lb.ft @ 4800 rpm

I'd still go for the Toyota GTI though as I've sat in both the GTE and the R5 and they can be very old fashioned and rotten lumps for the £500 mark. Couldn't find full specs for the Toyota though but i'm relaibly told 0-60 is just under 8s and I can confirm the engine is the same as the Mr2 mk1 whiich features variable induction(kinda acts like a mini turbo)

 

[eidolon]

Originally posted by pinkaardvark
they can be very old fashioned and rotten lumps for the £500 mark.

I've sat in plenty of 5's for the £3000 mark which are rotten lumps

 

[pinkaardvark]

Originally posted by eidolon
I've sat in plenty of 5's for the £3000 mark which are rotten lumps

Yeah the R5 is often said to be both the best and worst car renault ever built.

 

[eidolon]

I can agree with that, some days I loved mine to bits (usually after surprising a Scooby or summat), but other days I hated it (usually after the radiator/clutch/starter motor/alternator packed in)

I guess I must've had more good days than bad cos I kept it for 7 years and spent £7k on it (plus cost of the car)

Amazing little cars but unfortunately they suffer the typical French car syndrome and fall to bits. I'd still have a Clio 16V with the GTT engine transplant tomorrow though!

 

[Simon]

I've seen a few astra Gtes do sub 15 sec quarters with a few mods. Awesome engines and fairly light cars.

Obviously not as light as a R5.

If you could get a rover220 Gsi Turbo for £500 that would be my pick, however you can't. I paid £800 for mine, it was only cheap because the owner was a fool. I could have replaced the bust wing and sold it the next day for £2500.

Si

 

[melchy]

Originally posted by eidolon
Gotta disagree. I've owned and driven both and the 5 wipes the floor with the GTE. The 5 might only be 120BHP as standard (115 was the phase 1 model - C/D reg) but it only weighs <900kg. The 5 certainly shifts as standard but once you up the boost it absolutely flies (free mod BTW).

With only an air filter and slightly increased boost I ran a 14.5 sec 1/4 at Santa Pod, a 16V is around 15.7 IIRC (twas a red hot day too, not good for turbo's)

Put it this way, my current car has just short of 300BHP but if a 5 pulled up besides me I wouldn't be betting on winning, they are rediculously quick little motors.

oh........and the 5 can go round corners too

Friends have various different cars powered by the 16V XE engine including GTE 16V' s and none of them have yet to have had a problem with a R5 GTT Although i doubt they have met one with ridiculous amounts of boost The XE powered Nova owned by one of them runs low 14's and thats without all that many mods. I have a soft spot for the R5 GTT as a family member had a G reg Silver one for a good many years (bought it from new) and it was a great car. Basically from that list the Astra GTE 16V and the R5 GTT are the only 2 cars that are in real throwing distace of each other as far as speed goes (They are the 2 fastest cars in the list). The rest although fairly rapid arent as quite as quick, although i suspect the Uno with a bit of tweaking could fairly shift The BX GTi 16V is also fairly rapid if you can put up with the styling, you could have endless fun beating the Nova boys with one of those .

Lets face it a 205 or 309 GTI or indeed a Golf GTI 8V/16V would be good choices as well. All of them are a bit of a legend.

 

[dexteruk]

personally i would go for a mk2 16v golf (i might be biased since it's what i have...)



you can get a half decent one for £500, if you know where to look - mine was £750 and it could afford to be a lot more tatty



they are a good combination of power, handling, brakes and solidity.