[Closed] Fast(ish) cars - insurance

See that's just one of the flip sides to being young 😉

Until I was 21 I drove woefully shit cars 60bhp max, then I bought a 3.0ltr Capri 😀 £300 TPF&T
That was 1986 though things have changed a bit since then.

I had a 3L Granada. Every corner was the sweeney*

* ask your dad

He had a bloody 944 when he was my age. You lot ruined it for us all!

Buy a mk4 Golf TDI 150, get it remapped and then go and annoy porsche boxter owners - make sure and carry a suitable tow rope as you'll park it in a field, they under steer pretty bad at the best of times and after a remap you'll eat tyres every 6000 miles but they can be cheap fun (for a diesel).

I had a Lancia Delta Integrale in martini colours at 19 (1991) but i worked as a mechanic and bought it from a customer as crash damaged, spent 12 months and all my earnings repairing it with extensive body and jig work to bring it back into alignment - sold it after 6 months as it cost a fortune to run and keep in tyres but regretted it as soon as i watched it get driven away - stupid…stupid…stupid me 🙁

i can vouch for a diesel!!!! got a mondeo 2.0 tdci titinium x. scares so called sportier cars lad in a corsa vxr had a glum look on his face after a quick blast!!!! try a fabia vrs small cheap and same engines as the golf as its all same company vw skoda and seat.

steer clear of common hot hatches as a lot have bin claimed on insurance thus higher premiums. remapped diesels the way as the gearboxes tough out of the box and low comp turbos stop the dredded pop better mpg, more low down pulling grunt!!!! il never go back to petrol now!!!

Doesn't fitting Recaros and a roll cage make insurance cheaper? 😀

The only thing I can think of is to trawl through AutoTrader looking at cars you fancy and comparing insurance groups.

Old Focus ST / RS? Mondeo ST220?

Old BMW 130I?

Old Octavia VRS?

Willing to put the work into something older/tired/needs fixing

long time ago me pal had a black rx7 only one ive ever seen in the flesh!!! sounded awsome and shifted too!!! very nice cars and apparently he got dirt cheap tax and insurance due to the 1.3L aspect of the engine (apparently)

if you want old theres a mk 2 fiesta kicking about here with a 1.6 zetec s cdti diesel engine in. had remap and bigger blower and intercooler. kills the st brigade and he has a hoot with the tdci badge on the back and the pittance to run it!!! wide steel wheels on her and a simple white paint job with fishnet recaros. NICE

Whatever you get, add your dad on your insurance as a named driver. I saved £100 doing that, and he'll rarely drive my car but it's there for emergency use.

Note that this is as a named driver only - taking out the policy in his name would be fraud if you're the main driver...

Afraid its less the vehicle and more you postcode, take up Churchills offer of 2 yrs (named driver?)NCD, fit a blackbox and insure it in your name.

Give it a few years and you'll be able to insure anything for £300 but will have also worked out theres better things to spend your money than pseudo sports cars. 🙂

in my case my postcode not the best, car kept on street, sporty car with 18 inch alloys etc and ive bin driving 9 months now (got quote for me and the wife when bought mondy when i passed my test) shes 24 andim 26 shes got 6 points and 2 yrs ncb and its 739 py fully comp for both of us with our own protected ncb!!!! you just have to hunt around!!!!

Fiat Panda 100hp, cheap to insure and great to drive. Smart forfour Brabus, had one myself and was a cracking little car.

Old Focus ST / RS? Mondeo ST220?

Old BMW 130I?

Dunno what planet these are classed as cheap to insure, my wife looked at the 130i before she got her Gold and cheap to insure it wasn't!!

Fiesta ST's are pretty cheap on insurance for a 2.0, or maybe a clio 182 if you want something a bit faster?

got a mondeo 2.0 tdci titinium x. scares so called sportier cars lad in a corsa vxr had a glum look on his face after a quick blast!!!!

😆

Buy a mk4 Golf TDI 150, get it remapped and then go and annoy porsche boxter owners

I doubt it, they will laugh as anyone knows Golfs are incredibly dull to drive. Being able to go from 0-30 quickly as the front tyres scrabble for grip is not exactly fun.

