Hello, welcome to the forum. Can i just clarify what you're looking for. Is this going to be your car or is this going to be your parents car with you using it from time to time? You say you're the main driver on the Agila so will you be the main driver on this car? Just curious as i couldnt quite work out what you meant.

In any case to fit that criteria theres quite a bit of choice theres 10 plate Fiesta's but for that money you are looking at an Edge model (pretty basic in terms of toys) 1.2 engine which if you know how to use your gears can negotiate hills perfectly fine. Vauxhall Corsa 1.2, might get slightly more for your money, im seeing 10 reg's at around 6.5k and upwards. Peugeot 308 is an under-rated car in my view, friend of mine test drove one recently with me in the back and it was better than expected and decent value as well, alot of them are 1.6's though which are a couple of insurance groups higher. Citroen C3 is another option but a bit underpowered in my view and the Peugeot is probably the biggest car inside out of these options. The warranty thing you need to be careful, some dont cover the second owner even if its still in the warranty period. Like Vauxhall's 8 year warranty only applies to the first owner, if they sell it after a year, thats Vauxhall off the hook for 7 years. A three year old car just outside warranty with full maintenance records can be much better value in comparison.

Seriously though, its not up to me to spend anyone elses money but if someone else is going to learn to drive in this also at some point i would recommend saving the 8k, getting a decent runabout for about a grand, not a pile of rubbish obviously a proper little car, more to spend on insurance too if you save the money can get perhaps a bigger car but nothing too big if a learner's going on it, insurance for anything over a 1.8litre for a male provisional holder will be extremely difficult for when your brother starts to learn so keep it small, 1.6 at most really. The likelyhood is you'll have some bumps, dings and dents (i reversed my first car into a tree, it was my own tree, which made it even worse) and do you really want to do that to an 8k 1 year old car?

If your parents are prepared to spend £8k on a car, then accept the offer gladly! A newish car should be more reliable and more suitable for your brother to practise on.

I'd agree with a Yaris - go for the 1.3 rather than the underpowered 1.0. Five doors, reliable and very lively

You could also look at the Hyundai i10 1.2 or Fiat Panda 1.2: the new-shape Fiesta is good to drive but the rear visibility is awful and won't help your brother. Corsas have their adherents but I've never found one that was anything like fun to drive except the VXR which yould never be able to insure.

Edited by Avant on 27/08/2011 at 18:11

Hey thanks everyone for posting back a reply especially to Jamie who managed to post back so fast and apologies for getting back to you all a bit late.

I will be the main driver on whatever car I or we decide upon although my dad will be retiring soon so he may also use the car when he just needs something small to run around town in. However he will be getting himself another car shortly as well because he will no longer be doing 80 odd miles a day 6 days a week. So in the meantime this car will also be his lifeboat hence why it needs to be a 5dr and one of the reasons for it to be reasonably new and hopefully reliable. We know that £8k is a lot of money to spend on a car especially for a new driver such as myself or a learner such as my brother but that is what insurance is for at the end of the day and an up to date car should be safer. I am aware that statistically due to my age and gender I am more likely to be involved in an accident but statistics are just that and hopefully I don’t become one of them although I know that sounds very naive. A relative was recently involved in a serious road accident so that is one of the motivating factors in getting a better replacement for the Agila basically dad got his marching orders :)

At the end of the day whatever car I end up with will likely be getting replaced in 2-3 years time anyway or that is at least my parents plan at the moment. However I’m now away to have a good look for Yaris 1.3’s and I did learn in a Yaris 1.4 D-4D which I thought was a really nice car if a bit stiff on the typical crappy roads.