MGFs...

The Civic and the Puma both need thrashing to give their best as well though. The 306 and Xsara aren't bad at the bottom end, they're just very good at the top end, which makes them feel crap at the bottom. And who buys a hot hatch and then drives it like it like a girl anyway?

But those 20v's in the Bravo, for all their expensiveness, do sound nice and rev well....

Forced to agree here, the Golf isn't a GTi, or good, its slow, lardy, and just generally crap.

Then don't overcook it....

But a Puma makes you look gay.

RS Focus should be better than the Civic, it costs enough more...

Yea you don't buy a hot hatch to be practical really.

Girls :)

So why are we arguing about how good they are to drive? Surely the only thing that then matters is what they look like, which is personal opinion :)

Eeewwww, i find they offend my eyes :)

LHD would piss me off....

Because women should drive what we choose for them ;-)

You haven't had one, though, have you?

No, but its not like making a random guess about the handling :) I can be pretty sure LHD would be a minus point for me!

And i've chosen a Puma, MX5, MGF, and Yaris as the main possibilities for her because I like all of them :)

MX-5 every time.

Better residuals than the rest, too.

Buy a nice one for around £3k and it'll still be worth that in a couple of years.

Well, I meant you haven't had a LHD car.

It's not as bad as people think.

They also spontaneously combust, as do picassos.

But it'll be kept for 3+ years, and our budget is £4k, so even if it loses £2k its not the end of the world.

You can pick up some really nice spec'd ones for £3500 local which is probably what we'd go for. But all this depends on finding somewhere to give us the money!

We all know you're phobia when it comes to French cars.

And people call me narrow minded. At least I restrict my hatred to Ford and Vauxhall products ;-)

It's not a phobia, it's a rational dislike.

Mate had a Xsara, it just caught fire on the m1 all on its own. Another mate has a xsara - loads of little wiring faults causing all sorts of ECU and SRS warnings. Case recently of a punter who returned her picasso three times to Dixons with a smell of burning to be told no fault found. Fourth time it caught fire while she was at the service desk...

I know these new cars have strange electrickery embedded within, but she really should have taken it to a competent Citroen dealer, not a branch of a nationwide electrical retailer!

Douglas

same here, i was looking at picking up something big and american before my MR2 but thought about it and things like car park tickets and the dartford toll would piss me off. would look a proper wanker getting out to pay at dartford lol!

you wouldn't you'd whack a hardtop on the damn thing, buy it in black and get the chrome wheels of the limited edition thingy :) well i would.

it's always cold 'op north' so i second the doubt in northaners understanding :)

Ironically enough she wouldn't have been much worse off using the electrical retailer than a Dixon's garage...