There's a mention of the Fabia vRS up there ^

Well, have a look at the Ibiza 130TDi Sport too. It's the same car as the vRS, but doesn't have the boyed up looks to go with it and the vRS badge so insurance may be cheaper.
They rebranded it FR when they did a facelift, to separate it from the 100 TDi sport version which they kept going.

It'll feel like a rocket compared to a 1.2 Corsa. The 0-60 on paper isn't amazing although quick enough. But, it's brisk once you get it rolling because it just keeps pulling through the gears.

Just be wary of the handling. The nose is quite heavy and you can really feel it, which isn't helped by the lack of feedback from the steering (the new Ibiza is streets ahead in this department).

If you really want to push the boat out, have a look at a Ibiza Cupra TDi - 160 bhp, bigger turbo & injectors, nicer wheels, bigger AP Racing brakes, front mounted intercooler and more capable suspension than the Sport version. Insurance might be a bit steep.

New Golf GTI/Golf R is cheap to insure for its power due to all the technology to stop you crashing at low speed.

If you're willing to put work in why not look at something a bit older. Maybe a Mk5 Escort RS2000 or a Mk4 Astra GSi. Although only go for the Astra if you want to understeer everywhere in a cloud of tyre smoke.

Willing to put the work into something older/tired/needs fixing as my dad restores classics

3.5l of grumbly V8, not difficult to tune to 250hp+, or just get the supersports version if you can find one as they had that as standard.

He who suggests astra should be killed by pain of death.

Mgbgt- great fun as a weekend car. As a daily driver no one would thank you. Slightly damp day even with a retro fit electronic dizzy they are a pain in the chuff to start on choke.

In the time honoured tradition of suggested what you have, a3 tdi Quattro sport. s3 handling, 45mpg. £250/yr insurance.

cripes. there's a lot of living the dream in this thread, with all these nose-heavy diesels! 🙂
mx 5?
if those things wore a lotus badge they'd be half as reliable and 3 times the price.

He who suggests astra should be killed by pain of death.

OP said fast(ish) he didn't specify that it had to be either interesting or have the ability to go round a corner without killing the occupants.

You've been driving for 7 years? So you must be a minimum of 24 years old. I'm very surprised that insurance is still a limiting factor.

When i was twenty i bought a Bora TDI (the saloon verion of the Golf/Fabia/Ibiza mentioned above). Insurance was about £800 if i remember correctly. When i was 24 i signed for a brand new Octavia VRS, which is about £450 to insure. Obviously this doesn't account for my NCB...

Anyway, as for cars to consider; a lot of models in a range will share the internals with the 'hot' model, but not be badged as such. My Bora for example was badged as 'SE' yet had the same engine / gearbox as the Golf GTTDI / Fabia vRS. The Ibiza above will be the same. I'd suggest this is the place to look.

Don't buy a diesel! Not until you are old and boring like me. Don't listen to people who rave about how quick their remapped oil burners are, they are still boring and lack any fun value whatsoever. Get something old and rear wheel drive and enjoy corners and roundabouts. MK2 escort with bored out Kent engine for me but might need a big loan to buy a good one.

I love diesels but they do not corner worth a damn, it always makes me laugh when people tell me their diesels as fast as the petrol version..... Except the petrol actually has handling.

Ability to go round corners is better than being able to go fast...... ALTHOUGH if all your interested in is overtaking then youll be happy.

Mx5 is a good shout.

Buy a MK1 MX5. Won't be too expensive to insure and will be fast enough, but mostly 'enjoyable' enough to keep you interested.

Since they are lightweight things like brakes and tyres are cheap and you don't need a huge engine to get decent speed from them.

This is one area of life where you end up glad to be middle aged....this is not really going to help the op, but it'll make me feel better

I have a BMW m135i, and it costs me £250 to insure, the e92 M3 I had before it, cost £350.

Insurance costs really dropped significantly at 40, its the one upside I can think of of being 40+.

I've spent thousand on insuring fast cars through my 20's and 30's, its nice to not be stung for this any more.

Insurance seems to be getting better value, especially as I get older, probably helped by recent changes that make it illegal to discriminate on gender

I thought having my wife on the insurance would make it cheaper since I have a 320bhp hatchback 😀 But I took her off and it reduced the cost by over £100.

Works out relativley cheap overall at £570, considering I have 6 points and a claim in the last year, and only 2 years NCB.

fit a blackbox and insure it in your name

Telematics insurance probably isn't ideal, otherwise he may as well stick with the 1.2, the whole point being that you'll be penalised for using the performance!

