I've owned two of the three, and driven a few examples of a couple too. Here's my thoughts, albeit they are just my experiences.
Dolomite SprintThey are very cool and surprisingly practical! Turning circle is very tight. In a bouncy way in stock form, they are a good cruiser too
BUT!
Folks will talk about them as if they are a 205 slayer, and as if they will whip any 205 GTi or 306 Gti-6 down. As a matter of fact, one member here threatened to bring out Victor Meldrew memes if anyone said anything different.
IMHO, even a decent one, will feel slow to a good and renowned hot hatch. The engines aren't very torquey, and while they can be made to move, they need screaming right to the the last RPM of the redline. Even then, a 106 GTi or a 306 GTi-6 will leave them in their dust, no matter what a patriotic rose-tinted chap tells you. They are quick compared to their contemporaries, yes. But to 80s to 00s hot hatches? No chance. Mine was on a rebuilt head, carbs full rebuilt and a Davis Craig EWP. People who drove it through it was quick as it seemed to go well from the line, but it never had that outright pace IMHO.
Maybe they were built up too much for me. Maybe I experienced pace too early on. Back then, I owned a 306 GTi-6, which
hoopsontoast felt was faster than his Dolly Sprint, despite other folks saying Sprints would destroy hot hatches. His was an ex-club car too.
From a chap I know who's owned a TR7 Sprint, Dolly Sprints, and a couple of RS2000s, he still yearns for an RS2000 as a lottery car, and he's not a Ford man (he currently has an array of cars, one of which is my old Mondeo, purely because he wanted to buy a known car for him back in Germany, the rest are either British, Italian or German). His reason? Dolly Sprints may be faster but the RS2ks are more fun. But yes, still speaking, Dolly Sprints are good value on paper.
But, the spares backup is very good as is the knowledge. The brakes are poor now as the pad material isn't available anymore, as cited earlier. But there are great upgrades available.
Porsche 944These are a funny one.
Many are now tired, even if they look nice. They are a nice place to be but in stock form, a 2.5 or 2.7 won't feel tool thrilling. With a throttle response cam (about £50?), some good tyres and fresh suspension, they are quite something.
I've personally owned a 944 S2 and a Turbo 250.
The S2s are quick and very much a smooth operator. A tourer, yet tractable and cool.
Turbos are quick, with a few choice tuning upgrades, very fast and a heck of alot of fun. Licence losing speeds? Yup, they have that by the spades.
But rust is a problem, albeit not as bad as some 80s cars, like say, Fords or BMW E24s. Sills I last heard were patchy in supply, as were wings. The latter are well over £1k a pair now. If you bought one, I'd buy on condition.
Turbos are probably out of the price range. If I was buying one again with an unlimited budget, I'd probably buy in this order, with my favourite first.
Turbo S
Turbo 250
Turbo 220 Early Offset - These are very fun and more old school in their driving due to the geo differences
S2
Early 2.5 (Square dash) - These share a similar geo to the early offset Turbos. You can get late dash cars which have the earlier suspension setup which I'll add here too with this one.
Not much separates those. Turbos when tuned basically shoot off for the horizon once they hit boost.
Carrying on
Turbo 220 Late offset - These had the negative scrub radius.
2.7 or the S also known as the Venteiller.
Late 2.5
The later chassis revisions IMHO really warrant the extra power, while the earlier cars are fun with less
.
I'd quite like a Turbo S or 250 again, but at £20k+, I'm not quite sure they're worth it. Then again, I did sell mine in 2014 for £6.5k, which probably hasn't helped.
Saab 900s, I can't comment on.
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