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my son has just passed his test at 17 and i wondered what would be a good first car which has a low insurance rating,excellent fuel economy and reliability. any ideas.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 18/12/2007 at 21:15
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if you can afford new a fiat panda is hard to beat, very under-rated
good deals fiatsupersaver etc
base 1.2 in the free yellow with the 20 quid extra for a full size spare wheel would be my order
dont like the 1.1 but i guess if you need to save a few quid...
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Just got a 17 year old on the road. You are really stuck with a very small range of cars . Fuel economy and reliablity are luxuries, its all about insurance costs.
small engined clios, fiestas, 106's, saxo's, Ka's.
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< Ulla>
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1.2 corsa
group 2 and basically unbreakable
tough in a bump too
oh..........
and welcome to the BR
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whatever you decide on dont go over the top as he's guaranteed to prang it!!!
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I would recommend an old but serviceable Land Rover.
Why ? -
- Cheap to insure
- Easy to fix ( he may even enjoy learning a bit of DIY mechanics )
- When he dings it, and he will, it won't really matter as most bodywork repairs can be done with a lump hammer !
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I would recommend an old but serviceable Land Rover. Why ? - - Cheap to insure
SQ
not at all cheap to insure i have many friends that have struggled to get any insurance with the 2.5 litre engine and these are newer ones so insurance shoudl be cheaper
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 01/03/2009 at 18:36
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I have to agree with milkyjoe
You want something that is gutless, underpowered, handles well and has good brakes.
ANything over 1.0 litres is too fast.
Basically unless it's new (a bad move imo), buy a Fiesta - bottom of range, no fancy extras... easily repaired.
Roundabouts are not meant to be gone round, they are meant to be crossed at speed:-(
madf
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at 17 and just passed his test I think your priority should be safe before cheap and I agree with milkyjoe dont spend too much on a first car as chances are it will have a bump ,diesel peugot or similar might fit the bill even if it might be an insurance group higher than a citroen saxo
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Old Mondeo, Xantia, 406, Cavalier, etc. 1.7-1.9TD for slowness so they wont get carried away.
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obviously some people arent aware of the price of insurance on large cars
look here to see an example of the cost to a 17 year old in blighty
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=58...9 and thats as a named driver only
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Have a look at VW Polo or similar Seat Ibiza. Both fairly sturdy, and underpowered in 1.0 litre form , will get from 0-60 in theory.
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My first car at aged 18 was a Citroen Xantia 1.9TD. It cost the same to run as my friends Fiesta 1.3's and was far more comfortable, safer and better on long trips.
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My first car at aged 18 was a Citroen Xantia 1.9TD. It cost the same to run as my friends Fiesta 1.3's and was far more comfortable safer and better on long trips.
> the zantia is an insurance group 7
the insurance group on the fiesta is 4
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> > the zantia is an insurance group 7the insurance group on the fiesta is 4
Actually the Xantia I had was Insurance Group 9. You quickly learn that insurance groups don't tend to mean as much as you'd like to hope. They are certainly not the be all and end all of insurance prices.
Further prooved when I tried to get a quote on a Group 17 Impreza Turbo 2000. UK car, yet £2000 a year versus £1200 for my Group 17 5 Series. Same group, near double cost.
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Thanks for that, i will tell all the parents i see that they need high insurance group cars for their little darlings and the 1.0 litre corsas they hanker after are at the wrong end of the insurance spectrum.
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Is there any need to be so sarcastic? How old are you and when was the last time you felt you were in touch with younger drivers?
Insurance is based on many factors and not just insurance group. It is also based on the probability of a a driver/car combination resulting in a claim.
What does every new driver get? A Corsa. What does every cocky male crash into a lamp post? A diesel Mondeo or.... a Corsa with alloys on it? Thats right, a Corsa.
Corsas et al have loaded insurance premiums, irrespective of their insurance group, becuase they are a higher risk to insurers becuase it's the traditional boy racer car.
Exactly the same reason why a Subaru Impreza Turbo costs a 22 year old male twice to insure as an identically grouped 530i or Volvo V70 T5. Becuase 22 year old lads love to write Imprezas off, yet when was the last time a 22 year old lad even bought a Volvo.
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What does every new driver get? A Corsa. What does every cocky male crash into a lamp post? A diesel Mondeo or.... a Corsa with alloys on it? Thats right a Corsa. Corsas et al have loaded insurance premiums irrespective of their insurance group becuase they are a higher risk to insurers becuase it's the traditional boy racer car.
We are going through this right now with my 17 year old son. The Corsa comes up as one of the cheapest cars to insure by some margin. Punching in a Mondeo (to a couple of insurance search engines) produces much higher quotes.