I've had two GT TDI Golfs - a mk4 130 and a mk5 170, they're good cars, quick enough, but not a particularly exciting drive (which is fine with me). I'd have thought there are far better options out there. Realistically most modern 'performance' cars aren't going to reach their limits until you're doing very illegal speeds, so I'd be looking at something a bit older if you want that sort of thing. Something like a mk3 Golf VR6 would probably be more 'fun' in that respect.

Old BMW 130I?

Epically fun car though. 🙂

Toyota MR2? Sometimes they come up cheaper because they are only 2 seaters so less risk of you binning it whilst showing off for your mates/not getting stolen to be used as a getaway car etc...

Budget?

Newer cars can be a lot cheaper to insure, despite being worth more and potentially better performing too. There was a push a while ago for easier and cheaper repairs, plus better safety systems - ABS and the like, and these days traction/stability control. Newer cars tend to be harder to steal also. There's also a factor of people spending more taking a little more care.

Worth playing around with online quotes - Admiral/Elephant let you put in your details then keep changing the car and seeing what the result is. You may find something newer that lets you spend more on the car from the savings on insurance. Also worth looking for the less obvious performance stuff - eg. the Civics of 10 years ago, rather than a Type-R, there was also a Type-S with 160bhp in a 5-door body and way easier to insure. Plenty of examples that aren't the out-and-out performance one but pack a decent engine into a plainer looking model.

MX5 is the best suggestion. Great handling, just enough power and I would imagine reasonable insurance. You can really learn how to drive in one of these. Much better than the fwd diesel options touted.

Ford Racing Puma?

I ran a quote through GoCompare on a Subaru Legacy Spec B saloon and the quote came out cheaper than my 15yr old Octavia diesel estate!

Wife still wouldn't let me have one - think of the fuel bills! think of the repair costs! Blah, blah, blah!... 😕

Not all modern diesels are nose heavy...

But I still say you'd have to be going a hell of a lot faster in (for example) a current Golf GTD and pushing the limits a lot more for it to become 'entertaining', than you would in something like an MX5. And yes, insurance may be cheaper on a modern car, but that's a bit of a moot point if the car itself costs £20k more!

I like the MX5 suggestion.

Audi A4 2.0 tfsi - 270/280bhp easy on a £300 re-map

Insurance is strange. My Focus ST Estate is half the price to insure than my C-Max 1.6 diesel. It has more than twice the power and is worth a lot more.

Audi A4 2.0 tfsi - 270/280bhp easy on a £300 re-map

Boring compared to an MX5. Very boring. It's not all about power and your insurance co. will want to know all about the remap.

I'd have to argue with the 'poor' handling diesels. How fast do you want to go round corners? Mondeos are fab handling cars, plenty good enough for realistic road speeds. They will out handle most of the VW/Audi cars that everyone seems to think are so wonderful. I'm constantly amazed by the number of people in 'fast' cars who tip-toe round corners. "A fast car is fast in a straight line, a fast driver is fast round the bends". I drive a Freelander with the SD4 engine and have huge fun in the twisties. Rolls a bit, mind ....

Classic limited mileage insurance policy might help - ran an old Saab 900 turbo on this, pretty cheap premium and great to drive apart from the disconcerting turbo lag. Big hatchback too for bikes or kipping in when young.
Drove an old Fiesta 1.25 for a while, I'm sure they lie about their power output, seemed very quick at the time for a tiddly engine

Classics seem to be the way to go. I was quoted only £60 more for a 944 than I was for the Hyundai I eventually bought... £425 when I was about 28 with not much NCD.
My father, albeit a lot older than me, was quoted less than £200 for a Lotus Elan, the 90s FWD one.

I'd have to argue with the 'poor' handling diesels. How fast do you want to go round corners? Mondeos are fab handling cars, plenty good enough for realistic road speeds. They will out handle most of the VW/Audi cars that everyone seems to think are so wonderful.

It's all relative. Something like an MX5 will handle much better than any front drive rep-mobile. Mondeos do handle well, but only compared to other dull wagons. Anyway who says VW/Audis handle well? Most are very average at best. Lots of Audis I've driven have been sub-par on both steering feel and ride quality. Test drove a Passat the other day and it was frankly shite.

