Subaru?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Seriously though, no suggestions without a budget?

Sorry, so busy laughing at the thought of a 22 yr old new driver getting a quote for a subaru, i hadn't noticed that you'd used the budget as a thread title,

doh! (been a long day, and i aint getting any younger!)

Re your question, what SLO said!

Another vote for Aygo...or equivalent.

Under £4K and young driver but fun to drive... Mazda 2 1.5 Sport if he can insure it. The 1.3 if not, it's still a great little car in every way, just takes a little longer to get there. Ford Fiesta 1.6 Zetec S is a hoot but again the 1.25 Zetec is a good little car too. Suzuki Swift 1.6 Sport is another wee belter but again the 1.2 is still fun and rarely goes wrong. Seat Ibiza 1.2 TSi FR if he is willing to up the budget a bit is another fun warm hatch but questions still exist regarding longterm reliability, nothing much showing up but it's simply not quite proven itself yet unlike the other options listed. He needs to get some insurance quotes before making a shortlist though and any notion of a Scooby is out the window until he can A afford to spend a lot more than £4K and B can get insurance at all.

Somehow I think that the OP's friend would be paying at leats half of the £2k on insurance if they bought any of the 'warm hatch' cars on your list. My parents have had a '96 and a '08 Fiesta 1.25 and they're quite nippy indeed, and like its cousin the Mazda2 1.3 is a great little car for the money. For the Fiesta at least, I'd go (on such a low budget) for one with the least amount of toys (A/C at most) as they'd be less to go wrong and it would (a bit anyway) reduce the insurance. The Suzuki's always got good reviews, though main dealerships can be a bit thin on the ground in some parts. At least with the Ford, everyone knows them and main dealerships are a plenty, if rather variable in quality.

I think the only Subaru they'd be able to afford at present is one that comes in a box at their local toy shop!

Yes it can happen.

Subaru Justy

Don't assume a small engined or low insurance group instantly means low insurance premium.

The 1L petrol Corsa, for example, is a popular first choice car for many, and as a result involved in more accidents.

I've known a few new drivers (young and old) find a Group 6 2L diesel to be cheaper to insure than a 1L Corsa.

Its all down to risk, and the Corsa is a bad risk for insurers.

Rather off topic but my son got a 7 year old Ford Falcon 4lt over here in Australia as his first car when he was about 20. He visited the UK later that year and people were amazed that he had a car that size and even more so when he told them that his 3rd party insurance was about $150! He kept the car about 5 years, drove sensibly and never had any accidents.

Rather off topic but my son got a 7 year old Ford Falcon 4lt over here in Australia as his first car when he was about 20. He visited the UK later that year and people were amazed that he had a car that size and even more so when he told them that his 3rd party insurance was about $150! He kept the car about 5 years, drove sensibly and never had any accidents.

With a population density of 3.2 people per sq km compared to 413 per sq km in England I guess there's just fewer things and people to crash into... sound glorious to me.

Ah, but lies, damned lies and statistics, as they say.

The sheer size of Australia is shocking. For example, roughly 35% of Australia is desert. You could fit the UK into that area 12 times over.

About 85% of the population of Australia lives within 50km (31 miles) of the coast. It's basically a thin ribbon of habitable coastline

My suggestion would be to spend less than half the 4k on the car, and keep the rest for insurance and unforeseen costs, such as a major fail on your first MOT.

You can get a really good car for much less than two grand, some of them mentioned above. My son had a Punto which during his ownership threw up the standard drawbacks of the model: blown head gasket, perforated sump etc etc. Once we sorted those out he managed to actually enjoy running it.

If he's someone who has time in the evenings and at weekends and doesn't mind getting his hands dirty, he could maybe pick something up that needs work, buy a Haynes manual and spend some of his leisure hours learning about how cars work. It can be very rewarding.

Hi Avant. I've tried the girly line with him and the Mini, but he's not having it! I've noticed that there's two different engines for the Mazda 2 (1.25 and 1.3) What's the difference? And which is better? Does the '2' have any major faults? Thanks again.