Hello everyone,

new to the forum, need some advise

Looking for my next car, and decided its gotta be a HGT or Pug 106 Gti

Liking the HGT very much tho, as it has all the toys!

whats the actaull 0-60 figures for the HGT tho, cos i hear some people say they can beat Saxo VTS's in them which are exactly the same as a 106 GTi

Im looking for one with under 40k miles on it, anything to look out for?

thanx

Hi Mellow and welcome I've got an HGT and wish I had had a couple of pointers before getting mine but I'm well happy with it

Are you going for brand new or used? If used, firstly check to see if the variator has been changed, if necessary. If it needs doing, the car will sound like a diesel on start-up and to change it the cambelt needs doing so is pricey - it is a warranty issue though (mine was about £500 to fix but got a goodwill payment as the car was just out of warranty). It's a common problem on the 1.8 engines.
The toys are great, make sure all 5 discs of the CD changer work - I didn't check and they don't and get the CD for the sat-nav system (if fitted).
Juddering wipers seem to be a common problem across the Mk 2 Puntos but again there are plenty of posts about this on the forum and you can get the garage to look at them under warranty as well.

I thought the HGT was faster than the 106 GTi, but only just. The brochure for the new HGT says it will do 0-60 in 8.6 secs but that has two people in the car plus 20kg so it will go faster than that Not sure about the VTS, but someone on here will know. I know the book figure is quicker for the VTS but in practice it might be a different matter.

Hope that helps a bit

thanx EMS.

im looking at second hand ones really for under 5000.

im going to see a 2001 black arbarth model 2morw, with 26k on the clock.

i notcied that a 2000 model i saw yesterday with 40k miles on it, sounded like a deisil when started, but the whole car was messed up, the guy was trying to sell it when the front airbag had poped leaveing the steering wheel middle all cracked! what a nob!

Have you considered a mk1 Punto GT Turbo? These are marginally quicker then the HGT according to independant 1/4 mile tests on several HGT's and GT Turbos. Also they will be a bit of a collectors item in the near future.

Personally I am a big fan of both the HGT and GT Turbo and would heavily consider both if I was to part with mine.

i dont really like the look of the older shape puntos..

but anyways whats differnt with the arbarth models spec wise on the HGT's? apart from the bodykit and alloys?

I don't think there is anything different between them apart from the styling - I think you might get a couple of interior chrome bits or something in addition to the body kit an alloys

I got mine for £5k with 23 or 24k on the clock a year ago, but it was a trade sale so you should get something decent for your money.

I quite like the GT as well, my parents had a yellowy-gold L-reg one for a bit and it was quick - but I hear they have some expensive bits to fix when they go wrong and you'll be lucky to find one that hasn't been barried too much

well the black arbarth one is sold, gna go see a normal HGT 2001 X with 32k miles, for 4400. Its 55 miles away so hope its good

My mate is part-exing his W-reg 1.8HGT with 48,000 miles on the clock. He has got £2,900 from the Renault dealer so if you think you can better that...

JTD Monkey said:

My mate is part-exing his W-reg 1.8HGT with 48,000 miles on the clock. He has got £2,900 from the Renault dealer so if you think you can better that...

Click to expand...

Sounds like a good deal! I'm surprised he's only got £2,900 for it though.

I had an HGT for 3 years and 69k miles.
I'd happily have another one tomorrow.

The performance figures vary slightly between car mags.
Evo got 0-60 in 8sec whereas Autocar got 8.7.
Top speed is about 130.

The variator on mine failed but I didn't notice any change in the performance until it got repaired. You could feel an extra surge at about 4000 revs when it was working again.
Mine got fixed as part of the repairs done when the cambelt failed at 47k, fortunately covered by the warranty.
The water pump also failed at 67k but was again covered by the warranty.
Mine always used a bit of oil but a check every fortnight was enough to keep on top of it.
I thought the standard brakes were ****e. They faded after a 3 or 4 mile backroad thrash so I got Tarox grooved discs and Tarox pads when the brakes needed done which was about 40k miles.

I remember reading a buyers guide on Barchettas years ago that mentioned any used ones would probably have some engine work done and this seems to be the case with HGTs too.

If you get one make sure you get the satnav and radio codes with the car.
The guy that bought mine didn't even though they were in the car when I traded it and when he reconnected the battery after doing something to the engine he needed the codes to get everything to work.

JTD Monkey said:

My mate is part-exing his W-reg 1.8HGT with 48,000 miles on the clock. He has got £2,900 from the Renault dealer so if you think you can better that...

Click to expand...

if its in bedfordshire it mite be a bit too far for me

Northamptonshire, so a bit further for you.

Still, the chance to save a few quid...

If you're getting one, get the Abarth one, defo worth the few extra quid I'd say!!

There's one in Cambridge on Autotrader, a nice metallic dark red with Abarth kit on it, 38k miles for £4850. It's a 2000 year but doesn't say which reg.

hi i have had a vts now for a couple of months and from the traffic light grand prix it just pips my mates hgt and when jumping in from one to another you wouldn,t tell the difference can,t say about 106gti books say slower than a vts but i would thought they would be the same.
if i didn,t have a mk2 punto sporting as well as the vts i would have gone for the hgt as it feels a lot better built than the vts.
but thats just my opinion.