Am about to start learning to drive and realise that it would probably be a good idea to get a car seeing as my parents only own automatics. What is a good car to get for around 2 - 3k? Wouldn't want it to be particularly old because I will probably drive to school (30 miles there and back) and around quite a lot so I want something reliable and solid. Insurance must be cheap and the rules are no engine bigger than 1.2 but smaller if possible! Like the look of the VW Polo but unsure what is available for the price.
Many thanks.
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Fiesta 1.25.
Should be plenty for you to choose from.
VB
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The Fiesta 1.25 could surprise you insurance wise. It's a cracking car and you'd get a decent one with spare cash left over but I think it's Ins. group 6E which means they'll hammer us young whippersnappers.
I had one and Tesco were by far the cheapest. They charged £1996 for Third Party cover only.
That was age 18.
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What proportion of 17 year olds crash their first car? Pretty high, I guess. And many of the crashes don't involve a third party.
So I would aim for a £1,000 Polo, private sale. If it lasts you your first year's driving, then you've done well. Insuring third part only will save you a bit as well.
I guess you're in a rural area (30 miles round trip to school), so the odds of hitting a tree when it's icy are high.
Sorry, to sound so pessimistic, I did it. Housemate did it. Both of us aged 17 (but not together!). (I'm now 15 years beyond the driving test!) Enjoy driving and never forget that you have a lethal weapon in your hands that can kill somebody.
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Break the rules, buy something decent that's not going to be overpriced, horrible, and pokey.
Buy something with a nice turbodiesel engine so you get 1.25-like fuel economy, not TOO much performance, but enough to get you places.
Buy something like a Xantia TD or a Peugeot 406 TD.
I had a Xantia TD SX as my first car. Full electric everything, PAS, most of them have aircon, mine was £1100 in 2002, cost the same to run as my mates Fiesta, and was brlliant.
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Nissan Micra. We've just sold our 1999T 1 litre. Excellent reliable package, low running costs, low insurance (group 3)& good to drive (PAS etc). Only downside is that it's a bit girly looks wise.
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Second the Micra idea. Cheap and reliable, and surprisely nice to drive once you master momentum driving. Avoid the bright colours though.
I had a S reg Twister with aircon, but no PAS (lovely) in poke-your-eye-out Apple Green. Needed something bigger, so it had to go sadly. Only issues were no cigar lighter (i don't smoke, but do need to charge my phone) and i flooded it twice.
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>Break the rules, buy something decent that's not going to be overpriced, horrible, and pokey.
Subject to the insurance cost, I have to agree with Michael. But do please note his budget!
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306 2 litre HDi is only a group 5 insurance (Same cost for me to insure as a 1.25 Fiesta), comes with everything and will do 650 miles to a tank.
Wish I'd got one a long time ago.
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306 bit of a pointless buy. Holds its value rather well so is an expensive used buy, interior is very dated.
Citroen Xsara is mechanically identical - the only difference is interior and exterior styling. Has a more modern interior and higher level of standard equipment, and the same range of engines. Not as popular as 306 so often massively cheaper for what is fundamentally the same car.
You'll get a good Xsara 2.0 HDi for the same money as a ropey Phase 2 306 1.9TD.
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No way - car is far too powerful! The rules are 1.2 litre maximum, and whilst these cars are appealing its a bit unrealistic on the insurance - group 1, 2 or 3 would be best. Any other ideas appreciated. I'm looking round at mark 3 polos - the prices are really very high but i guess they hold their value well. is there anything i should be looking out for?
thanks.
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No 1 daughter dropped out of university 3 years ago and needed car to get to work, 19 and licence for 5 months - 2 year old 1.0 Micra was solution with loan funded from her UB Payments til she got a job.
Cheap insurance and reliable. Didn't look at NCAP when we got it.
No 1 son needed car to get to school when we moved 18 m ago (SWMBO would not put him in taxis). 17 and licence for 3 months, 2 year old Corsa (NCAP 4 stars) came with "cheap insurance" just over a grand in his name fully comp. 18 months later and no problems - again cheap to run, reliable and more crash worthy than the Micra. oddly enough cars 2 years older were £500-1000 cheaper but £500 more to insure!
Both a little more expensive than bangers (<5k) but if they do hit something I would rather they had a better chance of walking away.
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Ford Ka, cheap to run, cheap to service, fun to drive, really sporty feel, punchy if not fast.
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No way - car is far too powerful! The rules are 1.2 litre maximum, and whilst these cars are appealing its a bit unrealistic on the insurance - group 1, 2 or 3 would be best. Any other ideas appreciated. I'm looking round at mark 3 polos - the prices are really very high but i guess they hold their value well. is there anything i should be looking out for?