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MichaelR as a father of a 17 year old I feel you are out of touch with *most* youngsters and insurance. A 17 year old boy would not be seen dead in a mondeo, (Unless it had the words ST220 somewhere on it) which is just as well as the insurance company wont insure him anyway.
17 year old boys, just passed test are only able (if they are paying it themselves, and I ensure that he does) to insure certain cars. A corsa happens to be one of those cars. A 17 year old boy will not be seen dead in a Micra either.
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< Ulla>
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MichaelR as a father of a 17 year old I feel you are out of touch with *most* youngsters and insurance. A 17 year old boy would not be seen dead in a mondeo (Unless it had the words ST220 somewhere on it) which is just as well as the insurance company wont insure him anyway.
Not been an issue with myself and my peers. Everyone thought my Xantia was cool at college mostly becuase it was different to the 1000 Corsas in the carpark.
How many years ago were you 18 ;)
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Not been an issue with myself and my peers. Everyone thought my Xantia was cool
They were just being nice to your face. You should see what was left about you on the noticeboard..................
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< Ulla>
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Not been an issue with myself and my peers. Everyone thought my Xantia was cool at college mostly becuase it was different to the 1000 Corsas in the carpark. How many years ago were you 18 ;)
michael r your a fool. I'm just 18 and at my college a car of your description would be laughable, i recomend getting a 1.4 engine as often a 1.2 does not have the acceleration to get out of tight spaces as you will get into as a newly passed driver, i originally had a vauxhall astra sxi 3 door 2007 which i would not recomend as it is very expensive to run and expensive insurance, recently i have sold it and with money won in the casino and through working have been able to buy a new alfa romeo MiTo i would advise it to anyone as it is genuinely cool not too expensive to insure £1200 as a named driver with a years no claims. Also it is quite cheap to run, and has the best looks of the lot better than any mini which is a very common car in colleges across the country
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"a 1.2 does not have the acceleration to get out of tight spaces as you will get into as a newly passed driver"
And people wonder why insurance premiums are so high for young drivers..!
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You do realise what you're doing is ilegal and called fronting? If you have accident the likelyhood is your insurance will find out. You will get banned from driving for having no valid insurance and be ordered to retake your test.
If it is your car the policy has to be under your name, simply as that.
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17 year old boys just passed test are only able (if they are paying it themselves and I ensure that he does) to insure certain cars. A corsa happens to be one of those cars. A 17 year old boy will not be seen dead in a Micra either.
Actually, i have a micra (K11). Granted i'm 19, but i've had it since i passed. i'm not saying i think i look particularly cool in it, truth be told i'd be extatic if my parents had bought me a corsa or whatever, but once i passed i was frankly just happy to have wheels at all and couldnt care less what the rest of the school thought.
What's more the K11 is one of the most reliable cars about so i'm likely not to need to get a second car untill well after i finish uni ( probably the most likely time for theft or drunken joy riding/crashing if you take it with you, i wont be). oh and the people i know who got a new mini or whatever for their 17th to me just ended up looking spoilt, perhaps i'm jealous.
If your kid is so desperate to have a corsa and has explicitly asked for a car, show him the £3500 odd insurance and road tax of it and compare to the micra's £700 insurance (well possibly a grand for 'just passed' clients) and ask him what you and he could spend the extra £2800 PER YEAR on, not mentioning that the micra has better fuel economy.
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I have a group 2 Seat Arosa (0-60 16.7 secs top speed 93mph) and a group 19 Lexus LS400 (0-60 6.7 secs top speed 155mph (limited))) they both cost £350 a year to insure...the lexus does have 5 years NCB though but then it's also fully comp the arosa is TPFT...
When i was 18 i had a 2Litre mondeo it cost the same to insure as my sisters 1.2 micra did. a 1.6 Mondeo/vectra/cav etc is a underpowered slow shed with good brakes and safety so quite good for a 17 year old the big problem is even a 750cc Fiat panda can do 70mph+ down the local high street and thats what 17 year olds do....
...well unless it's a mk1 panda in which case it'll break down before they get up to speed.
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really shop around for insurance quotes , use your search engines wisely, be very thorough , dont take the first qoute you get , use qoutes as bargaining tools ...2 hours on the phone could save £100s
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Low insurance group tends to rule out Polo.
We went for a 1.2 Corsa. Insurance was obtained through Confused .Com and was under £700.
PassPlus helps as well and is a good idea from what my step son has told me.
