Small Engined Turbos / 80s Eco-boxes

[Lex]

So recently I've been looking around at all sorts of cars, keeping an open mind about my next car. Because I only passed in March, I am sadly having trouble getting good quotes for car insurance on my own so my search for a car is then made even harder.

However I have found myself getting rather nice quotes on many cars from the 80s. Now given the choice of spending 2100 to insure my 1.4 Rover, or 1700 to insure a sweet car from the 80s; obviously going to choose the latter!

Now one car that has caught my attention during this is the Daihatsu Charade Turbo. The GTti model seems expensive for me to insure, however a non GTti 1.0 Turbo is rather cheap for me to insure. Sadly I am struggling to find many for sale, as expected with looking for something so specific from more than 20 years ago.

So my question is, what other cars are around like this that perhaps I have just not noticed and possibly able to give me cheap insurance? Or maybe you know of a definitive place where I am bound to find some Charades for sale? Baring in mind that I only have around 1k to spend on a car.

And also the other main question is, what is a small engined turbo actually like? Would I expect decent fuel efficiency? Would it be quick?

To spur on comments, here are some pictures of nice looking Charade Turbos I have found

[dbizzle]

Nissan Figaro is a 1.0 turbo.




***edit***
Just noticed you said you had £1k to spend on a car, so disregard... sorry.

There aren't a lot of small-engined & turbocharged cars around, on the whole. Although I wasn't aware of a turbo Charade that wasn't a GTti...
Here's an off the wall suggestion - how about a Renault 5 Monaco? Not turbocharged, obviously, but it's a 1.7 that doesn't cost much more to insure than the 1.4. (If you can find one.)

[Lex]

I did see a Monaco for sale about a week ago. I just kind of ignored it because I am more edging towards J cars at the moment (so much for being open minded like I said haha).

As for the non GTti Turbo Charades, when I was getting quotes, a couple I saw came up as Turbos but weren't GTti models, but seemed pretty much like the same engine / chassis etc and I am guessing that the only difference is the GTti has a sporty name and a little kit on it.

In which case, if there isn't many small engined turbos around for this sort of money, anyone know of any powerful, yet cheap, 80s Japanese cars?

I know I could think it all up for myself and look around, but you guys know retro cars better than anyone so felt I should ask and see what responses I get

[dbizzle]

Given that you've only recently passed your test, 'cheap' is a difficult area - you say your budget for a car is £1k but don't mention an insurance budget. As a new driver, you're probably going to struggle to fulfil your 'powerful yet cheap' desire due to insurance constraints. Why not take a leaf from Colin Chapman's book and pursue speed through light weight? i.e. identify a car that's known for having good handling, buy a model with a comparatively modest engine and have some fun with it through the corners rather than shooting for all-out straight-line thrust.

I don't know what the Japanese alternative to a Peugeot 205 or 106 would be, but something of that ilk. Toyota Starlet maybe...? Early Micra?

[V-Force]

Daihatsu Mira Avanzato?

Toyota Glanza/Starlet GT Turbo << That's what I'm thinking about getting for when I'm 17 ;D

[ruishy1]

suzuki cappuccino, you can pick up failed mot ones for about 800 quid,
and those little things can shift for only 667 cc

[Lex]

Quite oddly, I get refused quotes on both a Cappuccino and a Figaro.

Probably will get refused on a Starlet GT Turbo also... which is odd that I get such a nice quote on the Charade! Insurance is a funny ol' thing!

[Mr. AJ]

Jul 7, 2010 15:29:47 GMT Lex said:

Quite oddly, I get refused quotes on both a Cappuccino and a Figaro.

Probably will get refused on a Starlet GT Turbo also... which is odd that I get such a nice quote on the Charade! Insurance is a funny ol' thing!

Arn't they all imports though (Apart from the Charade) anyone under the age of 25 will struggle for insurance on any import, Mainstream insurers vary rarely want to touch them and specialist insurers very rarely want to touch someone under 25.

Some up there ^^^ Mentioned Peugot 205/106's.. I'm going to echo that. I have no idea what a Japanese alternative would be. Possibly the Boxy micra? I've just picked up a 106 and to be honest, If you can ignore the Chav image and general dis-interest you will get from people with regards to it, They're a pretty good first car.

There is a reason you see so many Chavs driving them... They're dirty cheap to insure, I'm paying £1300 a year in a Manchester Post code (Alot of insurers wont even touch my post code area anymore) parking on a public road, 22 years old, Male, driving for 3 years, 0 NCB... Thats with mods declared. Lowering is a piece of curse word, Chop springs on the front and torsion bars to the rear. Handles like a go-kart, Dirty cheap to pick up, If you bend it it's dirt cheap to repair. Easy enough to work on too. Lightweight, so even the small engined models feel quicker than they actually are and you can have some real fun throwing them around twisty roads without even getting above the speed limit - So less likely to pick up the dredded 6 points too.