Far too powerful? Are you taking the mick? The 2.0 HDi has just 90bhp. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, powerful. Stop getting so hung up on insurance groups, in the real world they don't matter that much provided you dont go for anything silly. I insured my Xantia TD @ 18 whilst I was a college student with a weekend job. It wasn't much, if any, more expensive than my mates paid for their Fiestas.
What on earth is the point in spending say £3000 on some T reg Polo 1.2 with a poverty spec when you can spend £2000 on the same age larger car and pay an extra 200 quid or so a year insurance? You save in the long run. Buy a car with less demand, means you pay less. Everyone wants a Polo or a Fiesta as their first car and demand keeps prices high.
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Don't try Michael's plan if you live where I do. I reinvented myself as a 17 year old, keeping my car on the street in inner London (just south of Tower Bridge).
A 1999 1.9 Xsara was 3,400 to insure. A 1995 1.0 Polo a snip at 2,085. The only HDi Xsara I could find was 2004 on, and a message popped up suggesting I ring their insurance helpline and then it crashed their computer.
I guess it depends on where you live...
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I can only presume our postcode forced mine up because there's no way on God's green Earth I'd have been able to insure a Xantia at age 18. It cost 800 quid to be just a named driver on Dad's.
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Whats the build on a Xsara or Xantia like? I don't think its what i'm looking for. I live in a quiet area of sussex so i dont think area is a problem really.
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"Whats the build on a Xsara or Xantia like?"
I can't comment on the Xsara but the Xantia is good.
Unless insurance is not a huge issue for you, I suspect your choice is going to largely determined by the cost of insurance. If this is the case your question needs to be:-
"Which cars are insurance friendly for me?"
Looking at this another way, why are your parents' cars both being autos a problem? When I was learning to drive I had a number of lessons in the instructors manual vehicle but I got lots of free practise in my mother's Volvo 340 auto.
I took the test (passed 2nd time) in a manual.
Provided you can get someone to accompany you, with the saving you make in not running your own car until you pass your test - you could affort a lot more lessons. In my case a friend of mine was prepared to accompany me as a competent driver both to and from college. The law has been tightened up now and he wouldn't have been able to do it as he had only passed his test a few weeks before, but maybe you know someone that can.
The use of a manual box is after all only a small part of learning to drive.
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Insurance is very important. What the hell anyway? I don't want a Xsara or a Xantia, they are completely wrong, would people stop trying to talk me into these cars!
Yes I can drive these cars although they will fairly heavy to insure as well (1.8 and 2.8 litre engines) soooo I guess I should buy my own cheap to insure but still decent car because i figure im going to be getting one at some point anyway.
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would people stop trying to talk me into these cars!
Nobody's trying to talk you into any car! You'll find that on this site there are people with very differing attitudes to the cars they drive. There are some of us with City jobs who don't spend more than a few hundred pounds on a car. And some who borrow lots of money to be able to afford a Lexus on a student budget.
It is certainly true that 'little' cars - particularly Polos - are inordinately expensive (for what they are) as they are perceived as being good 'first' cars. There's alot of practical experience on here, and Adam and MichaelR will both tell you that in driving something a bit bigger and out of the ordinary they have a more comfortable driving experience and pull more birds ;o) No really!
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"would people stop trying to talk me into these cars!"
I was only answering your question.
Mapmaker has made a good point. People will give their opinions as to what they choose to have, but there is no right or wrong.
If you ask questions of fact you'll get factual answers - if you ask for opinions you'll get those as well.
You'll also get other ideas and advice that you may not have asked for but its usually worth a read, even if that's all you do with it.
Hugo
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apologies i wasnt trying to be rude, its just that those cars are really not what i was looking for. i like puntos particularly the more modern looking ones, what could i get for a couple of grand or a bit more? My dad reckons they are unreliable but i am willing to give one a go.
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Seat Arosa.
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This may be unpopular with other members, but a Fiat Punto fits the bill. I had a mk 1 N-reg and did 50k in 3 years, it was only a 1.1l. It was cheap and painless motoring, until I glanced a wall.
You should be able to get one of the last mk1s for your money.
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If it's all about the insurance, Vauxhall Corsa 1.0. It's slow, but it crashes well, reasonably spacious, not badly put together, economical and looks okay. It's also group 1 insurance and cheap to tax. You should get a 2001 Y plater with 60k miles or so on it for £2,500 if you shop around.
Personally though I am with those who suggest something a little larger and cheaper to buy and paying a little more on the insurance (i.e., there's no point in paying £1k more for a car to save £200 on your insurance premium). Of course whether that applies to you or not will depend on your location and your individual circumstances.
Bear in mind that if you go up a size you'll still get 40mpg (my parents' 1.6 Focus is as economical as their previous 1.3 Fiesta) and you're much more likely to get ABS, more crash safety and airbags, more space for friends and stuff, more refinement, more equipment and a generally nicer experience. It won't be more difficult to park once you're a confident driver and it won't cost more to buy. Insurance for some young drivers can be a huge problem but different companies and postcodes will mean that size of the car may not be that significant in your overall costs.
