Some first car advice

[Wilderbeast]

Hello all.

I have finally after many more attempts than I would have liked, passed my driving test! Later this month I will turn 20 and if I am not lucky enough to be bought a car by my parents then I will be looking to buy my own. I'll be looking for something cheap to insure (well as cheap as humanly possible for a 20 year old) and run as I'm a student. I'll be using the car mainly for going back and forth from home to uni which is a long old way (Essex to Cardiff!). I'm not sure what a budget would be yet as I could do a 50/50 deal with the parents but let's say there was a budget of £6,000 for car and insurance (Insurance on most things whether 1.2 or 1.6 seems to be about 1,500 to 2,000). i'm a pretty mature human being so don't be afraid to suggest something over 1.0 litre in fear that I will park it in a tree!

The only thing that my parents have vetoed outright is a classic Mini. I mounted a an assault to buy one last year but the parents (rightly I suppose) put their foot down on the basis that the crumple zone of a classic mini is your face.

Would really like some friendly advice as there seems to be a dizzying array of options!

All the best,

Will

 

[spandit]

Ford Fiesta?

 

[AndyJDickson]

A lot of options mate. Firstly for big milage I would usually say go diesel but before u pick that keep an eye on the fuel prices if they keep rising petrol will do fine. You would not go far wrong with a small 1.2 car ie corsa, fiesta, c2, etc they are cheap to run economic and easy to find parts/repair. You can get decent 2nd hands ones to. Remember if your going second hand look out for milage no more that 15k miles per year. And also a good tip- always go to buy a car with a friend- and always always don't forget to haggle for price and extras

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[Wilderbeast]

Ford Fiesta?

Rather than just names of cars I was looking more for specific advice on the model, engine size and testimonials etc!

Thanks though I had thought of the fiesta and it seems a fairly solid if unexciting option!

 

[Wilderbeast]

A lot of options mate. Firstly for big milage I would usually say go diesel but before u pick that keep an eye on the fuel prices if they keep rising petrol will do fine. You would not go far wrong with a small 1.2 car ie corsa, fiesta, c2, etc they are cheap to run economic and easy to find parts/repair. You can get decent 2nd hands ones to. Remember if your going second hand look out for milage no more that 15k miles per year. And also a good tip- always go to buy a car with a friend- and always always don't forget to haggle for price and extras

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One argument I'm tossing up in my head is whether to go for a more solidly built car like a VW polo but with obviously more miles, or a cheaper car with less miles? Would you say at this price range you want to go as new as possible?

 

[AndyJDickson]

I got a corsa 1.2 petrol when I passed my test and it was a great car. Done me 10 years with no bother until I had my first accident and the insurance wrote it off for very little

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[Wilderbeast]

Any opinion on the new Mini? The one which has caught my eye is the 1.4 litre diesel

 

[AndyJDickson]

I would weight it up and ask questions. So ex taxis have done the miles but have been well looked after. One v good website for reviews is www.parkers.co.uk

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[Adze]

How capable a spanner monkey are you? The car you are most likely to crash/damage is your first one... spend as little as humanly possible on it. Learning to fix it yourself can and will save you a huge amount of money over the years.

Example: Last year I bought a 1994 VW Golf 1.9 Tdi for £180. To put various bits right and get it through it's MOT (including the cost of the MOT test) bumped that up to a whopping £347 and a weekend's mucking about with spanners and getting a bit oily.

If driven like it's been stolen (Aberdeenshire to Cumbria in 'ahem' and a half hours) and it returns 53.8 mpg. Driven exceptionally carefully between motorway service stations and it made nearly 70mpg.

It's not flash, has no 'driver aids', isn't very fast (14s to 60mph... ish - might make a ton if you push it down a mineshaft or put it on top of the 9.15 Reading to Penzance) but it IS a bit of a Tardis when it comes to interior space, handles really well and even including business use costs me under £300 a year to insure.

It's also incredibly disposable... I'm certainly not going to cry much over it should it get totalled by Studly McNonuts in his mum's corsa pretending he'd Jenson Button in Asda's carpark.

 

[Adze]

Any opinion on the new Mini? The one which has caught my eye is the 1.4 litre diesel

Wouldn't touch it with a 10' someone elses... The original mini was a poorly built design masterpiece. The BMW mini is a fabulously built design disaster area buoyed by an extremely expensive marketing campaign. If you want a car the size of a Ford Focus, the Ford Focus is a much more practical vehicle than the Mini and might even be slightly smaller

 

[Wilderbeast]

How capable a spanner monkey are you?