Also not a matter of how fast you corner, it's more about how much fun you are having. That's the thing with cars like the MX5 - they are immense fun at sane speeds. Put it this way, I'd rather do a track day in an MX5 than a Mondeo.

only £60 more for a 944

Now there's another great handling fun car to drive. But you need help buying one if you don't know anything about them. Most are rusty old junk now, but the few cared for examples can be awesome.

Also not a matter of how fast you corner, it's more about how much fun you are having. That's the thing with cars like the MX5 - they are immense fun at sane speeds. Put it this way, I'd rather do a track day in an MX5 than a Mondeo.

This is the crux of it. An RS6 will handle better, but without risking a hell of a lot of trouble (and/or driving like a complete tosser) it's going to be less exciting on public roads than (something like) an MX5.

What's the insurance like on an early Lotus Elise?

njee talking complete sense!!! 😉

I've had Evo's and Imprezas that would leave many cars for dead in the curves but my old MK2 escort was ten times the fun!

What's the insurance like on an early Lotus Elise?

probably not substantially worse than an mx-5, particularly if you joined the owner's clubs, but you're looking at getting on for 10k to get in to a decent one.

Or the Vauxhall VX220 "version"? Could be even cheaper and just as good (if not better) by many accounts

Or how about a Honda S2000? They handle and are pretty quick if you razz the engine hard. Not sure on insurance though.

MG ZT 260?

Porsche Boxster. They most definitely handle well and a decent early 2.7 would easily be sub £10K (what was the budget?). Again not sure on insurance implications at your age. Future depreciation would be minimal and not so expensive to run if you avoid buying a lemon in the first instance.

Again, MX5. They rock.
The grip around the corners is phenomenal and very controllable when it lets go.

Something that young people hate.

I gave up and got a motorbike, 0-60 in sub 4 seconds and the bike and insurance combined cost me less than the insurance for a crap car 😆

It's all relative. Something like an MX5 will handle much better than any front drive rep-mobile. Mondeos do handle well, but only compared to other dull wagons. Anyway who says VW/Audis handle well? Most are very average at best. Lots of Audis I've driven have been sub-par on both steering feel and ride quality. Test drove a Passat the other day and it was frankly shite.

Also not a matter of how fast you corner, it's more about how much fun you are having. That's the thing with cars like the MX5 - they are immense fun at sane speeds. Put it this way, I'd rather do a track day in an MX5 than a Mondeo.

Completely agree with this. I have owned an MX5 Mk3 (unfortunately not Mk1 or 2), Mondeo 2.0d and now a BMW 3 Series.

The MX5 was fun ish around the bends at slow speeds (although not as nice as a Mk1 or 2.) I bought the Mondeo when I was commuting 140 miles a day, and it did that very well, plus could still go round bends (to a fashion) still understeered though, which is not to do with engine weight, but the fact most road cars are set up to under steer.

Now in a new BM'er. Fantastic compromise between sports car and mile muncher. Unfortunately though to have fun, you are going around corners at probably 2/3 or double the speed of the MX5. Going fwd/rwd/fwd/ and now rwd has made me think I dont want fwd again.

It has opened my eyes to just how badly Audi's go around corners though, they even use the brakes to automatically assist and help the car going around corners (some thing they even admit in their brochures).

Seat Leon FR DSG - same engine as the golf, cheaper to insure - love mine. can remap up to 240-250bhp

I agree that an MX5 would be more fun on a track. I also agree that 3 series are fun, I've had two touring versions and really liked them. I was just trying to make the point that Mondeos are excellent handlers and most VW/Audi Group products are not, IME.

ow badly Audi's go around corners though, they even use the brakes to automatically assist and help the car going around corners (some thing they even admit in their brochures).

So do all cars with ESP, your bmw included.

You can turn it off in some cars if you want to see how much work the car is doing to make you feel like a good driver...

Jam bo - ok googled BMW have it too lol. (cornering brake control)

Doesn't stop the fact that the chassis is way better than Audi. The Way BMW word it is as if you make a tit of driving around a corner, I wont let you stab on the brakes too hard. Audi words I as a sytem to help the car steer around the corner...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RcIfUoaGQ80

All marketing bollocks. I drove a new 3 series recently and it practically drove itself there was so much electronic gizmos going on.

Can you get a Mini Cooper S?

