"Best" first car, less than £2000!

[user26]

Hello Guys,

Booked my test so deciding what type of car to get. I've been looking at a lot of cars and putting them into Confused.com to compare prices. Admiral which is consistently the cheapest by around £1000.

Rough Prices for insurance I've got are:
Arosa 1.0 : £1500
KA : £1500
Colt : £1700
Corsa 1.2: £1700
Fabia : £1800
Polo (55) : £1700
Clio 1.2 : £1750
Lupo 1.0 : £1600
Lupo 1.4 : £2000

I'm looking for something reliable and easy to maintain to be honest, not looking for anything "Quick", although good handling would be a bonus.

I've got around £4000 to spend but defiantly not looking to spend anymore.

Cheers,
User26

[cirian75]

Colt 1.3, fastest of them.

[Krikkit]

I'd go for the 1.4 Lupo out of that lot. Cracking little cars.

[ESDavey]

If I were 19 again I would buy a Land Rover Defender ... very cool, cheap to insure, cheap to repair & get all your gear in the back !!!

[Bear Phils]

A Clio's a great first car

[user26]

ESDavey said:

If I were 19 again I would buy a Land Rover Defender ... very cool, cheap to insure, cheap to repair & get all your gear in the back !!!

£2800 insurance.

[Lanxx]

My first car was a Clio 1.2 with Admiral.

Once I got my first year out of the way (£1400) it dropped to £575 the next year.

Put a family member on as a named driver if you haven't already, oh and if you put 'Street' as the place you park it brings it down more (obviously only do this if you genuinely park on the street). And one more thing: Admiral's online quote system likes to charge more if you select 'Immobiliser' as opposed to 'None' on security features. I told them this on the phone and they reduced it to the lower price as it seemed stupid.

[Alex]

The KA-KA-Ka is the most fun to drive out of your list.

[user26]

cirian75 said:

Colt 1.3, fastest of them.

Was for the Colt 1.1

Bear Phils said:

A Clio's a great first car

I like them, but I've been put off by people complaining about reliability.

Krikkit said:

I'd go for the 1.4 Lupo out of that lot. Cracking little cars.

The Lupo is defiantly one of the ones I would go for.

---

Has anybody got any other suggestions?

[user26]

Alex said:

The KA-KA-Ka is the most fun to drive out of your list.

But it's a KA

[user26]

Lanxx said:

My first car was a Clio 1.2 with Admiral.

Once I got my first year out of the way (£1400) it dropped to £575 the next year.

Put a family member on as a named driver if you haven't already, oh and if you put 'Street' as the place you park it brings it down more (obviously only do this if you genuinely park on the street). And one more thing: Admiral's online quote system likes to charge more if you select 'Immobiliser' as opposed to 'None' on security features. I told them this on the phone and they reduced it to the lower price as it seemed stupid.

What was the reliability like?

--

I'll be changing all the settings once I find the best quote, but just changing the car on the policy at the moment.

Was searching and a 1.0 corsa is £200 more to insure than a 1.2

[funkyrobot]

Micra K11?

How about something different, like a barge. Could be cheaper insurance than a small hatch.

[Bear Phils]

They can be a bit hit and miss with reliabilty, I'm not going to lie. It's usually something cheap and simple though.

[Lanxx]

Cars can go wrong and you will, if you look, find bad stories about most of the cars you have listed.


Just go and look at as many as you can. Do a bit of research into each one before you go and look.


My Clio was mainly faultless, a couple of electrical gremlins (random airbag light every now and then), but no real issues. Also the drivers door leaked, check the floors and below the rear seats if you go to view one.


I've been told the KA is great fun, but have heard a lot about them rusting, just look for one that hasn't been neglected massively.


For £4k you should be able to find a really nice little hatch.

[big_boz]

Yaris?

[Streps]

MK1 Focus...going cheap these days.
Something sheddy like a volvo..
Puma?

[callywally18]

I found when i was looking at cars that i could insure an old 190 Merc for near enough the same price as the above.

I found LV to be the cheapest for me.

A mate of mine uses Tesco and gets a great price, although i never got one myself.

[big_boz]

Are Bell still going? back in the day (late 90's) my whole 6th Form common room was with Bell direct if they were not on their Parents insurance

[Ultuous]

Had a 03 Clio for 10 years/ 100,000 miles now (the 1.4 in my case)... Apart from ignition coils and minor suspension components (track rod ends etc.) seemingly being made of cheese, and the occassional squeek/ rattle, it's behaved itself pretty well - the only other thing it's needed doing are bulbs, wheel bearings etc....

Now looking at trading it in for something bigger/ more executive and of percieved higher quality, only to be a little scared off by all the stories of rust, subframes cracking etc. etc... The internet's going to be full of scare stories for any car, but I think (also being in the car manufacturing industry) there's little difference in quality between most brands these days - a lot of it is perception!

[Lanxx]

user26 said:

What was the reliability like?

--

I'll be changing all the settings once I find the best quote, but just changing the car on the policy at the moment.

Was searching and a 1.0 corsa is £200 more to insure than a 1.2

Mine was great, never let me down in just over a year. Not great in snow, but got me to work all winter. it was an X reg (2000), so a Phase 1 mk2. The phase 2 mk2's had different front and rear lights (and maybe other stuff?).


This is a Phase 1, just like what I had.


http://autopazar.co.uk/media/2320/Used_Renault_Cli...

That is a Phase 2 (sorry for link, Thumbsnap wouldn't work). These have some updated styling features to them, and started from 2001 I believe. For your price range you will easily get any one of these you choose.



So overall, it's a great first car, parts are cheap. Pretty slow (mine was 14.5 0-60), but the newer ones were a bit more nippy I think (not 100%). I sold mine for £800 last month, so £4k will get you a way newer one.


Happy hunting.

Edited by Lanxx on Thursday 9th May 15:27