The Petrolhead Society

The newer generation uses LCD bars and the 7 series has always used them 02- onwards. I personally think its a timeless classic and I like it..just like their standard white and black dials. Good old vacuum gauge. Lol each to his own I guess.
Personally as someone who knows a lot about cars and spend hours working on them, trust me..theres nothing wrong with VW. They're the only ones that were named and shamed, all other manufactures use the diesel gate. They don't like VW because they're dominating the market with Skoda, Seat and Audi.

Didn't Palmer overtake someone? Kimi must have taken a few. Does Button count, he got overtaken loads when his hydraulics failed
I don't, never been able to get into it. Want to watch WEC again, but its not worth paying for when I work weekends and miss every race. BTCC is back this weekend, looking forward to that! WRC is always impressive to watch, although I fear the new regulations have too much aero and make them too planted to look wild and on the edge.

The whole emissions thing has put me off them, I know every manufacturer tweaks their tests to make stuff seem more economical, but VW took it to a whole other level.
Have looked at MX5's for about 18 months now, but the bike thing has stopped me.
Mazda 3 just isn't fast from what I've seen, interior is a bit bland as well.
Have gone off the A3, liked them for a while, but something is holding me back now.
If the Guilietta interior was in the Brera I would buy one right now tbh.
Nothing French lol!
Don't like the mk2 focus, so an ST version of that is out, mk3 ST too pricey still sadly, mk3.5 has a much tidier interior that I really like, but its just too expensive.

What about the MPS, it would leave the Type R for dead. There are a few on Autotrader within your price/mileage requirements...

Took me ages to work out you meant the Mazda 3. You've now thrown a spanner in the works, thanks!

Haha, no problem. Yeah, i forgot about the new changes to quotes with the 'show more' so the emboldening doesn't really work anymore.

Just had a look at them, that is a lot of power!! Nice affordable car too, although maybe not so to run, but that would be forgotten with one twitch of the right foot I bet

Yeah, definitely true with a car like that, got a lot of torque as well. But one thing I just realised is that it doesn't even come close to your mpg guideline. Averages probably around 2-3 MPG less than the Type R, which was already a little low

The Type R was already pushing it. But I am quite an economical driver, currently average 38-41mpg from a mk1 focus 1.8 petrol, previous owners complained about only getting 30 or even 25.

Not bad then. If my quick search is correct, that is claimed to average ~37 mpg so you're beating the figures there. The question is, as you said, would you still be an economical driver in a car like those mentioned? The good thing is, you can't really push the MPS and Type R to the point where their economy suffers too badly, as by then you would be far exceeding the speed limit.

Well my daily commute is probably an average of 40mph, so that helps a long way, and I don't like to speed, but slow cars are annoying, so B-road overtakes may become more common if I have enough power to do them with a Type R...

Something with good in gear acceleration would be a good option for those sort of needs, if overtaking on country lanes is the main priority for getting something a little nippier than a 1.8 focus. You would need to be accelerating quite quickly when already at speed. So I would probably prioritise that over 0-60 tbh. The civic is fine for that anyways, just drop a gear and rev match, lol.

Am I the only one that thinks new BMWs are ugly af? Apart from the X5 and 5 series. I feel the rest of the range look terrible.

No they made the leather standard, previously it was an option (an expensive one at that) so all the bog standard 2.0 diesel cars come with the crappy cheap leather. The 3.0 diesels have the nice premium leather we're used to.

So far I've considered
Civic Type R FN2 (so much for the mpg requirements )
Civic EX (lots of toys, but not that keen on the interior)
mk3 ford focus titanium x (I like the toys), one nearby for £8k in a 1.6ecoboost engine.
Fiesta is too small for me and common as muck
Alfa Romeo Guilietta (looks good, seems to be fast and economical enough, but alfa reputation is somewhat offputting, seems to be hit or miss getting a good one? Also looked at the Brera, but the shape of the rear looks too much of a ball ache to lift a bike into the back.
Don't trust VW so the Golf is out.
Like the E60 3 series, but they're a bit pricey and parts likely more expensive than the rest.
Volvo c30 maybe a touch small, old v40/50/60/s40 all a bit old now but i like the styling, new models out of budget and seem to all be diesels anyway.

Daily commute consists of ~2miles at 30mpg and 3-4 miles of 40/50mph. Also do 150+ mile trips to visit family, friends 3-5 times a year so a decent level of comfort, refinement and quietness (The Type R doesn't really meet those I know, but its just lovely).

Any thoughts? Anything I've missed? Asking for a lot I know, but petrol heads are the people to ask!

You mean drop a few gears...Its hopeless mid range. All the power is in the top end of the rev range. That's why I hated the mg3 when I took it out on test drive, the 1.5 vti engine is terrible unless you thrash at (peak torque 5000 revs). Day to day driving it feels like a 1.0 pile of crap. Slow as hell. You're better off getting something punchy. Here's an example, in real world conditions (3000 rev shifts and earlier) a bog standard mini one with 90HP will thrash a Cooper with 120hp. Its all about peak torque. One has 140nm at 3000 revs, Cooper has 149nm at 4500 revs. No one redlines their cars unless they own a pile of sht Honda.

Yeah, your right. Especially with the Hondas and their Vtec engines, with all the power being at the top of the rev range.

What does anyone think of the S3 (2014), It's quite a nippy car. Recently hired it for prom and I was not disappointed! However, I do prefer JDM cars. But that S3 really blew my expectations though.

It looks rather good tbh!
Never been in one or driven one but it does look and sound spectacular!

JDM is the best!

I'm sure I remember someone on new tyres going round the outside of someone else, maybe at the last corner?
I think they should bring back refuelling in F1, yes its more costly and yes its added danger, but if it livens up the show, and WEC has so few fires these days, if F1 copied its fuel then tyres approach in the pits, no-one would drive off with the rig still attached. They can't attack because they have to save fuel and the fuel hurts the tyres, then they have no tyres left when the fuel is burnt off. Mind you the Mercedes advantage is just a little silly too.
I read up and then watched the last few laps, definitely heartbreaking! Going to le mans is on my motorsport bucket list!
Nice, I've been a couple of times, some good spots to watch from, just a royal pain to leave at the end of the day. I'll be at Brands Hatch for it in October. I support Neal/Shedden, would like to see Tom Ingram in the 3rd Honda if they run it again, he would go well and work with them well I think. How about yourself?
At least we have coverage though! I miss the days of Subaru, Mitsibishi etc

Agreed, the MX5 has zero practicality, but would be a great second car one day.
The sport model is like finding rocking horse poo, so few about! The previous gen Mazda 3 looked far better I thought too.
Everyone I know who has had a french car has had nothing but problems with it.
The cars I like are all out of budget really, I'll likely compromise and get another Focus or Civic Type R.

It is spectacular! In terms of JDM, I agree! I love the Nismo 400R.

It sure looks it!
Brilliant!
Hmm that's an excellent car! Very good indeed!
I'm an RX7 fan tbh!