Golfer's Car?

[Oddsocks]

View attachment 42757
Thats a trolley and stand bag quite easily in the back of an M2.

Electric or push/pull?

 

[Banchory Buddha]

This is exactly it.

What used to be seen as a really ooomph mobile was Harry Enfield's Escort 1.6 xr3i turbo nutter bastard.
That had 104 bhp and 0-60 in about 9.2 secs.
Nowadays a 1.0 Skoda Fabia or Seat Arona can pretty much match those figures for bhp and 0-60.
But show a 1-litre engine to many people and they immediately think "puny golf cart" which is absolute tosh.
What these cars offer is decent performance, good mpg and low insurance. With living costs rising at record rates, this has to be a major consideration.
I'm seriously considering the Seat Arona.

Agreed, but what I fear from these tiny engines is that theyu will be dead by 100Km. They are pulling heavy cars around,

 

[Banchory Buddha]

What does "economical" mean for you? And do you do enough miles to really notice the difference between 40mpg and 30mpg say?

And what does S-O-A-S mean to you? Similar to your octavia in 0-60 and 30-70?

They're subjective terms which mean different things to different people, if you see what I mean.

I will miss the torque moving from the diesel, but yeah 0-60 would be 8secs max, anything slower is slow. Doesn't have to be an absolute rocket ship, but as someone above said, rural Aberdeenshire, you do need to take your space quickly when overtaking sometimes.

Economical means getting as close to 50+ mpg as possible. If I'm working in office it's a 35 mile round trip, second golf club is a 25 mile round trip, and we play league matches and opens across Aberdeenshire, so 30mpg would be a non-sstarter.

 

[BiMGuy]

This is exactly it.

What used to be seen as a really ooomph mobile was Harry Enfield's Escort 1.6 xr3i turbo nutter bastard.
That had 104 bhp and 0-60 in about 9.2 secs.
Nowadays a 1.0 Skoda Fabia or Seat Arona can pretty much match those figures for bhp and 0-60.
But show a 1-litre engine to many people and they immediately think "puny golf cart" which is absolute tosh.
What these cars offer is decent performance, good mpg and low insurance. With living costs rising at record rates, this has to be a major consideration.
I'm seriously considering the Seat Arona.

How much did an 80s Escort weigh compared to a modern car!

Was an XR3I really considered a ‘nutter’? Maybe the RS Turbo at a push.

Cars with tiny engines rarely offer the fuel saving buyer hope for. You’ll be lucky to save a few quid a year.


If you really want to save money, don’t buy a new car. The depreciation will eat up any other savings you make.

 

[Canary_Yellow]

I will miss the torque moving from the diesel, but yeah 0-60 would be 8secs max, anything slower is slow. Doesn't have to be an absolute rocket ship, but as someone above said, rural Aberdeenshire, you do need to take your space quickly when overtaking sometimes.

Economical means getting as close to 50+ mpg as possible. If I'm working in office it's a 35 mile round trip, second golf club is a 25 mile round trip, and we play league matches and opens across Aberdeenshire, so 30mpg would be a non-sstarter.

Not sure you'l find a petrol car that delivers that economy and that power unless you go for a plug in hybrid. I'd also have thought any petrol car that did get close to that would be too small for your needs.

This helps calculate what a change in MPG really means in terms of running cost:

https://www.which.co.uk/static/tools/new-reviews/car-calculators/annual-fuel-costs.html

and this gives an idea of real consumption:

https://www.fuelly.com/car

You could get (all around 2018 model):
PHEV Mini Countryman
Golf GTE
Passat GTE
Merc C350E
BMW 330E (unlikely to have big enough boot given smaller on the E than on the regular saloon)

 

[Oddsocks]

What about a focus st estate?

 

[RichA]

What about a focus st estate?

Yep. My old man has a Focus hatch with the 1.5t 150bhp. It's not sluggish and there are plenty of 182bhp about. Great car for the money. The hatchback's quite big. Might not even need an estate.

 

[Springveldt]

I will miss the torque moving from the diesel, but yeah 0-60 would be 8secs max, anything slower is slow. Doesn't have to be an absolute rocket ship, but as someone above said, rural Aberdeenshire, you do need to take your space quickly when overtaking sometimes.

Economical means getting as close to 50+ mpg as possible. If I'm working in office it's a 35 mile round trip, second golf club is a 25 mile round trip, and we play league matches and opens across Aberdeenshire, so 30mpg would be a non-sstarter.

To be honest, with those figures you will probably have a much larger choice with a diesel over a petrol.

How much did an 80s Escort weigh compared to a modern car!
Was an XR3I really considered a ‘nutter’? Maybe the RS Turbo at a push.
Cars with tiny engines rarely offer the fuel saving buyer hope for. You’ll be lucky to save a few quid a year.
If you really want to save money, don’t buy a new car. The depreciation will eat up any other savings you make.

In my youth I had a Ford Orion Ghia that had an Escort RS Turbo engine in it. Full bodykit with purple lights underneath. Loved that car when it started, the starter motor used to get jammed when it got too hot so I had to give it a few knocks with a hammer to get it loose.
Ended up having to sell it when I first moved in with my now wife as I couldn't afford to run it. Sold it and bought a Citreon AX GT that developed an electrical fault and it would just cut out while driving. The amount of bangers I bought just to have a boy racer car.

 

[Oddsocks]

Yep. My old man has a Focus hatch with the 1.5t 150bhp. It's not sluggish and there are plenty of 182bhp about. Great car for the money. The hatchback's quite big. Might not even need an estate.

Or get the active x vengalli( replaces the traditional Ghai) if you fancy comfort.

 

[BiMGuy]

What about a focus st estate?

Are they still horrendous on fuel? My sister had one and it only did low 20s MPG I think. I remember at the time it was worse than I was getting out of my M3.

 

[Lump]

Electric or push/pull?

Electric. An old Motocaddy S3. Full disclosure, I had to take the wheels off to make it fit.

 

[Oddsocks]

Are they still horrendous on fuel? My sister had one and it only did low 20s MPG I think. I remember at the time it was worse than I was getting out of my M3.

They do a 2litre st line diesel which is pretty good, was into the 50+ I think

 

[Banchory Buddha]

What about a focus st estate?

It was what I was going to swap into, I think the focus h/back is just too small a boot. But if going down that routre I'd be as well sticking with the Skoda in the same class size, without getting a bulky estate.

 

[full_throttle]

Have you considered a Volvo or a Hyundai i30

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Have you considered a Volvo or a Hyundai i30

A Volvo V40 is a good shout, I don't know the Hyundai so can't comment there. I've had v40's as courtesy cars and they are very tidy with plenty of poke. It's just about the boot then.

 

[Oddsocks]

It was what I was going to swap into, I think the focus h/back is just too small a boot. But if going down that routre I'd be as well sticking with the Skoda in the same class size, without getting a bulky estate.

I would have thought the Octavia was more mondeo size ?

 

[Canary_Yellow]

I would have thought the Octavia was more mondeo size ?

It’s on the golf platform, isn’t it?

 

[Voyager EMH]

I would have thought the Octavia was more mondeo size ?

Skoda Rapid has bigger boot than Mondeo. Octavia has boot even bigger than that.

 

[Oddsocks]

It’s on the golf platform, isn’t it?

I thought it was on the next one up, more a Passat/a4/mondeo. Then the superb is the next one up from that similar to a5/a6

 

[Voyager EMH]

Ah, the "platforms" are a different thing than the practicalities of owning and "living with it".