If I'm brutally honest I'm not. I know a bit about cars but without some sort of instruction I'd be pretty lost. I have changed a wheel on a friend's car and this is the limit of my experience but I'm a fairly practical chap so I think I could learn most basic fix's without too much trouble!

 

[Tengu]

I think you should get a Ford Fiesta.

They are common, so spares are easy to come by, reliable, economic and have loads of space for your kit in.

Ill also send a useful PM

 

[Mark W]

Go for a diesel, it's not a question of price per litre but price per mile and a diesel will whoop a petrol in terms of mpg. Look at what reps are driving, you need cheap and cheerful motoring, something that doesn't cost a packet to keep on the road. Skoda octavia's were in vogue a couple of years ago. Despite your protestations, you will smash whatever your driving in the first couple of years, that's a given. No point getting something you're too attached to. Do the time in something naff, buy something decent when you've got some "no-claims" discount and built up your bonus, got some experience and you've learnt from the hard knocks.
Failing that, get a subaru impreza.
Learn how to change a wheel and keep the spare inflated.

 

[lucan]

I've recently Bought a Peugeot 106 1.1 Zest X reg as a 2 nd family car for work, o.k, They are classed as a boy racers car, But they are cheap n cheerful, and there are plenty of em about so parts are fairly cheap too.

 

[Terr]

Do not buy a mini unless you're going to lose sleep without one. They are TINY, uncomfortable to drive and even less comfortable to ride in, especially for long journeys.

I'm still driving my first car, it's a VW Passat 2.0 Diesel that I inherited from my father. It's a pain to insure even now (I'm 23 and a postgrad student) but very economical in terms of fuel. I'd never guess it was a 2.0 if there was no badge.

The best advice I can give is to buy something robust and cheap. Remember that scrapes and bumps are unavoidable, especially as you're an outdoor sort of guy. I stopped crying over every scratch after the first year or so. I soon learned that while our hedgerows are beautiful... that beauty comes at a price.

 

[demographic]

Nissan Micras are small, reliable and don't cost a fortune to insure.
Having said that I bought a Ford Transit as my first four wheel vehicle but that's cos I have loads of tools to carry about and have motorcycles that occasionally go in the back.

 

[Adze]

Nissan Micras are small, reliable and don't cost a fortune to insure.

However, they do go wrong and when they do the parts cost is seriously prohibitive. The AFM (airflow meter) packed up on a friends K11 motor - the price for a new throttle body from Nissan? £1,400. Even online 'spares for any car' type places were well over £200 for part alone - this for a car worth, maybe, £750 with a following wind.

 

[nickliv]

Re. insurance, try getting a quote on a 2 seater, be it a van, or a small 2 seater, I know you've got a lot of M 11 and M4, but it could just be worth it.

You never know, you might be pleasantly surprised by an MGB or an older MX5 or MR2.

 

[cbr6fs]

Really depends what you want.

If it's just a run about then pretty much anything will do.

If cheap running costs are the main priority then something like a Diesel Polo will take some beating.

If your looking for something that your going to learn about and enjoy driving like above a MX5 is a mega reliable and very cheap to run fun car.
The UK version is sadly cheaper to insure than the Jap import version (Eunos Roadster), i say sad because 9 times out of 10 the Jap imports are in far better condition.

There is very little difference insurance wise between the 90-93 1.6's and the 94> 1.8's.
One to be wary about are the UK 94> 1.6's as these were heavily restricted to force buyers into buying the 1.8's.

A MX5 is never going to be economical as far as fuel goes (you'll be lucky to get into the 30's mpg wise), but they're easy to work on, have a massive on-line following as far as forums go and parts are very very cheap.

It's also rear wheel drive as well, so you get to learn to drive in a proper car


As you get older and insurance drops you can bolt on a turbo or supercharger kit and around 240bhp can be had for around £2k.
Much more than 240bhp and bottom end engine work is advised.


Great little fun car, i am a bit biased though as i've been running one for 8 years now.
Mines a 94 Jap import with a MP62 supercharger kit, never had it dyno'd but it's running somewhere around 240bhp and weighs in just over 900kg.

In 8 years it's raced at local timed events, been tracked several times a year, is my every day transport and has taken the Mrs and i up and down and across Europe, including a few Greece to UK drives and back again.
Only problems i've had in that time were due to either stupidity or laziness on my part (do all my own servicing, tuning etc).

So great fun to drive, easy to work on so a great car to learn about servicing, tuning etc, extremely reliable and MPG aside (not bad, but not good by modern car standards) mega cheap to run.

 

[9InchNinja]

Toyota Yaris 1.4D 04/05 plate (the old model, not the new fluffy ones)

Easily get 55/60 mpg, quite nippy and Very safe.