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After much deliberation on here several years ago we stumbled upon a rather tatty Renault 19. Scratched and normally something that one wouldn't consider. However it came from a very reliable trader and I paid what appeared to be a huge sum for the thing. £600.00 to be exact. This was in 2002 iirc. It is still going well now. Slightly tattier, but has cost very little. I think CBC breakdown says that few things go wrong. This has proven to be very true in this case. Good luck and don't ignore what the Offspring don't want! Fashion comes runner up!
VBR................MD
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I read somewhere that because of the abnormal insurance premium, most youngsters are putting off driving until they are 21.
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i bought that rare beast, a cosseted '93 Rover 214 for my son to practice in (he lets me use it when he's away at uni) - £500 TPFT, he's a named driver so building up his own NCB.
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Thinking back to when my schoolmates and I were all ripping up L plates and getting on the road at 17, my first answer would probably be a pedal car! I read recently that a teenager's brain is not fully developed and is permanently in a chaotic conflict between risk taking and showing maturity; safety and danger; adulthood and childhood and 17 is probably the worst age to learn to drive.
Thinking back to when I was 17, I'd go for something large, solid and cheap, not too old, preferably bought with at least some of Junior's own money. A Volvo 4 series snapped up at an auction? Rear wheel drive handling and high levels of safety for when the inevitable happens (statistics of a teenagers' first year of driving tell it all).
Have fun!
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I started off with a 306 dturbo at 20. Not spectacularly quick but it really does handle well which makes up for that a lot, never had any issues with the main mechanics of it (indestructable XUD engine if taken care of) and the insurance group is 5.
Insurance for me worked out at £890 via Endsleigh at the time which was about the same for a corsa.
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If you are thinking new - and if he/she is earning, then I thought the current "Best Deals"
quoted here on HJ was hard to beat:
£4995 OTR or £99 deposit and £99 per month (60 months)
New 57 reg Kia Picanto 1.0 GS with met paint/any colour
Group 2 ins
45mpg
£35 Road Tax
Disc Brakes all round
Radio + CD & MP3
3yr unlimited warranty 3 yrs RAC
Twin airbags (but no side A/B's)
and
free sat nav if ordered now
Thinking about one for my yougest son who's about to take his driving test after Christmas.
HJ roadtest was reasonably positive as well. I'll probably look at the Panda as well, though!
Jacks.
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My son is now approaching 20 and spent the first 2.5 years learning, passing and driving in a 10 year old 1.2 Clio which was a decent enough car and most importantly relatively cheap to insure. Cost us £1100 private purchase (if you're buying at this price there is so much rubbish out there described as vgc!) and sold at auction 30 months later for £800. Fuel and servicing costs are negligible compared to the first two years insurance premiums. Thankfully 2 years no claims meant he could look at larger cars and he now drives a Passat Tdi 100 bhp auto and the insurance premium is half the first year's premium for a car worth 5 times as much and (touch wood) next year will reduce by 30%. Not every teenager follows the crowd and desires a Corsa SXi or Saxo VTR and insurance companies seem to recognise that with their premiums for mundaneo cars.
I didn't teach my son to drive, he had lessons. But I took it as my responsibility once he passed, to keep up his driving education with motorway experience, Pass Plus and general advice and tips that I'd like to think help improve his awareness and decision making. Hopefully he'll remain claims free, build up his NCD and then protect it.
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I am sure there is plenty of Parents in this forum who have a 17 year old son/daughter well if you do have you wondered what is the cheapest car to insure in terms of fuel economy, reliability, style , insurance etc. i was thinking about a car for my son when he turns 17 next month. these questions popped up diesel vs petrol. style vs no style, insurance, mpg, reliability etc. have you got any ideas on any car which would be suitable for a teen who just has passed. whether it be a new car or old.
Moved here with the rest of the responses to the same question you asked just four days ago
Edited by PoloGirl on 22/12/2007 at 15:20
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Citroen Saxos are fairly trendy, cheap to buy and run.
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not being funny but citron saxos are very unreliable.
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G/f's daughter (17) passed test few months ago, blought 54model Seat Ibiza coz thier "cool" at the mo! apparently, however she nearly changed her mind when she couldn't insure it for less than £1600!
Billy
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yh apparently ibizas are cool, they use vw engines and have exactly the same body as a skoda. only problem is girls get cheaper quotes then men (thats a fact). i tried to insure my son on the ford fiesta 1.4 and it came but with £3500 nearly the price of the car. imagine a Bugatti lol
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strange but true, at 17 it costs more or less the same to insure something like a 1.4 fiesta as something more non 1st car like a mondeo or 2 litre saloon generally the car is a minor consideration in the equation as new drivers are a risk no matter what there in
chris
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i tried to insure my son on the ford fiesta 1.4 and it came but with £3500 nearly the price of the car. imagine a Bugatti lol
>
it would be cheaper for you to get your son to have a sex change operation its just convincing he/she its the right thing to do!!
