A few weeks ago I posted that a friend of mine had asked me to source a car for her daughter who had just passed her test. Max budget £1k. Several cars I looked at were not as described, but I found a lovely T plate Micra, owned by the same family since new. Perfect.
Guess what...Micras are not cool because the little old lady over the road owns one! I am now informed it has to be a Saxo or Peugeot 106. Try finding one of them not owned/thrashed or modified by some young lad.
Back in my day, tha knows, I began saving for my first car aged 12, cleaning cars for neighbours, caddying at the golf club, paper rounds, mowing lawns etc. How times change.
PS. Anyone got one of the above for sale in North Yorks/Cumbria area?
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Good grief LL, you're a glutton for punishment.
Trying to please a young filly these days, sooner you than me..;)
Thing is you and the rest of us know its precisely because the little old ladies own them is a lot of the reason micra's are such good motors, quite how you get that over to a youngster of either is going to be a headache.
Good luck in the search (i like your friends style by the way, shifting this insurmountable problem onto you....i must remember that one) ;)
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What is the budget for car AND insurance. I bet the car budget will get a piece of rusting **** and they do not realise how much inusrance will be for the child as main driver.
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Suggest you tell child exactly where the Micra can be stuffed. My parents bought me and my brother our first car between us (a red Rover 100 diesel), and we were eternally grateful.
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C`mon now! you`ve all forgotten what it feels like to be young ;) Would you really have gone out with your mates, aged 17, wearing your Grandads woolly jumpers, braces and flat cap because they were sensible?
Poor lass needs a bit of street cred at that age and driving a car that is allegedly seen as a motored zimmer frame by her peer group would likely make her a complete laughing stock.
;)
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The young generation seem to sufer from this, I have a similare problem with my youngest daughter.We bought her a first car to learn to drive in and get her on her way, a K plate polo.Ok its a bit old fasioned but easy for me to maintain and cheap to run is she interested ? No its not cool. Ungratefull yes.
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A copy of the local bus timetable seems a splendid alternative.
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My daughter's first car was a 1.0 Micra. Blow probably softened because it was in that colour best described as "plum" and nearly purple which she liked. None of her friends had cars at the time. After two year practicality took over (1.6 Focus) followed by style (1.4 Corsa Exclusive) and she has just got a Fiesta Zetec S.
My sons was a 1.0 Corsa - 1 year old in red (sold in April after 4 years). Wanted a 1.2 but I told him it was a 1.0 or the bus. He added a pair of white fluffy dice to the rear view mirror - no accounting for taste!
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Dunno... maybe a huge bean-tin exhaust, some funky alloy-look wheel trims, a bitchin'stereo set up, and some lurid stickers will be the solution.
Also, a few 100lb paving slabs in the boot and front footwells will give it that really mean 'squat' look beloved by the younger set...
Edited by Webmaster on 08/07/2008 at 01:49
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The equivalent car of my era would have been the Morris Minor, loved by old dears everywhere, but then my parents were never likely to buy me a car anyway!
Compromise - a Corsa. A few not yet in the hands of the boy-racers. HJ likes them too.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/index.htm?md=422&
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Eldest daughter was determined to have an Estelle, she did too. Passed her test, and drove it to school - inverted snobbery. The funny thing was, it seemed to gain her more respect. Younger sibling used to hide down low in the back seats on days she was driven to school in it. Another person commented they wouldn't be seen dead in a Skoda. One week later, pouring rain. Guess who was a passenger?
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Bet she isn't as bad as this birthday girl www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JvtlB_NzI8 -Sorry - at moment my bookmark link and google to tinyURL is coming up with page error.
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Hey my first car was a Moggy!
Parents bought it so I was chuffed - I had the street cred as I was the first with any wheels at all !
And it earnt me my first 'pull'
(but from the Old Bill) on congelton hill in Cheshire.
Cant see why 'the filly' is worried about street cred when the back seat, window (and possible boot) are going to be filled with cuddly teddys and scented cushions....
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My first car that I bought for myself was a BLMC 1100!!!! Just about anything is cool as a first car!!!
Before that I had a hand-me-down car that wasn't really mine but I had the use of it.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 07/07/2008 at 11:38
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Talk about looking a gift horse ....
Elder son wasn't given a choice when I got him a maroon 1.0 petrol AX with grey velour upholstery from an old chap on Ebay. He set about cleaning and polishing it (the car, not the old chap). We bought some alloys, also off Ebay, and he has coined the phrase "retro cool" to describe it. His mate has given up on his "uber cool" Mini Cooper after reliability problems, the rock-hard ride and hateful driving position, and bought a Toyota Aygo. Cool is only cool when it works.
LL, sounds like you should walk away from the project. If you get a 106 or Saxo, it'll be the wrong colour, have the wrong upholstery and you will be forever to blame if she crashes it or if it ever goes wrong. Put your tin hat on and leg it, now!
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Watch out for rust in the box sections under the front floor pan on the 106/Saxo..
I never bought either son a car: I assisted in their purchase of a car: 106 and old Mark 3 Fiesta: both replaced by younger 106s.
So no hassle over colour/style.. I choose a list of prospects, they whittle them down and then we go to see.
Any rejected fine.
Your task seems hopeless: email them a piccie first before you physically do anything: saves a LOT of hassle.
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