Coming back to Cougars

The V6 grin is well and truly back, picked my cougar up today, it drives even better than I remember, cant beat the sound of a V6
 
How's the Cougar settled in, you picked yours up the week I got my first one. So far so good....
 
Its great thanks, really missed driving a cougar, got a few things I want to do it that my old one had, strut brace, K&N buy couldnt be happier with the car
 
I'm sorry I don't follow, what's the connection with a Freelander? As a newbie I've obviously missed something, but have noticed lots of references to Freelanders throughout the site. Do enlighten me...
 
Like Douglas, I'm returning to the site after a break away. I still have the same car. The reason I left was that I was intending to sell the Cougar (I know, I know!). However after looking around, I was suitably underwhelmed by most alternatives within my price range, so kept the car. I've now decided I'll keep it until the costs of repairs gets ridiculous or I can no longer get the parts. Hence why I'm back. You guys are useful and membership is VFM. I have also been recommending the site to other owners I know and I still have the website badges on my car!
 
Bill Poster said:
Like Douglas, I'm returning to the site after a break away. I still have the same car. The reason I left was that I was intending to sell the Cougar (I know, I know!). However after looking around, I was suitably underwhelmed by most alternatives within my price range, so kept the car. I've now decided I'll keep it until the costs of repairs gets ridiculous or I can no longer get the parts. Hence why I'm back. You guys are useful and membership is VFM. I have also been recommending the site to other owners I know and I still have the website badges on my car!
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What type of cars were you looking at and in what price range?
I specialise (hobby) in helping people to buy a car for their budget.

I have to agree to some extent though. Sometimes there isn't much out there that would make you give up what you have.

I'm going well on the Cougar at the mo. Getting 32.5mpg on my commute to work and back (mix of town/open road) so I'm happy with that and I can accelerate much better now my custom single exit exhaust has been fitted and secondary cat pipe removed. it does sound nice.
 
What type of cars were you looking at and in what price range?
I specialise (hobby) in helping people to buy a car for their budget.
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Cars I have considered are the Seat Leon TDI, Mazda RX8, Golf TDI and Honda Civic (the missus bought one of these in the end). I have a budget of £10k ish. I test drove a couple (though not the Seat). The RX8 was lovely but is v thirsty and troublesome by accounts.

Although another reason for delaying the purchase has been employment uncertainty. Just been through 2 rounds of redundancies with potentially more on the way...
 
Bill Poster said:
Cars I have considered are the Seat Leon TDI, Mazda RX8, Golf TDI and Honda Civic (the missus bought one of these in the end). I have a budget of £10k ish. I test drove a couple (though not the Seat). The RX8 was lovely but is v thirsty and troublesome by accounts.

Although another reason for delaying the purchase has been employment uncertainty. Just been through 2 rounds of redundancies with potentially more on the way...
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For £10K you could buy 2 good cars. Diesel and performance. Depends on your split of that money.
If you only want one car then you can do a lot worse than looking at something like a BMW 3 or 5 series Diesel. 330d models are quick and tuneable and nice to drive. Audi A4 3.0TDi. Mondeo 2.2 ST Diesel can be had for £5k upwards.
RX8's are very thirsty and not good on the car tax....ouch....although they do look very nice.
Seat Leon TDi's and Golf TDi's are nice (essentially the same car).
 
I had thought about a Mondy ST. But competent car though it is, it's just an uglier version of the Cougar in some ways... I know that the SEAT is virtually the same as the Golf, except it's cheaper and nicer looking IMO.

Don't want a saloon (rules out the A4) and I can't buy a Beamer... not after what I've said to all and sundry about BMW drivers!

I did also consider a Jag XK8, again thirsty... but rather nice!

So where do you stand on Alfas?
 
I think the ST155 Diesel is a very tasty looking car. You can have these remapped too. I know there is a company called V-Tune that'll map it to 200bhp and a shed load of torque whilst improving mpg.
I also think the Leon is nicer looking. Generally they are a sizeable chunk cheaper too so you get more for your money with the Seat despite materials not being quite as good....but still high quality nonetheless.