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i was thinking about a car for my son when he turns 17 next month.
So if he is not yet 17, how/where did he pass his test? because in your first post at the top you say that " my son has just passed his test at 17 " ?
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if youre disabled you can take a test at 16...i think
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But then he would have said "my son has just passed his test at 16".
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Unnecessary comment snipped. smokie
Edited by smokie on 22/12/2007 at 16:36
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When you have the list of cars that you can afford to insure, then go round the dealers and actually get in them. We found many of the low insurance cars had problems - some are badly converted to right hand drive, so the pedals are off set meaning your back is twisted. Our main problem was a tall son with large feet who found several where when he pressed on the accelerator he also pressed on the brake.
He ended up driving the new shape micra - he was 'cool' enough to get over that and actually still says it was really nice to drive - and he often left boy racers standing at the lights .... needless to say, we weren't told this at the time.
I also really like Humph's idea - wish I had thought of that.
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I bought my son a 1.4 1996 Megane - insurance group 4, 4* crash rating. "Sweet handling" according to HJ, and certainly reasonably comfortable. Still running well at 97,000 miles with only service items replaced, apart from an ongoing problem with cutting out - now fixed (see technical forum). 38mpg. Perfectly adequate, and no danger of boy-racing in it!
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That is a good idea, the 1.4 Xsara was high on my list until I drove it. I have driven a lot of cars from a £150 Fiesta MK3 (my mates) to a 2.0 206 GTI. By far the worst one was that Xsara. It was horrible, clutch was too heavy, steering had no feeling, pedals were placed funny, visiability to the rear was no existant, hand brake was too stiff. I have now crossed of that car of my list.
I drove the Focus and loved it, it just felt right for me. Everything in the right place, didn't once even come close to stalling it, steering felt a little light but I would get used to that.
Drove a 1.0 Corsa B, that was horrible as the gear change was very vaque and it felt like it had no torque.
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I suspect you drove a pre facelift mk1 xsara, the facelift versions are much more nimble.
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BMW E30 or E36 316i
Both are reliable safe and stable first cars and are paractical with 40 mpg and insurance costs of 800 quid for 10k miles
Ford escort mk1 1.1 or 1.3
Ford Capri Mk1 1.3
VW Golf mk1
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i say these cars because these are the ones i am looking at. Insurance groups are often meaninless to the actual cost of the premium as a citroen c1 is more expensive to run than the cars all listed
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Daewoo Matiz, absolutely no street cred so it won't get nicked and the cops will ignore it, slow, insurance group 1. Yeah your son may hate it, but I've never hated a free car!
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I have to VIOLENTLY disagree with ANY BMWs.
(see my post from 2007).
17 year olds think they are immortal and drive like it.
Any BMW will be tested to destruction.
As I said before, no power, cheap to buy good brakes.
A Fiesta or Yaris or Polo or Panda are OK IF the smallest engine.
Air bags are ESSENTIAL.
Anything above 1 litre is tempting fate and very expensive to insure.
I speak from bitter experience of 2 sons..and two written off Peugeot 106s..
Edited by madf on 21/01/2010 at 13:27
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MkI Escort, Capri or Golf for a kid? You're having a laugh - they're for classic car collectors only who what they're taking on.
My teenagers aren't going out in anything less than 5* EuroNCAP - as they're bound to hit something or be hit.
Edited by BigJohnD on 21/01/2010 at 13:22
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I wonder if jimmyboy will let us know which car his son got all those years ago!
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A Fiesta Corsa or similar with the small engine is the way to go.
I dont know why so many of you are so disparaging about young drivers, yes some of them are stupid behind the well but a lot of them are sensible and drive carefully.
I told my sons you buy your own car I will help with insurance - only 3rd party and if they broke it it was their problem not mine.
Most of the adults I knew had similar arrangements, anything else is is just pandering to them and I never did that, and lots of parents cannot afford to do anything else.
Treat them like young adults and a lot of them will respond in the right way.
There is always idiots around age 17 to 90 as we read about on here.
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Don`t buy him a Toyota whatever you do. With the brain still being malleable at 17yrs it could set into the `badge snorting and polishing mode`
You are never really free of this syndrome when it develops - although being forced to repeat `re-call` 250 times a day can help.
(snigger ;-)
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SO after 57 replies have we decide upon the cheapest car for a 17 year old to insure and how much roughly that would be?? Only i'm in the same boat with my boy!
