well the GF is game, is the 200 really that much better than the 197? And what about the 182, it would be cheaper for me to just buy one of those as a track car instead of trading her corsa in for a 200!
Ahh, tough call - depends on a lot of things I suppose. There won't be much in it in terms of laptimes.
A 182 will be cheaper to buy, mod and run on track. It'll be lighter on its tyres and brakes, uprated £60/corner & £100 for pads. It will however be old, possibly in need on maintenance and prehaps a little unrefined for using as a daily driver for
some people. You may blow it up, but there's plenty of spares about. They've bottomed out in depreciation, so you're not losing much as long as you don't stack it. I'm not sure I'd want to run a 1*2 on track without a cage though.
The 200 is more up front (although the £200/month PCP deal is still on) and uprated tyres & brakes are around £100/corner & £150 for pads. If it breaks, you take it back on warranty and have it done for free. It's a lot more refined and much safer that the MKII. Worry free motoring and will run rings around most things out of the box. It is heavier and more expensive to run.
From my point, the 200 is really easy to live with. I'm enjoying not modding a car, just turning up at a track in relative comfort and having a day's hooning with doing nothing other than swapping the wheels over.
If you do want to mod, then all the stuff off the Clio Cup race cars is available off the shelf at the dealer. It's buttons too, half the price of anything VAG.