Can look pretty nice with a few choice mods...


(Although mine looks like a shed! ;D)

[scoobypete]

Figaros do have a Turbo but can anyone tell me what it actually does? cos it don't make it go any faster lol

My gran had one for a few years and.......well it was dismal to say the least.......

[Mr. AJ]

Jul 7, 2010 16:59:38 GMT scoobypete said:

Figaros do have a Turbo but can anyone tell me what it actually does? cos it don't make it go any faster lol

It's not actually there to make the car any faster, It's a tool for the driver incase of hair emergency:




;D

[Lex]

I drove a 106 quite recently actually, and admittedly I actually hated it! Not only that, but I cant see any that is reasonably priced, and my quote came out more for a basic povvo spec one, than it would cost for me to insure a 2.0 Sierra, which is pretty pointless really haha. Sadly a 205 is out of the question for me. My sister died in one so its understandable that my parents would never let me anywhere near one, driver OR passenger. Even if nothing was to happen to me, they just wouldn't help me to get one.

I get what you mean about them being imports. It didn't really occur to me at first because really I don't see how an import like that could mean a higher insurance premium, sadly insurance companies don't think like me!

I've pretty much not got a decent quote on anything from the 90s apart from a Nissan Micra a couple of others. Most even basic european cars from the 90s seem to be oddly high, yet Japanese eco-boxes considerably less.


The cheapest quotes I have had are for a 2CV and Mini. Both cars which seem to cost a lot to buy, but also cars I'm not sure I wanna use to drive to uni (40 mile round trip) 3 days a week.

[Lex]

Jul 7, 2010 14:38:19 GMT dbizzle said:

Given that you've only recently passed your test, 'cheap' is a difficult area - you say your budget for a car is £1k but don't mention an insurance budget. As a new driver, you're probably going to struggle to fulfil your 'powerful yet cheap' desire due to insurance constraints. Why not take a leaf from Colin Chapman's book and pursue speed through light weight? I.e. identify a car that's known for having good handling, buy a model with a comparatively modest engine and have some fun with it through the corners rather than shooting for all-out straight-line thrust.

I don't know what the Japanese alternative to a Peugeot 205 or 106 would be, but something of that ilk. Toyota Starlet maybe...? Early Micra?

Only just seen this reply (skimming ftl).

You're totally right! Its just something Ive never seen myself doing so somehow wanted to avoid it, but the idea seems to be growing on me every day. This was part of the reason why I liked the 1.0 Turbo Charade. It was cheap for me to insure, small with boost (tbh I just want a car that can have a dump valve ^_^, I don't actually drive that fast, I just like to know that the power is there to get me out of situations if needs be.), and it was small and lightweight so a lot of fun.

My budget depends on what the car is and how much it costs. Finding a nice car that costs 2100 to insure but only costs 300 to buy, sounds fine. But finding a car for 1900 to insure but costs 1000 to buy, then I'm not so interested.

[Ryannn]

Whats the quote like on a metro? Surely there's cheap Turbo ones about if people can still afford to buy them to strip?

[dbizzle]

Jul 7, 2010 17:21:31 GMT Lex said:

really I don't see how an import like that could mean a higher insurance premium

The problem is twofold; firstly, that spec tends to differ between UK models and Japanese models, so if you need to claim for some sort of repair or what-have-you on an import, it may not necessarily follow that off-the-shelf UK parts will solve the problem, so they need to allow for that. Secondly, they have no way of knowing whether or not your new acquisiton has previously been wrapped around a lamppost in Tokyo, rendering it dangerous...

I'm sure there are other factors too. I've always seen car insurance as something of a black art, they just seem to pluck premium figures out of the air.

[allthingsauto]

Not turbo but look at the AXGT/GTi models.Can be cheap to buy and run.Go like stink for a 1.4 1360cc engine.The GT is faster 0-60 than the GTI.

[ab5olut]

I've been pondering the same thing.Although I don't think you'd find a decent one for £1k and insurance might be an issue.Unless maybe you went classic?

[ettorebugatti]

Fiat Uno/ Punto Turbo is another idea, 1.4 Turbo fuel injection. Perhaps a VW Polo G40? Or the obvious Ford Fiesta RS turbo.

A Figaro is very collectable, but a manual k11 1.3 would be faster. Since it don't have 3 speed autobox. You may start a hunt for a k10 Superturbo, these aren't slow either. Not sure about their insurance premium.

[mrzee]

weren't Fiat Uno Turbos supposed to be cracking little cars? If I remember correctly they weren't bad to insure either for some reason.

[austinpowers]

I just brought a little Fiat Cinquecento sporting for the wife, it only cost me £520 has a 1.1i lump handles like a go kart and gos surprisely well. The engine in it is the same lump that's in the punto, and there's plenty of owners sticking bigger punto lumps in them.

[craig1010cc]

Charade turbo = 6v carb fed engine, GTti = 12v mpi engine