Best car for a 18 year old 'just passed' driver,£15k budget

[CBurgess97]

Ahoy!,
This is my first thread on this forum and I would like to tap into the wealth of knowledge of this site if you'll have me. I have just passed my test and thus would like to buy my first car, my parents have given me a budget of £15000 which INCLUDES 1 year of insurance. So far I have looked at the new Corsa, 308 and 3008 and at the moment I really like the 3008 and it comes in at under budget if I buy second hand (~£9000). Ideally the car would be able to meet Afew requirements.
-Stylish, suitable for an 18y/o
-powerful enough to drive from Newcaste to Aberdeen through the Scottish border
-within budget (I could probably stretch to 16k if I put my own money in, which I don't want to given the fact I'm going to uni)
-diesel? I have been informed that diesel is much better

any helps would be much appreciated!
thanks so much,
CBurgess97

[KarlMac]

Save your cash and pick up an older car. My recommendation is always 00-05 Lupo or Polo. Cheap to buy, cheap to run, wont loose much money. Get a couple of years ncb under your belt and spend the £15k on something a little newer or nicer.

[kambites]

Modern mainstream cars are all pretty good so it's likely to come down to what's cheapest to insure in your particular circumstance. It might even be worth buying new if someone is doing a "first year's insurance free" deal that will cover an 18 year-old.

Personally, I'd probably be looking at a significantly cheaper car, something around the £3-4k mark, and put the rest of the money aside for something else like buying a nicer car when you can afford to insure it.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 24th March 10:28

[wemorgan]

/cynic

Have the Easter holidays begun early?
You've captured enough contentious issues to guarantee this threads runs and runs.

[BritishRacinGrin]

Welcome!

CBurgess97 said:

So far I have looked at the new Corsa, 308 and 3008 and at the moment I really like the 3008.
-Stylish, suitable for an 18y/o

[madbadger]

Don't get a diesel they are rubbish. So are Corsas and a 3008 sounds really rubbish.

But this:



1965 Amazon. £5000

£10k will cover the insurance and you will be dead cool.

[Riktoid]

I've an 08 punto 1.2 I'll happily sell you for 15k.

Seriously, get yourself a ten year old corsa or similar and learn to drive before splashing silly money on a car.

[thatdude]

I dont quite get his chjoices of car either

I'd be looking at a fiesta Zetec S for that money, and there'll be money left over for insurance, tax, MoT and a bit of servicing too

Unless, at 18 years old and having a very concentrated solution of hormones instead of blood running through him, he needs a spacious car for recreational activities with all the clunge he's getting

get in OP

[HonestIago]

CBurgess97 said:

Ahoy!,
This is my first thread on this forum and I would like to tap into the wealth of knowledge of this site if you'll have me. I have just passed my test and thus would like to buy my first car, my parents have given me a budget of £15000 which INCLUDES 1 year of insurance. So far I have looked at the new Corsa, 308 and 3008 and at the moment I really like the 3008 and it comes in at under budget if I buy second hand (~£9000). Ideally the car would be able to meet Afew requirements.
-Stylish, suitable for an 18y/o
-powerful enough to drive from Newcaste to Aberdeen through the Scottish border
-within budget (I could probably stretch to 16k if I put my own money in, which I don't want to given the fact I'm going to uni)
-diesel? I have been informed that diesel is much better

any helps would be much appreciated!
thanks so much,
CBurgess97

You could get a perfectly decent, reliable car for a third of that. Having a £15k car is madness at 18 IMO. Keep the spare £10k aside for when you're finished uni.

Virtually anything made in the last 20 (or more) years is powerful enough to sit at 70mph on the motorway all day long.

Diesel is not "much better" by any stretch of the imagination. In more modern vehicles, diesels are often more prone to expensive problems which can write off any fuel savings. If you're not doing 15k+ miles per annum then buy petrol IMO.

