Thinking of selling the 180
 

I'm getting tired of putting in fuel but not getting out many miles basicly. This is a real shame, i love my ZS, it's a lovely looking thing and nothing else in it's sector sounds like it or has such a unique character. But the greedy ministers have decided that a man on an average wage doesn't deserve to run a car such as that and i hate to admit it but the wallet is feeling the strain all too much recently. So what i want is to keep the performance but get a few more miles out of the tank and the only way to go is 4-pot turbo. So, this is aimed at V6 owners who obviously know what the power feels like - what would you go for to replace it with for around the 8 to 9 thousand mark ??
My shortlist is :

Honda Civic Type R (yes i know it's not tubo'd !)
Seat Leon Cupra R
Renault Megane Sport 225
Vauxhall Astra GSi Turbo
Ford Focus RS

My thoughts are the Honda would be the most difficult to live with, always needing to be revved to get the best out of it. The Leon is a 5 door only hot hatch and i have never been a fan of 5 dr hot hatches, the Megane has character for sure and tons of power but is the chassis up to the job - it took the mad 230 R26 to be the real winner and that's way out of my league ! The Astra is, well, a Vauxhall and the Focus only just scrapes in at the 9K mark so they will probably be quite poor examples at that price. So Renault 225 perhaps ?

sounds like none of them are convicing the way you describe them! Some nice cars there no doubt but a dime a dozen on the road. Its a real pity money becomes the factor tbh.

Yeah, you've probably hit the nail on the head to be honest ! Each to me has a flaw, not just a minor one like with the ZS having dodgy interior plastics but big ones like handling, high revving, 5 doors, it's a Vauxhall ! But the Renault does seem to be a good choice i think though i need to go and test drive a few i reckon. Or the other answer is to quit simply earn more money but then i'm still feeding the fuel pumps an excessive amount of my VERY hard earnt !

How miles u doing a week?

would be the type-r, can't beat honda build quality, but to be honest i'd rather keep my zs 180 than have a type -r civic

i'm doing about 150 to 200 miles Kev but it's all town miles, no stretching it's legs. So i'm putting in £40+ per week and it's doing my head in. Now my thought is this - with our cars we are always running 6 cylinders - no choice on the matter but with say the Astra GSI you have a 4 pot with a turbo and around town the turbo would barely cut in. My bro used to have a GSI and around town his mileage was supperior to mine !

i dont think you would be saving any money on fuel doing this. Not noticable anyway. All of those cars mentioned have about the same fuel consumption figures as the ZS

Mat cant you join the LPG group buy?

Do your homework on this Mat as I believe the fuel economy of the cars mentioned are not that far away compared to the 180. The figures quoted are liberal and never relate to the real world.

I fully understand where you are coming from as I had the same issues. I run a shed for the commute and enjoy the 180 where it needs to be driven, away from work and on the roads well away from the commuting track.

If you wanted economy, have you given any of the diesel motors any serious thought? A friend of mine has a TDi Golf, gets a real stupid MPG and would give my 180 a hard time on the road as well! Not just Golfs, but well worth some thought.

You would be silly to buy a Renault, consistently near the bottom of Customer Satisfaction tables. Would rather have a Vauxhall...

Good shout with the diesels. Being a 120 owner I havent really had a feel for the 180s speed, however, Ive driven 2 Litre Turbo Diesel Mazda 6s at work and they are mega fast