Everyone loves a 'what car' thread

[identti]

Well chatting to Nathan and Andy on the way home got me thinking about my next car.

I've got a year at home whilst working before uni (which I won't be taking my car along too). I'm looking for something a bit quicker, sportier and grippier than my KA. However, being (basically) 19 with only a little NCB the insurance is a killer, so I've made a shortlist. They don't take into account my ROSPA Gold either

My requirements are:

• Up to £7k including fully comp. insurance
• Good MPG i.e. over 40mpg on motorways
• Ok to do 70 mostly motorway miles a day
• Reasonably safe for a hatch
• Preferably under insurance group 7, but up to about 10 is doable.

To give you an idea, ins. group 5 will be about £1000 insurance, 7 will be about £1600, 10 about £2400, and 13 about £3000. And insurance on something like a Clio 172 is £4000 +.

Car	Price	Power	MPG	Insurance group
Fiat Panda 100HP	£5-8k	100	44	5
Ford Sport KA	£3-5k	94	37	7
Suzuki Swift Sport	£7.5k	123	38	9
VW Lupo GTi	£4-6k	125	38	11
Pug 106 GTi	£3-4k	120	35	13
Citroen C2 GT	£4-5k	108	44	6
Citroen C2 VTS	£5-6k	125	40	8
VW Polo GTi	£4-5k	125	39	12

Nathan thinks the Panda's a girl's car and looks wrong, but it looks like the best candidate to me. It has a 6th gear for cruising, it's fun to drive (i've driven one), light, have a warranty etc... Also, my Dad likes the Fiat and is prepared to put in some money towards it as he'll drive it a bit when I'm at uni, whereas he doesn't like some of the others.

What do you think?

[John D.]

Pug 106 GTI out of that bunch for me. Probably a bit marginal for the "reasonably safe for a hatch" criteria and not the most sensible choice. Bet its the most fun B-road blasting though I'd like to have a go in one to see if they live up to the rep.

Second choice would be the Suzuki Swift Sport.

[jimblive]

106gti gets my vote, I had one with over 100k on the clock and it was great fun. I got it cheap as it was to replace my 1st clio 172 when we were saving to get onto the property ladder and I thought it was as much fun as the clio and not much slower on a cross country run.
You have to keep them on cam at over 5k but it would keep with some much quicker cars. I ended up putting a few group n rally parts on from pugsport and it got even better.
They are not the most solid cars but you have to accept that for such an old design. As for mpg I'm sure mine was doing around 35mpg for day to day driving but I can't quite remember.
Be warned they do bite with lift off oversteer!

Also remember the saxo vts is the same car with a different badge and bumpers. I know it's a saxo and people think all saxo drivers are chav's but from memory they will cost a lot less.

[Lakelord]

Spread your wings... life's for living!
Forget all that mundane clap trap above and get yourself something that will put a grin on your face every time you drive it. Something like this for example.

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/730676.htm

[Rich VRS]

for me on the skoda at 21 was circa 1k so i would imagine with some shopping you may be able to pull this insurance figures down a little.

fabia VRS? Ins group 10 iirc.

swift sport is a cracking car but aweful for cruising any distance on motorways imo.

panda or lupo would get my vote out of them though.

however i probably wouldnt swap cars having been at uni and swapped in my second year.

[identti]

Lakelord said:

Spread your wings... life's for living!
Forget all that mundane clap trap above and get yourself something that will put a grin on your face every time you drive it. Something like this for example.

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/730676.htm

Might as well just get one of those Karts from yesterday out on a hoon!

Did you read the 70 miles a day/20k miles a year bit

[muppets_mate]

jimblive said:

106gti gets my vote ... Also remember the saxo vts

Both highly rated cars. If they're a bit rich on insurance, how about the Saxo VTR? If I recall it was aimed at young drivers and had all the good bits of the VTS with a slightly lower powered engine. Just checked The Knowledge in evo - 90bhp vs 120bhp, 0-60 9.3 vs 7.6, 37mpg, the big advantage is that it is IG 7 vs 14.

Plus the best are within your budget.

[john_r]

This would be my choice...

Focus ST170 - OK, it's group 15 insurance, but go to a broker (like A-plan), have one or both parents as named drivers, limit the annual mileage, do you need to use it for commuting - if not then put is as social use only.

Also, this one here is only 5k, so you've got 2k clear for insurance and running costs, and you get a cracking 3-dr decent sized hatch thats barely run-in; that at the time was the pick of the motoring journalists...:

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/FORD...

[spectre17]

Puma! But I am biased. I did reasonably well considering last Decembers dash to the coast. Others may have a different view.

[felga]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1995-FSO-CARS-CARO-GLD-BLUE_...
or
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1975-OPEL-MANTA-1900-BEIGE-B...

or an opel kadett c coupe , I had one.
Get a RWD car man !!!

I know You can drive so don`t buy econobox with fwd.

About insurance group, it`s not always like that, i`m 24 i bought x300 jag 3 years ago and without any ncb i paid 670£ fully with 8000k limit on in incl euro breakdown cover.

[John D.]

Lakelord said:

Spread your wings... life's for living!
Forget all that mundane clap trap above and get yourself something that will put a grin on your face every time you drive it. Something like this for example.

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/730676.htm

Now that looks like a lot of fun

Perfect for the motorway. Very safe

[G T 3]

Obvious...borrow loads of money and get a Lambo..........

[identti]

G T 3 said:

Obvious...borrow loads of money and get a Lambo..........

Probably fits my spec more than some of the other answers

[Rich VRS]

could spend 3k on an integra and 3k on insurance??? puma is a good option aswell, especially the 1.7.

[identti]

Rich VRS said:

could spend 3k on an integra and 3k on insurance??? puma is a good option aswell, especially the 1.7.

I'm gonna input all these cars into confused and gocompare and see what they come up with. Obviously other places may quote better but its just to compare the cars and insurance costs.

[Rich VRS]

honestly though have a look at a fabia VRS and try chris knott for an individual quotes as they always seem to gove very good quotes.

[bmw2002]

This is wonderful, stick a set of minilites on it and you have ultra cool motoring...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RARE-SUNBEAM-RAPIER-COUPE-TA...

[Ordinary Bloke]

Get the Fiat, chuck it around (the less power you have, the more fun it is)take some of your Dad's money, build up your NCB. What's Nathan's car?

[Outback Mick]

What about an MX-5, or an MR-2?

Cheap to run and buy, plenty of parts and cheap insurance. Only thing is that you'd not get 40mpg from either.

[zhead]

bmw2002 said:

This is wonderful, stick a set of minilites on it and you have ultra cool motoring...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RARE-SUNBEAM-RAPIER-COUPE-TA...

That is in such good nick. Reminds me of bumblebee in the recent Transformers film.