Lol...the good 'ol BMW stereotypical view.......I bet most people have shared this view at some point.....but the fact is, they are good cars to drive and pretty bullet proof.
The Audi A4 Avant (Estate) cars very nice and still come in S4 shape.
You could pick up a cracking Nogaro Blue 2.7 V6 Bi Turbo for £6K.
XK8's are a bargain at the moment and even with full history, early examples will fetch less than £5k It's the servicing and things like tyres which catch most people out.

Alfa's....now theres a brand to talk about. Some say you've never really owned a car until you've had an Alfa.....but people are always wary of patchy reliability and this will put most people off.
The GTV's fetch a premium price for a good one....and you'll really want a good one otherwise you'd spend a shed load of money on it.
156's were patchy reliability again but it looks like the 159's are going to be better.
The Brera's look mean and the 3.2 V6 engine is a goodun......you can get them for under £10k.

Hot hatches any good?
Renault Megane 230 R26 can be had for approx £10-11k for a pretty good one.
225's from £5-6k for a decent-ish one.
Clio's handle well and although are thrashy, the 2.0litre engine is ok on Motorways.

I come from a Jap car background. But have owned a huge amount of cars in my years including some quite rare breeds.
 
Thanks for all that. I should explain that one of the reasons I have a downer on Beamer drivers, apart from the obvious, is that a speeding one crashed into me on the motorway cos I didn't get out of his way. Kinda sums up the vast majority of drivers. I agree with what you say about the cars, but...

See also Scoobies. Again nice cars, but with a high ****** coefficient for drivers.

I generally avoid French cars but I do agree with you on the Megane. Lovely car...
 
Bill Poster said:
Thanks for all that. I should explain that one of the reasons I have a downer on Beamer drivers, apart from the obvious, is that a speeding one crashed into me on the motorway cos I didn't get out of his way. Kinda sums up the vast majority of drivers. I agree with what you say about the cars, but...

See also Scoobies. Again nice cars, but with a high ****** coefficient for drivers.

I generally avoid French cars but I do agree with you on the Megane. Lovely car...
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Have you narrowed it down to a list of 5 examples that you like?
I think that would be the best way and then discuss those 5.
Owning a car that you like/want is important but you have to sometimes overlook that in favour of a bargain buy and with your budget you have an awful lot to choose from.
 
That indeed is a good point (about the bargain thing). I had sort of got a list together but have decided to keep the Cougar for as long as it's economical to run it.

Not in ranking order:

1. Seat Leon 1.9/2.0 TDI
2. Hyundai Coupe
3. Honda Civic Type S (or maybe R)
4. Audi A5*
5. VW Scirroco new style*

*way out of my budget but a boy can dream...
 
Bill Poster said:
That indeed is a good point (about the bargain thing). I had sort of got a list together but have decided to keep the Cougar for as long as it's economical to run it.

Not in ranking order:

1. Seat Leon 1.9/2.0 TDI
2. Hyundai Coupe
3. Honda Civic Type S (or maybe R)
4. Audi A5*
5. VW Scirroco new style*

*way out of my budget but a boy can dream...
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If your budget is £10k then you have narrowed it down to 3 possibles there.
The Leon range has the Cupra TDi with 150bhp in the 2000-2005 age range.
Punchy engines and pretty Frugal and I think these are the nicer looking range compared to the newer shape but you make think otherwise.
I think the Leon FR TDi will be out of your price range.

Hyundai Coupes are nice in shape and reliability isn't too bad but even the top of the range 2.7 V6 is slow and certainly not a performance car (Best stick with the Cougar).
The new shape Civic's do a 2.2 i-CTDi which kicks out 138hp, 55mpg and 0-60 in 8.3 secs (Cougar territory and over 20mpg better!).
The Type S is the older shape Civic and uses a 2.0 litre engine which was dropped on the newer shape models.
You could certainly get a very tidy Civic Type R (old shape) with your budget and probably a cheap weekday hack (Mondeo, Vectra, Corsa) as well.

Your budget seems to be quite varied in your selections above so you need to round it off a bit I think. That way you can hit the nail on the head more (so to speak).
Cheers
 
Woo woo.. it's the mod police! Well it's the nature of internet message boards threads to go off topic init... altho I'd argue it is not really that far off topic as we're talking about what you like about the car and why you come back to it and how that compares to other cars. But OK, I'll leave it there and say thanks to stevenbSL3.
 
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