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fiat siecento
corsa 1.0 deadpot
its cheaper before they pass the test then it usually goes up to about £1800
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Fiat seicento is fine if you aren't too tall - I am 5'8" with long legs and couldn't sit behind the wheel with any semblance of comfort. Had the car on loan when mine was written off, but had to tell them to take it away as I couldn't drive it. My 6'2" son would have no chance, although his legs are about the same length as mine!
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well im nearly 6 foot and have no problems
my cappers are difficult to drive them in though
it might be a fiat but the seat does go back you know,-------its not an anglia ;-)
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Seat was as far back as it would go (and the car was orange...)
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thats your problem then guv
them orange ones were the worst
now come try this theodore blue one................. ;-)
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You can't be definitive about which is cheapest to insure, as different postcodes will make a lot of difference.
My son is about to be 17 and has his heart set on a Seat Ibiza 1.2, which is a low insurance group. Alternative is a Polo. We shall not be having a Corsa as no Vauxhalls in this house.
He reckons he can get TPFT insurance for him as main driver plus his parents as named drivers for about £1,000. I think he's probably done it wrong, but will have another look round when the prospect of a car becomes reality.
His sister has a Ka which she loves; now, aged 19 with 2 years' no claims, the premium is under £400 TPFT.
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girls are better than boys
they appreciate independance
unfortunately most boys grow horns when they get behind the wheel
fronting parents on insurance policies aint a good idea,i dont bother advising anymore to potential victims because they dont listen and im wasting my spit
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We're not fronting - doing it properly!!
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anybody got any figures?
cheapest quote on a 1.4 golf for our lad is £4500. nice !
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I mean i have 14 years no claims on mine and i've heard it's cheaper to put him on my insurance or something...don't fully understand how it works because i've not enquired or done anything like this before...but if i did that and got him a 1.2 corsa will i get the insuranse for about £700 you reckon??
To be honest i'm astounded by the way these kids get hammered for insurance, i suppose it'll go down when he's 18 will it!
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spidermonkey buy him the car but make him responsible for insurance as it will fix the mind
its usually between £1700 and £4000 depending on whether the insurer is trying to show you the door
you are talking of fronting and in the long term does nobody any favours
think carefully before you do it
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no, no, I think its better to make them pay for the car, and the parent pay for the insurance, at least then you know the insurance is being paid for...
and they cant stop the direct debit, £100 a month for beer or pay for insurance?
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2 observations:
a) beware of very low premiums on comparison websites for learner drivers. Check what the premium will be for 17 year old with full licence - that cheap premium may rocket as soon as they have passed the test!
b) as a generalisation, the more modern the car model, the safer and lower insurance group it will be. However, if you don't have money or desire to get a new car, after studying the NCAP crash scores, I came to the conclusion that for my son and daughter the best safety/cost compromise was a Lupo/Arosa. Group2/3 insurance for 1.0/1.4 and way more protective should the worst happen than a Saxo/106/old Fiesta... (look at euroncap.com)
(I've noticed that there have been a lot of old threads which have been given a new lease of life recently - people must have been surfing rather than sledging!)
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We are always having teenagers crashing their first cars around here. There was a particularly severe crash recently with a Corsa - on a wide, straight road at the top of an estate. It`s one of those extra wide roads that in recent years has been reduced to 30mph and has hatchings and `islands` down the centre to stop overtaking.
Really, everything that could be done to avoid accidents has been done. There are even new mini roundabouts to slow things down further.
Despite this a car full of teenagers managed to come down there with their car upside down and ended up smashed into a tree. (no other car involved)
Despite frantic efforts by people nearby the car was unapproachable - the petrol tank had split and it was a fireball. A guy got his garden hose onto one or two that got out - saving them from severe burns - but others died in the car.
If I were buying a car for a teenager - it would be an old diesel.
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Just so everyone knows, and I'm sure most of you do know, but putting your son/daughter on a policy as a named driver instead of main driver when they are actually the only ones driving it, is called insurance fronting and is illegal - if they are involved in a crash, and the insurance company realises this, they won't pay out. Also, if you do it this way, then your son/daughter doesn't build up their NCB which is vital - and you risk losing your NCB, even if its protected!
When I passed, I bought a new Ford Ka a week later, cost over £3000 for my first year of insurance, my own policy, no named drivers, fully comp. Even at 19 with 0 NCB, you're still stuck because having 1 or 2 years of NCB is what brings it down, not necessarily age. My insurance will be about £900 this year, when the policy is taken out I'll be 19 with 2 years NCB.
Any of the new cars with 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 litre engines are very good for insurance, much safer than old cars so insurance companies consider this.
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