GarethE

iTrader: (1)

My boss' son turns 17 soon and will be learning to drive.

He has £2000 to spend on a car, the insurance is budgeted separately, so the question is what would you look at to buy as a first car to learn to drive in - taking into account he would like to keep a low chav rating if possible

Ta muchly

Gareth

Allan

iTrader: (1)

My son had a similar budget, bought a Peugeot 106, it still cost him £930 third party as a named driver.

Ideally you want something cheap to insure, but as modern as possible so that you get good safety stuff like airbags e.t.c.

Allan

donatello

My first car was an old style mini, cheap insurance but not too much street cred. Also cant imagine it would stand up well in a crash. Good for gathering some no claims bonus though and then move onto sometime a bit faster.

cong

nissan micra 1 oil change every 18000 miles and i floor the crap out of it new clutch £90 parts and labour! car got smacked whilst sleeping i just banged the dent out looks brand new again insurace about 509 3rd party

GarethE

iTrader: (1)

Oooooo...now you've started an arguement...before I posted he said he lwould like a 106 but his father told him he should get a mini

Reffro

I'd look at a 1.25 16v Fiesta. Bit bigger and more comfortable than a Saxo/106 and a bit safer in a crunch. Best thing about them is that they are virtually fool proof handling wise, lovely to drive and hang on should you get a bit leary as any young driver is going to unfortunately. Cheap to pick as they are everywhere.

Hmm forget that idea, they are group 6, I just checked on the ABI site.

For the money I'd look at a Ford KA and Seat Arosa 1.0, both are group 2. Of the two I'd look at the Arosa, flat as a fart to drive, but a more modern design than the KA, so should be better if the worst happens.

If you want to search the groups yourself, here's the official website for the ABI, every car available in the UK is on there:-

http://www.abi.org.uk/carinsurance/search.asp

Cabinet Enforcer

Get something disposable if it is only going to be knocking round the doors, but if it's going to be going further then get somthing newer and safer.

2K isn't a lot, getting a good small car with low insurance is hard, because there are so many young drivers wanting exactly that. 1.25 festa is nice small car but insurance is high on them, the Ka has stupid residuals, when I was looking for one, people wanted 2.5k for a high miles 5 year old example, this is mainly down to the low running costs and group 2 ins.

What about a MKII escort or an old corolla? It will probably come down to something french, 1.1 saxo or summat (bleugh).

If insurance isn't so much of an issue, then hows about a 1.8 mondeo? Sounds stange choice I know, but it's much safer to crash in a bigger car. All of his mates mickey taking will stop the second they want a lift anywhere too.

Mica Blue

I'd go for a Mk4 1.25 Fiesta. I am aware that some models are group 5 ins, and others (like the Ghia models) are group 6.

And with the Ka, it's much better to get a late 2002 model (or later), as it has the Duratec engine rather then the old Endura-e tappet monster.

GarethE

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the comments, keep em coming, it'll give them both a few more things to think about when they come to make a choice, rather than tunnel visioned with their original thoughts

Cheers

Jap2Scrap

I wouldn't have dreamt of spending 2k on my first car. I would think that the difficulties affording comprehensive insurance coupled with the likelihood of twatting it while showing off to his mates would make that a quick way to kiss goodbye to the two grand..

My first car was a £75 Allegro which I promptly embedded in the back of an Escort in 1988

Mind you, kids nowadays seem to place a much higher social status on the car you drive when you're 17 than we used to. Any wheels were wheels then and my late teens, early twenties were spent modding capris and dropping RS2.1 rally lumps in cortinas

Ayde

iTrader: (6)

I had an old shape Mini - you could floor it everywhere and never really break to many speed limits Great round the bends though and parts where really cheap too, but this was 10 years ago now:0 and you dont really see to many around anymore so I imagine the scrap yards dont have much in now so there goes the best source of cheap parts You learn alot of basic mechanics owning one though. I kept mine for 12 months and got something bigger when I was 18 and wrote it off good and proper a couple of months later!

TRF

my first was a Fiat Uno with a 998cc monster under the hood..was a great little car(t), loads of boot space and went round the twisties great (had it lifting a wheel more than once)..but there was no modern stuff in it..the Punto might be worth a look, havnt driven one but know people with them and they like them.

What about a "nice" Renault 5? and something you wont have even thought of ever.. Dihatsu(sp) Sirion+ its got the lot AC, PS, EW f+r, ABS+assist, EBD, loads of air bags, 6 speaker stereo (which is better than the stock scooby one ) and the handeling..hmm well its fun...Only problem is that it looks like a squashed frog.

