I know I'm more of a lurker than a poster here, but I'm curious to see others opinions of a possible flight of fancy......I blame spending the majority of the day on various project car threads here and on other forums.
I'm heading into my third season of sprinting and hillclimbing, hopefully in the cheaper Service Hydraulics Champaionship, and although my wee 1.0 pushrod Nova still has plenty of life left in it (passed its first MOT in five years at the first go) and I'm yet to find my limits, I'm so tempted to buy a cheap banger to take some of the strain off the Nova, as it is my only car, serving as daily work hack as well as competition (loosely) car.
I could buy something cool...hell I could buy something more retro. But in my worrying desire to be different (read: certfiable insanity), I'm considering one of these:
A mk1 Kia Rio. White good, granny-mobile, the designed-by-accountants box on wheels for people who don't enjoy driving. But to me this is perfect for thrashing up hills and around sprints - because it's not what it was designed for which only adds to the fun.
Pros:
-Cheap to buy, the one pictured is currently £275 part-ex to clear on Auto Trader
-Plentiful
-1.3 engine so I could stay in Class A1 (roadgoing under 1400cc)
-Different enough to get people talking, so stands out from the crowds. There's a guy on the scene who runs an i-MIEV and there was one who ran a 1958 Dodge Coronet in the 2014 season - you can compete in virtually anything (within reason).
-Cheap to run, economical, reliable.
-Many will have been serviced regularly so no nasties.
-82bhp so has almost double the Nova's horsepower already in stock trim.
-I think the engine is an old Mazda unit so fairly proven.
Cons:
-Firmly in banger territory
-Desperately uncool even for the Autoshi*e crowd.
-Not exactly a tuner's first choice so go-faster bits will be limited.
-Not a driver's car so will handle like a giraffe in bends.
-Will be mistaken for an old biddy and treated accordingly on the road.
-Will be laughed at by the cool drivers in their souped-up BMWs and hot hatches.
Just wondering if anyone's had any experience with these and are they really desperately miserable to own?
If I did commit the first thing it would get would be a Cherry Bomb backbox like the Nova, maybe even a stainless system too to make it sound a bit butcher.
I'm heading into my third season of sprinting and hillclimbing, hopefully in the cheaper Service Hydraulics Champaionship, and although my wee 1.0 pushrod Nova still has plenty of life left in it (passed its first MOT in five years at the first go) and I'm yet to find my limits, I'm so tempted to buy a cheap banger to take some of the strain off the Nova, as it is my only car, serving as daily work hack as well as competition (loosely) car.
I could buy something cool...hell I could buy something more retro. But in my worrying desire to be different (read: certfiable insanity), I'm considering one of these:
A mk1 Kia Rio. White good, granny-mobile, the designed-by-accountants box on wheels for people who don't enjoy driving. But to me this is perfect for thrashing up hills and around sprints - because it's not what it was designed for which only adds to the fun.
Pros:
-Cheap to buy, the one pictured is currently £275 part-ex to clear on Auto Trader
-Plentiful
-1.3 engine so I could stay in Class A1 (roadgoing under 1400cc)
-Different enough to get people talking, so stands out from the crowds. There's a guy on the scene who runs an i-MIEV and there was one who ran a 1958 Dodge Coronet in the 2014 season - you can compete in virtually anything (within reason).
-Cheap to run, economical, reliable.
-Many will have been serviced regularly so no nasties.
-82bhp so has almost double the Nova's horsepower already in stock trim.
-I think the engine is an old Mazda unit so fairly proven.
Cons:
-Firmly in banger territory
-Desperately uncool even for the Autoshi*e crowd.
-Not exactly a tuner's first choice so go-faster bits will be limited.
-Not a driver's car so will handle like a giraffe in bends.
-Will be mistaken for an old biddy and treated accordingly on the road.
-Will be laughed at by the cool drivers in their souped-up BMWs and hot hatches.
Just wondering if anyone's had any experience with these and are they really desperately miserable to own?
If I did commit the first thing it would get would be a Cherry Bomb backbox like the Nova, maybe even a stainless system too to make it sound a bit butcher.