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No offence taken. We're somewhat unconventional here.
>>those who suggest something a little larger and cheaper
Your chums will laugh at you. For 20 minutes. Until they realise that you have leather seats, aircon, heated seats. Then they'll just think you're stinking rich, and they'll be jealous. When you point out that it costs you less than it costs them for a poverty spec Polo...
Fitting 5 big lads into a Corsa isn't funny - been there, done that. I wish MichaelR had been my friend when I was 17.
I recommend a trip to directline.com and that you try out a few cars there for insurance. Then a trip to ebay.co.uk or autotrader (see link on left hand side) to see what some of them cost.
You've come to a website full of people who are sensible about their cars. It's not a site full of petrolheads. Nor a site full of grease monkeys. Nor car spotters. Nor chavs (except for Adam, but he'll grow out of it). But 'sensible' is applied with a bit of pizzaz. For choice, my car would be a £500 W123 Mercedes, but the locals kept on pinching them - everybody else thought I was driving a classic car. (Floodgates time...)
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No offence taken. We're somewhat unconventional here. >>those who suggest something a little larger and cheaper Your chums will laugh at you. For 20 minutes. Until they realise that you have leather seats, aircon, heated seats. Then they'll just think you're stinking rich, and they'll be jealous. When you point out that it costs you less than it costs them for a poverty spec Polo...
This is, of course, an utterly brilliant side effect.
Given that approximately nil of my mates at Uni know much about cars, they all think I'm absolutely loaded when they get a lift to the club in the Mondeo. They are even more gobsmacked when I tell them yes, it did cost less than their 206 \o/
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WJH, as you're a new driver I think your first thoughts are quite right: go for a small, manoeuvrable car - but not anything too slow or you'll get bored and drive it to its limits to get any oomph out of it.
I'm not sure if you or your parents made the 1.2 maximum rule, but try to stretch it to 1.3 and your best choices are:
Ford Fiesta 1.25
Ford Ka 1.3 (only size engine they come in - watch for rust)
VW Polo 1.2
Nissan Micra 1.2
Toyota Yaris 1.3 if you can get one within budget.
Possibly Renault Clio 1.2
All are good solid designs with an element of fun to drive: try to get your chosen one checked by an expert as you're buying something a few years old which may have been cherished or may have been abused.
Try www.autotrader.co.uk or similar website and see what you can get for your budget.
Good luck, and do let us know how you get on.
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parents made the 1.2 rule. I have tried to explain to them about horsepower (ie. a polo 1.6 is only 75bhp) but they wont really listen. 1.3 is pushing it a bit but i will ask, maybe if the bhp is a lower than an equivalent 1.1 then i might be able to do some persuading. I will have a look around for ford ka.
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If your parents don't understand about bhp then you can get away with rounding down the Fiesta to 1.2 and they'll be none the wiser!
The Fiesta has 75 bhp, the Ka 1.3 only 60 bhpfor the model years you're looking at.
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ford ka- what insurance group?
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Ka is group 2.
Having thought about my original answer, I'd go for a Peugeot 306 1.4 Meridian - group 4 insurance, safe(ish) with ABS and lots of airbags, lots of luxury, excellent visibility, reasonable space and fun to drive. It's not particularly quick, either, so it should keep the parents happy apart from the engine size - and it does qualify for cheap car tax.
Which part of the country are you in? And are you male or female? That way we can at least get an idea of insurance quotes and maybe suggest cars that are near to you.
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sussex. male.
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Using a BN16 postcode and fictional details of a 17 year old student with a new provisional licence, insurance with Tesco works out as follows:-
Corsa 1.0 - £1,685 fully comprehensive (group 1)
Ka 1.3 - £1,721 fully comprehensive (group 2)
306 1.4 - £2,055 fully comprehensive (group 4)
All of the above are based on 12k miles per year and a value of £3,000, parked on the driveway.
Of course only one of these cars has passenger or side airbags, and anti-lock brakes, as well as more mass on your side in a crash - I'd say they have to be very parent friendly features. Certainly if you were my brother I'd be more concerned about those than limiting the engine size, especially as 0-60 is 14.2 seconds - compared to 14.4 seconds for a 1.1 litre Peugeot 106, which would apparently be okay.
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There is no right or wrong car, but you need to be aware of insurance groups and vehicle safety and reliability.
As HJ has said before on this topic - don't look for a specifica car, but look for the best example of a car in a particular class. So if you are looking for a supermini, look at Polo, Fiesta, Corsa, Clio, 206 etc etc, and look for the cleanest, best serviced, bump free car you can find and buy it. At that price, it will irrelevant if it is German, French, Italian or British. Japanese or Korean my be expensive to insure, but look for a Suzuki Swift or Hyundai Atoz for reliability at that age.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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