BOB.T

I'd say either get summat disposable, ie go on Autotrader and see what there is for under 200 quid, then chuck it away when it breaks / gets ranted into something or a combination of both!

or

Could he afford to buy something new? It's not that daft really, if you look round you could maybe get something with free insurance, that's gonna be a big factor for him! He could put his 2K (plus insurance funding?) into a bank account and set the direct debit going from that, top the account up every month?

Good luck to him, I'm glad I'm not just setting out again! Even at 27 I'm paying £450 fully comp on a Fiesta si!

GarethE

iTrader: (1)

It's certainly a thought I'll put to them....not sure whether any free insurance would extend to a learner driver, have to check.

He wants to get the car while a learner cos his dad won't let him drive his S3

Rab

Consider a fiat seicento sporting, group 3 insurance, look good, cost peanuts to buy and run surprisingly well built (once all the interior trim has dropped off) and an excelent handling car.

Danny Fisher

Get him a Justy, so that he gets used to AWD.

Dan

Squizz

Skoda Rapide! Pretty cheap, if you can actually find one.

RWD and Rear engined. All the suspension mount dimensions and wheelbase were copied from an old Porsche 911.

Fantastic fun to drive and nippy too. You might be able to get him on a classic insurance policy which might cut insurance down to a silly low level.

Still miss mine...

MarfGTti

Chav Rating: 0
Insurance Group: 11
Average MPG: 37(I get no less than 30mpg running a bar boost with a heavy right foot)

Charade GTti

Mine pulled 6.6 to 60 on Sunday at Trax

gyfto1

lost count of the amount of minis i have had,even to recently.just seem to see a battered one, feel sorry for it,and buy the bloody thing.forced myself to get rid of my last two(clubman estates).
biased, so i say mini,hugely tuneable for small amounts of cash,cheap as chips parts, and great fun oh god i think i am getting the bug again,wonder if a scooby has ever been used as a doner car for a mini

BOB.T

Miserable b4stard!

GarethE

iTrader: (1)

Brother_Will

Toyota Yaris 1.0 16v vvti, group 2 insurance, nice revvy engine, zero chav rating, reliable and excellent saftey. Might struggle to get one for £2000 unless bought at auction but the very cheap insurance will make up for it. Best buy 1.0 GS elec windows, central locking, power steering and dual air bags.

Just in case you wondering i can personally vouch for saftey after i went full tilt into a stationary focus at 45mph and walked away without a scratch.

SC008Y_MAD

iTrader: (5)

I had a Subaru Justy 1.2 GLII and it cost (my parents) to insure it for me Full comp £930 through the CSMA and Frizzels (L&V)

the car cost £600. not bad. and it was reilable, well what do you expect from a Subaru.

Brother_Will

oh and for all those people saying 106 or saxo how old are the designs of those cars now? 10+ years theyve just been facelifted to within an inch of there lives.

GarethE

iTrader: (1)

he seems quite taken with the Seat Arosa, obviously not the latest version, so it's a case of trawling to see what's around, thanks for the input

SupaMiniCupa

Toyota Starlet?

Brendan Hughes

DON'T get a Fiat Seicento, if they haven't improved their crash rating since EuroNCAP:



Do you think he's going to be a fast, impatient driver or a slow, observant, careful one? If the former, I'd save the £2k on the car, buy a 500 quid thing (Pug 205 1.3?), trash it as is inevitable, then spend the main money on the replacement.

I spent all my savings on my first car. It was so expensive I was too scared to actually drive it.

Midmotorsteve

been in two minis whilst they were wriiten off, one rolled through a hedge, the other driven straight into a mud bank at 50mph, got out without a scratch each time. Safe cars to crash into objects as little weight = little inertia to loose, its only a prob when other cars drive into them

GarethE

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for all the comments - he's still undecided what to do, but I reckon the best option is to get a cheap runabout to learn in and keep until he's got a year's insurance unter his belt (especially if he does a pass plus type course, assuming they still do them), and then look for a better car.

No doubt he'll blow the lot though - hopefully not on a £400 car and a £1600 ICE setup

Cider boy

We used to have a load of cars on a mates farm when growing up, one of them a Mini estate. Not only did it split in the middle behind the front seats but once it had died we towed it to the top of a steep bank and rolled it down the side, at 0MPH (we were cruel!) and although only rolling once the roof ended up level with the bottom of the windows

It really shocked us as we could easily have been it a few days before, and after that we stuck to sturdier motors (MKII Escort etc). Now I wouldn't drive one if somebody paid me!!!

Matt