With regard to the actual car, any mainstream hatchback made in the last decade with good history and in fine condition will in all likelihood be a fairly trouble free ownership proposition.

[CBurgess97]

Wow thanks for the fast responses and warm welcome!!,
I haven't really looked at cars <2005 in all honesty, are there any stand out ones anyone can think of off the top of their head? Preferably with chick appeal . The 3008 is really really nice inside eventhough it looks like an MPV, keep the comments coming please
many thanks

[55palfers]

Caution W124 content.

This guy is always top price but his cars are good. His web-site doesn't link to individual cars for some reason!!

Have you considered something like this? There's plenty of good ones out there.

Well under budget, good cruiser for Uni, diesel, comfy, cool, cheap (ish) to fix, classic insurance.

http://www.charlesironside.co.uk/

MERCEDES E300 Diesel 124-series, 3000 4 Sp Auto 4 door Saloon, 1994L.

mileage: 83400


Edit - ...or this.

http://www.avantgardecars.co.uk/cars/mercedes-benz...




£5,950

Edited by 55palfers on Tuesday 24th March 10:39

[madbadger]

BritishRacinGrin said:

Welcome!

CBurgess97 said:

So far I have looked at the new Corsa, 308 and 3008 and at the moment I really like the 3008.
-Stylish, suitable for an 18y/o

too. That is a 3008? I assumed it would be something stylish.

My Gran wouldn't find that stylish and she is dead.

[S10GTA]

Lucky boy. I'd take a look at a BMW 1 series personally.

[james_gt3rs]

wemorgan said:

/cynic

Have the Easter holidays begun early?
You've captured enough contentious issues to guarantee this threads runs and runs.

[clarkmagpie]

Citroen DS3, pretty funky little things.

[ChrisR99]

Wow, you're lucky to have that kind of budget for a first car! I'm hoping I'll get around the £10k mark when I get mine next year.

I like the 3008, a certainly different first car! 308 and 208 would be good options too. I'm looking at a MK3 Focus Ecoboost myself. 125bhp and 'only' £1500 a year to insure! You can pick up nice ones for £13k.

Good luck with the search!

[Monty Python]

Something like this for £10k:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

[J4CKO]

I would suggest a couple of year old Fiesta and insure it, stick some away for maintenance and towards upgrading when you have some NCD.

Why, the Fiesta drives really well, best of all the superminis, the insurance shouldn't be too bad, it will be decent on fuel and has a good crash rating, plus it isn't embarrassing, get a three door with some decent wheels and it will look pretty good.

Please don't buy some fifty year old relic, you need transport, not a hobby.

[ben5732]

Get something cheap and boring for your first year then get a decent car the year after once you've got a years no claims and can get something a bit more interesting. That's my opinion.

[McSam]

Welcome to PH, hope you enjoy your stay.

I'm 23, have owned six cars and still have two of those. The grand total I've spent buying all of the cars is £4,800, and for the last three years I've been driving around in this:



It's a 1999 BMW 328i and it is absolutely superb. Handles well, plenty powerful enough with 190bhp, lots of space and equipment, universally liked by people from my grandparents to sixteen-year-old cousins.. And so on. It cost me £1750 to buy and it's never let me down in 22,000 miles so far.

Now, I bought this when I was 20 and insurance was of course far kinder to me than it would be to you, I'm not saying you should necessarily go and buy a car like this to start out with. My point, though, is that if you completely forget the age or anything like that, there is a whole world of totally brilliant cars that you can buy for very little money. There's absolutely no need to spend as much as £15k, that's for sure!

I'd look at something interesting that's at least ten years old, so it's already done most of its depreciating and you can pick it up really cheaply. Modern cars do not fall apart at 100,000 miles any more, so don't worry about the age, just see what's out there spending £15k on something for your first car just means it'll just be newer, not better as insurance is prohibitive on the good stuff, so if you're interested in cars get something cheap and cool, and save the rest up for a couple of years.