Today it appears that even the economy driver is much more discerning than ever before with regards to value for money.
In this article we are going to take a look at three of these so-called current hot hatchbacks.
These three columns on the Renault Clio 2L, the Mini Cooper S and the Vauxhall Corsa VXR.
The initial perception with regards to the Vauxhall is that it is a much nicer car than previous versions.
For a small car it develops a massive 189bhp from a 1.6 L turbocharged diesel engine and would genuinely appear to have the getup and go to match the good looks.
It is up again serious competition however. Perhaps this is a selling off how important the market is.
From an inauspicious start the Clio does start perform and with 194bhp coming from a 2 L engine once underway to car starts to fly (so to speak).
Producing 173bhp from a 1.6 L engine that is turbocharged, the Mini Cooper S. has more than enough grunt.
All three cars have a great number of positive things about them with the power and handling of the Vauxhall comparing very favourably with the lightning reactions and good performance of the Mini. In turn comparing more than adequately with the overall power of the Renault once you've got it up and running.
On the inside the poor plastic facia of the Mini Cooper does tend to let itself down whereas in the Renault though the interior may be a quality it was difficult to get yourself comfortable. With regards to the Vauxhall the interior design was great but at the cost all of compromised visibility.
How would these cars pan out in the long run was one of the other key issues. It appears that the strong second-hand price of the mini could make it an excellent prospect for its owners. With regards to the Renault a heavy depreciation in the value of the car would tend to offset the definite advantage of the discounts available on purchase. Lastly, the folk soul was cheap as to get up and running and potentially better equipped to three but this was offset by the quite steep running costs of the car.
Looked at objectively all three of the cars are actually quite good value for money but probably the Mini Cooper S. comes out on top the handling speed and overall performance of the Mini means that it has quite the strong support to place despite the amazing fact that the inside looks cheap but hardly any boot in the rear seats are extremely small. Certainly one of the aspects of the Mini is that the extras are surprisingly expensive.
Set against the mini you look at the Vauxhall and think that this is a good all rounder of a car. The performance is excellent and the handling superb has an excellent interior. The downside is the fact that the visibility is compromised another negative factor is that it does not appear to have as many safety features as the other two.
Surprisingly the Renault Clio comes in third despite an excellent showing in the performance stakes. Indeed probably once you've managed to get the car wound up in going this is the best of the lot.
I guess the 1980’s had to leave many a legacy of which, greed, avarice, dodgy haircuts, box jackets and designer stubble were but a few! Their was however another hidden legacy that carried right through to the 1990s and that was the development and manufacture off ridiculously expensive and massively overpowered very elite road cars.
I guess if you had the cash to splash around on any of the beasts that we're about to talk about then you didn't really have to worry about most of the day to day mundane issues that most of the rest of us have to fret about.
Here we are going to take a nostalgic look at the Ferrari F40, the Jaguar XJ220 pounds and last but not least the Bugatti EB1 10SS.
These were really well and truly the big beasts off their day and quite frankly had performance figures and specifications that would frighten you almost as much as the price tag.
I guess though, as is being said on many an earlier article if you had the cash to splash on any of these three vehicles then you wouldn’t really have to give a damn about many other problems anyway.
Let's take a look briefly at the various specifications of these beasts. The Ferrari F40 had 32 valve V8 2936cc engine that developed 478bhp @7000 rpm and had a maximum torque of 426lb/ft @4000 rpm. It had a five speed manual transmission driven from the rear wheels, rack and pinion brakes and a naught to 60 of 4.6 seconds and a speed that topped out at almost 3 times the legal speed limit at 202 miles an hour. The price tag was, wait for it a staggering $328,000. There were only ever 1315 of the F40 made between 1997 and 1992.
The Jaguar XJ220 on the other hand had a 24 valve V6 3498cc engine that developed 542bhp @6500 rpm and had a maximum torque of 473lb/ft @4500 rpm. It had a five speed all-synchro transaxle driven from the rear wheels. It had servo assisted ventilated disc brakes and a naught to 60 of over a staggering 3.6 seconds! The top speed was reputed to be 211.9 miles an hour and the price tag at the time would have set you back a cool $850,000! Was there any surprise that there were only ever 218 of these cars ever built between 1991 and 1992.
Lastly let's look at the Bugatti. The EB11 OSS had a 60 Valve V12 3500cc engine that developed 603bhp @8250rpm and had a maximum torque of 479lb/ft @ 4250rpm. The Bugatti had a six speed manual transmission that was driven from all four wheels. Like the HJ 228 had servo assisted ventilated disc brakes and claimed a naught to 60 of 3.1 seconds! The top speed of the Bugatti was again claimed to be 218 miles an hour. The prize tag was a mere $576,000. Again like the XJ220 production tally barely got into three figures with 123 cars being built between 1992 and 1995.
Truly it could have been said that if you had been a proud owner of any one of the above and actually took it out on the road to drive then you possibly had more money than sense. That having been said, again if you actually had the money to own one of these cars then you wouldn't have had to give a damn about what other people thought anyway!
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