Fiat Sceicento Sporting

That engine just doesn't shout "GTI" in the Golf way. "Relaxed brisk tourer" maybe, but it was well out of character compared with the previous GTIs (proper ones, heh).

I _do_ like the 1.8T but it never impressed me in the Golf. "Needs a better home" - it works better in the Bora or Passat.

Aye. I saw three in Italy. Two briefly as they hooned along the autostrada. :)

I've seen one (repeatedly) in York. Driven by an old duffer I'm afraid to say.

Sensible use of financial resources in York, then! :)

Actually this week I've seen more Ferraris than Alfa V6s...

Erm, you said you'd be able to afford an Abarth "very soon". Cheapest Stilo Abarth is a grand more than that, and as we all know, powerful, decent diesels hold their money very well, and if you're getting one at the cheapest end of the scale of what they sell for, then you should get a year's use out of it and lose no more than a grand on it, possibly only £500. Roughly speaking, you'll probably save around 700 quid in fuel (figures calculated on 500 miles/week, 48 weeks/year, petrol doing 30mpg, diesel doing 40mpg, petrol costing 86.9p/litre, diesel costing 90.9p/litre), and on a similarly priced Stilo Abarth you'll probably lose more in £££ terms than on a 156 2.4JTD, so that fuel saving being offset by the purchase cost is bollocks as you'll be getting similar depreciation on both, possibly worse on the Abarth.

But like you say, you'd not be looking at them til they hit the £2k mark.

I dunno, what are they new?

Peter

Not on a standard one it doesn't.

The book time was about 8.5 seconds iirc, which sounds about right (I used to floor them in the TI ffs...).

Must admit tho, I do quite like them. They look purposeful, even if they actually aren't.

Around £15k, ISTR.

It's 18 months since I last priced one up, though.

That's odd, 'cos my Passat 1.8T is booked at anything from 7.9 to 8.2 for the 0-60 dash, depending on where you look.

I personally thought it was the overall combination, the colour, shape and the bodykit all combined. It did look bloody gorgeous.

Aye, agreed wholeheartedly.

Derv, stop pussy-footing about. Just learn to say "IT LOOKS LIKE A STEAMING PILE OF SHITE" :-)

Hold on - improve? It looks s**te. And ISTR them saying on Top Gear when reviewing the new Golf, Mazda 3 and new Astra: "get the old Focus before Ford ruin it".

Raise the game? Nah - I'd probably choose a Mk5 Golf over a late Focus, whereas with the previous generations I'd have probably chosen the Focus. Except that I'd have bought none of them anyway.

Then get yours up to 200k ASAP (30k commute, right? Call it 45k/year with other driving - I make that just 3 years worth), flog the engine and box to some museum, or keep it to show the grandkids, and do a proper VVT Zetec conversion. YKIMS.

Peter

Or just buy a car with that engine installed as standard.

Pumas are dirt cheap these days.

Cheap enough to even tempt me to look at one..... and I think they're an over styled tarts handbag.

Blimey. Before you would never have considered one 'cos it's just a shitey Fester dressed up a bit!

Peter

Aye, but once something like that reaches a certain price, it becomes a throwaway asset that you can cane into the ground for six months and flog for what you paid for it. Makes sense then.

I guess the masses must all be *really* stupid, to be missing out on such gems... *sigh*

-- JackH

Aye, like no speakers other than in the front half of the car...

-- JackH

No, if we were buying with *your* heart, and not our heads, we'd buy the Alfa.

HTH

:-P

-- JackH

Relatively f*ck-all being a grand more than a similarly aged Passat.....

The 2lt TSpark 156 seems to have hit a low.... we picked up a 99V for £2800, but there's also lots of R/S plate cars for the same money out there.

R plate Passat 1.8T. £2k.

Go figure.

'Alfa in better residuals than VAG shocker'

You won't get a Passat with similar miles, on the same plate, for that money, realistically.

And you'll definitely not get one if you're buying one as you did, and paying that much more for the warranty.

Your Passat, was and still is, much higher mileage, and a rare bargain even at that price as you admitted at the time, and... it's in one of the least liked colours (seem to remember some guide marking out as a bad point), and on steels.

Given your figure work on this one, ever considered going into politics???

Now, where were we... ah yes... the bit you've snipped regarding most other cars the size of the 156, being able to knock out similar performance, if not better, without rinsing all its piss thin oil, including the Fords you so detest.

-- JackH

Lol - I know how that feels, but they recently dressed a favorite back road I use a lot, starting mid bend - stability control light blinked very very smugly as I went from grippy tarmac to what was, in effect, gravel...

In news:xTmse.19647$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net, AstraVanMan decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Agreed again.

You've obviously never driven a Mk5 Golf. I have, and I think they're the worst thing VW have made since the Derby.

Nope. I've read reviews though, but I don't want to start being a muppet sheep-like member of the public who puts all his trust in the motoring press.

Peter

Therein is my point! :)

That's true of Peugeot / Citroen and Ford these days. Mercedes and BMW too, but I've not tried the very latest smaller output ones.

That's not something we have with ours. The more modern 1.3 Duratec 8v Ka has "engine note version four" installed. We have something with a bit more character, as does the 1.6 Duratec 8v.