Best car for a 17 year old learner

[Skyedriver]

richard-8zwx3 said:

Get something small and preferably only 2 seats. Once they have passed, having lots of mates as passengers can be really distracting.

maybe i should keep the Caterham I have for sale..........

[Skyedriver]

Square Leg said:

Just got my lad a Skoda Fabia 1.0 for his first car.
A bit bigger than your usual first car hatchback, but he needs to be able to get a few sets of golf clubs and overnight bags in when he eventually passes his test.

Daughter has a Vauxhall Adam 1.2 - it’s slow but actually looks decent and she loves it.

Fil has just bought a year old 1.0 turbo Fabia seems nice car and he fits at 6'2" But it would need to be a lot older car than that.

[Skyedriver]

sjc said:

This cost £1800 3 years ago,(98k miles,1.6 petrol) and I spent about £400 tarting it up.First year insurance for my 17 year old son was £883,year 2 £794 and we’ve just renewed for year 3 at £675.
All his mates can’t believe how good it looks compared with their more obvious choices.Got enough kit (particularly wanted kids to have cruise/air/Bluetooth)other than the very latest gadgets.He’s 6ft 3” and is perfectly comfortable in brilliant seats.
Been completely reliable and now on 127,000 miles.

Now there's an option I'd never considered and as a Volvo owner (mostly 940 Estates) of near 20 years, that's worthy of a look.

Referring to s/h car prices, a neighbour has a 1.0 Yaris coming up for sale, checked Autotrader for prices, was shocked at what an old Yaris would sell for.
There's no such thing as a cheap car it would seem.

Edit: Had a quick look at C30 for sale, few more miles maybe but you do get a lot of car for the money as the auction house would say.
Insurance quotes aren't anymore than smaller cars. So a "short list" Yaris, Polo, Fiesta, Fabia, C30. I'd happily go for something "classic" ie from the 80s/90's but don't think he'd be interested, can see them being more difficult to drive and maybe more expensive to insure.

Edited by Skyedriver on Wednesday 14th September 09:01

[BertBert]

We've done well with a skoda fabia. My daughter has done about 70k miles in it now.

[ric p]

ZX10R NIN said:

As above check the insurance for you offspring as a new driver with you named on the policy.

There are some cars that come with sensible numbers.

Mito
Beetle
DS3

I got a 1.4 non turbo Mito for my daughter. Well, she wanted one to be a bit different. Cheaper p
Both pre and post test to insure than the usual stuff, £859 on passing with no black box but we are in Somerset.

Drives nicely and more fun than my son’s 1.2 07 SEAT Ibiza, which was also a cheaper option.

Guess the didn’t sell as many Mitos so less got to be owned by the youngsters so less crashed!

[Skyedriver]

Always thought the Mito front a little awkward, it's the lights. Never owned an Alfa - maybe he should. Can't see him in a Beetle but there's plenty of DS3 about. Looks a young persons car.

[Mr Roper]

My son had the 2010 Suzuki Swift 1.4 diesel. Cracking little motor. Drives great, plenty of pep and a good looking car.
£1700 for the insurance in his name with no tracker in Mid Wales. £30 tax.

Then he had a slight off so he now has a 2009 1.4 petrol golf which is similar insurance but around £120 tax.


I prefer the Swift.

[Hol]

Both mine had the same Aygo for the first two years which got them through uni and wasn’t hugely expensive without a black box. Cheap to run, easy to park and aircon.

We kept it for the second child as it was a known entity, that was serviced regularly.

[Shabaza]

Insurance algorithms are strange, when I was 18 a 2.0 Hyundai coupe was roughly the same cost to insure as a 1.4 Golf.

So left field choices on cars which are less likely to have insurance data/track record of having policies which claimed on them are worth exploring.

[TREMAiNE]

UP!/CitiGo/Mii would get my vote.

[AlwynMike]

Go for insurance quote based cars.

It's a while ago now, but the Civic Sport EP2 was a mere Group 5.
So the boy had a sporty looking car (Very similar to the Type R) with a mild 1.6 engine that was quick enough and economical enough. They used to be a reasonable buy too. Wonder if there's any left???

[Tyre Smoke]

Don't discount a 1.2 Punto.

My son bought his for £1200, 2007 with 70k on it. Great little car, cheap to insure and cheap as chips to run.

[Scrump]

107/C1/Aygo.
Cheap to buy, run and insure.
Easy to drive and will always sell again when they want to move up.

[Skyedriver]

Friend selling a Fiat 500 twin air, known history. Been towed behind a motorhome a lot. Think it'll be too small for a 6'2" big bones lad. Any thoughts?

[ZX10R NIN]

They're a good car but they're not that great on fuel.

At 6.2 he'll fit fine make sure he lowers the seat & he wont have an issue.