My Cooper S Clubman was only £158 a year to insure, admittedly with full no claims and over 25, but still..

Jambo - yep, but it is very easy to turn them off, half esp is great fun, you can drive around corners with opposite lock on and not have yo worry about the tail going too far full off is more interesting but still very controllable 😛

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/mazda-mx-5-questions

Hate to blow the trumpet again but they are good. My wife was 24 when we got ours and it is cheapish to insure at about £600. I think it was about £450 for me on my own (26, 1 year's no claims but 7 years driving as a named driver/company vehicles).

I own a 2012 Skoda Fabia of medium-sportiness. They are about £6k and about £450 to insure also. It goes lots faster round bends than the MX5, since it has big low profile tyres and modern suspension. But it's nowhere near as exciting. To call an MX5 fast is exaggerating quite a bit.

Clio 172. Insurance will barely matter when you've only spent £1,500 to get a mint one. Obviously not RWD, but will still happily get the tail out 😉

My Lotus Elise 111R (the 190hp version) is £200 fully comp (I didn't miss a 0 off the end). This is parked on drive in Herts and regularly commuted into London.

as is a Panda 100BHP they don't get thrown through hedges like Clio RenultSports or Elise's.

Have you ever driven one? Have you ever been a passenger in one? I reckon you could take pretty much any corner in one 50% more quickly than you could in a Panda. The handling is sooooo far superior to something like a Panda that they can comfortably handle [b]way[/b] more than most drivers would dare push them to.

Oh, if you do go MX5 and want lower insurance the 1.6s are still a laugh.

johndoh - Member

I have never known an Elise to be binned

erm, some pristine looking Elise's that have never been binned. 😀

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Problem with cars like Elise's on public roads is that you are going so much faster than you would in a 'normal' car, because they grip/handle so well that when it does go wrong you suddenly realise that A) you aren't Seb Loeb and B) that lampost is only a few feet away.

Probably not what the OP is after, but I reckon Toyota/Subaru got it right with that GT86 coupe thing. Not that powerful with skinny tyres and fun to drive in everyday situations. Stick it on a track and you'll be left for dead, but that's not what it's meant for.

Problem with cars like Elise's on public roads is that you are going so much faster than you would in a 'normal' car, because they grip/handle so well that when it does go wrong you suddenly realise that A) you aren't Seb Loeb and B) that lampost is only a few feet away.

The middle pic was a pair of journalists on a track in Belgium.

Driving the Elise every day isn't a problem. I don't find myself going too fast, in fact it's just as nice to drive it slowly. More people can admire me that way. 🙂

I'll write more later, just leaving work.

Problem with cars like Elise's on public roads is that you are going so much faster than you would in a 'normal' car, because they grip/handle so well that when it does go wrong you suddenly realise that A) you aren't Seb Loeb and B) that lampost is only a few feet away.

I was actually relieved to get out of the car!

I have never known an Elise to be binned (apart from at track days).

I used to have a B7 A4 3.0 (233) TDI Quattro. Certainly not as involving a drive as a BMW 3 series 330d or 335d and the feel from the steering was dead in comparison. However my current A6 again a 3.0 Quattro compares very favourably with its comparable 5 series... Steering still lacks feel but the handling is comparable. I will test drive some of the xdrive BMW models when I change the car. It will be interesting to see if they lose some of their dynamic feel to gaining grip...?

As for less 'premium' cars cornering more quickly than VAG cars. I think that's right in my experience. I consistently corner at speeds where I can brake in the distance I see. So many people don't...

Now in a new BM'er. Fantastic compromise between sports car and mile muncher. Unfortunately though to have fun, you are going around corners at probably 2/3 or double the speed of the MX5.

I get your point, but I think your factoring is a bit optimistic. So a 50 mph corner in an MX5 is a 100 mph corner in a 3 series BMW? I think not. Probably more like 50 v 65 in reality, although it feels much faster. To double your cornering speed requires truly immense difference in grip levels.

Audis saloons are notoriously bad handling engines too far forward- but they are nice cruising cars with lots of interior space due to this. ..so saying a mundano is better than that is like saying its better than my land rover at cornering. Rs models handle better as does the 3.2v6 tt - the 2.0tdi was a serious let down although the owner said the tires on it were shit.

A mondeo is not a good handling car when pitched against good handling cars.