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I'm looking to buy a second hand small car for my 18 year old daughter to travel to college in. I need something that will give her good mileage as she will be travelling about 50 miles per day and also something that will be cheap to insure. Can anyone also explain the insurance groups to me. Is group 1 cheaper to insure than group 2? Id be grateful for any advice!
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">Is group 1 cheaper to insure than group 2?<"
Yes.
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Having been through this myself, take it from me that you also need something reliable! You dont say how much you want to spend (in my case not very much) but I woudl be thinging along the lines of something small and japanese - nissan micra?
MGs
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Citroen Saxo Diesel. On a 50 mile run daily, it will use less than a gallon, I averaged approx 60-65 mpg for 4 years whilst I had one. Also has cheap insurance and road tax.
Downside though is not got great crash protection.
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Can you give us a budget OP, and if this includes insurance? How about a Nissan Micra, reliable, cheap to insure, economical, and cam chain driven so no cambelt to worry about!
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SWMBO has a Peugeot 106 diesel - like Saxo. Economical yes. Cannot recommend for long journeys as too noisy and poor crash protection.. plus a real PIA if things go wrong.Son has 1.1 petrol and 40mpg .. nicer to drive but again a PIA...many thrashed examples..Stealable (very).
An early Yaris diesel (T2) with 20k miles would be £4.5k . RFL £50 and 60+mpg easily achievable plus good crash protection (I've seen pictiures: the safety cage appears very strong). Cheap insurance.Very reliable..Or a petrol one cheaper but higher RFL... More modern...
A Mark3 Fiesta with low miles and good body? Lots around £1400-£1800 will buy a good one but 35mpg ish..Easy to work on. Watch for rust. Stealable but who would? :-) Or £2500 for a Mark4.. More rust...
I would avoid: VWs: overpriced unless a cheap good Polo. Corsa (build quality), All Rovers, Any French (build/reliability/theft)
and buy Japanese.
madf
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I'm anticipating this dilemma in 18 months time.
On the one hand it will be a lot cheaper than paying for residences (have you seen how much these cost!!?)
On the other hand I worry about the safety aspect of my (to be) 18 year old commuting about 50 miles every day in a wee car.
Accordingly with a likely 3K budget I'm swaying towards the Clio with its high NCAP safety rating even with the given reliability issues although I agree that the Yaris ticks all the boxes too (hate the flat power band of the 1.0 litre though!)
Mind you, I used to do it on a CD175 Honda!!
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My experience of student days is that car interior storage for transport PCs/equipment ect at start and end of term means a large car is best. Asthat is a nogo - due to cost/insurance etc.. then buy a small one with lots of interior room - folding falt rear seats. Yaris is great for that.
madf
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A Mark3 Fiesta with low miles and good body? Lots around £1400-£1800 will buy a good one but 35mpg ish..Easy to work on. Watch for rust. Stealable but who would? :-) Or £2500 for a Mark4.. More rust...
The Zetec-SE engined versions are ridiculously frugal. Our '97 1.4 regularly cracks 40 mpg (320 miles comfortable tank range, and rarely breaks £30 to refill). Admittedly it's mostly used on a 50 mile round trip commute, but it most certainly isn't driven gently. SWMBO doesn't do sedate. It's done 91k now and apart from a slight top end rattle from cold starts which shuts up after about a second, it's as sweet as new.
You'll pick up a nice early mk4 1.25 with <60k on the clock for £1700 - £2000.
Cheers
DP
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