First car for Son

Author
Discussion

themanwithnoname

1,634 posts

215 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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BlueEyedBoy said:
For the question of the Saab, it would be 7.2K (cheapest quote) for insurance for him. It's an 01 on 90K miles and was serviced 200 miles ago, for the other questions. Costs me £150 a year to insure!
Really? £7.2k

My first car when I went solo was a 900 Turbo - same shape as your 9-3

Also, very tempted, I had a 9-3 a while back. Great car (except in corners, until its fettled!)

HPSauce

125 posts

127 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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HPSauce said:
I'd be happy to sell you a 1998 535i with AC SCHNITZER wheels, angel eyes and led rears, xenons and new tires for £500.
For you,not your son BTW because it would be to expensive for your sun to run. smile

BlueEyedBoy

Original Poster:

1,920 posts

198 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
themanwithnoname said:
Really? £7.2k

My first car when I went solo was a 900 Turbo - same shape as your 9-3

Also, very tempted, I had a 9-3 a while back. Great car (except in corners, until its fettled!)
I have adjustable Koni's, Abbott Springs plus stiffer rear ARB. Its not a lotus but made it much better

themanwithnoname

1,634 posts

215 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
BlueEyedBoy said:
I have adjustable Koni's, Abbott Springs plus stiffer rear ARB. Its not a lotus but made it much better
Spot on, add the 6 point brace and some camber correction and they are quite good.

Did you go 22 or 25mm on the arb?

Sorry, going off topic here, but I'm a bit of a die hard Saab fan.

dapearson

4,447 posts

226 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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I'm a believer in not having a car that's too slow. It's unsafe when young because everyone (mostly) at that age drives like a bit of an idiot, whether they realise it or not.

At 17 i had a Rover 214. K-series engine with 100 bhp while most of my friends were in smaller cars with about 60-70 bhp. Insurance was the same as their's.

Pick something that young people don't buy.

shoestring7

6,139 posts

248 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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scotty_d said:
Polo?
A 1000cc Lupo or 1.2l Fox?

SS7

andy-xr

13,204 posts

206 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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PX the Saab against a Sandero, they're ace!

BlueEyedBoy

Original Poster:

1,920 posts

198 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
themanwithnoname said:
Spot on, add the 6 point brace and some camber correction and they are quite good.

Did you go 22 or 25mm on the arb?

Sorry, going off topic here, but I'm a bit of a die hard Saab fan.
22mm I think, was a good few years ago.

Calletrece

320 posts

132 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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Honda Jazz. Incredibly underrated for what they are

Kia Rio is another from the bargain bucket that's better than it street cred would suggest, but the killer is the lower premiums, unfashionable = not binned by nutters = cheap to insure.

carreauchompeur

17,876 posts

206 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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Picanto is a good shout and Kia often have cracking finance deals etc.... Good for fixed cost new car motoring...

Ali_T

3,379 posts

259 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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Parkers have a decent section where you can list all the car s in one insurance group:

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/insurance/car-insura...

I'm starting to have to think the same way. I have a few years yet before our eldest hits the streets but i did rather fancy a Mito Twin Air.

monaro55

91 posts

158 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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just a tip on insurance. As soon as your son is 17 and has a car put the insurance in his name but you as the main driver. As long as you are using the car as well you will be the main driver as your son will not be allowed to drive alone so may not be using it as much as you. If you are not going to use it more than your son then you can not declare yourself as the main driver. This should save you money till he passes his test then change main driver to your son. If he takes a while to pass test he is still getting closer to first year no claims at a fraction of cost. This is only my thoughts and should be gone through with insurance company.

JimmyConwayNW

3,083 posts

127 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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I think fiesta around 56/57 or a corsa c would be a good bet.

I have just seen a nice corsa c on autotrader would not have thought you could go wrong with something like this.


http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2013...


LiamM45

1,035 posts

182 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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Fella at work has just bought his 17 year old lad a car for Xmas. Managed to get a Pug 107, 58 plate, 12 months t&t and low miles for about £3k. No idea if that's cheap or not but he's very happy with it.

VW Lupo would be a good shout, especially the 1.4 Tdi.

briang9

3,342 posts

162 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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W124 said:
Oops - shows you how much I know! How much is a 1.4 Focus?

The Stilo is a much bigger car though - I suppose from a safety angle - probably the best.
try a 1.4 Stilo, my 19 year old lad has one, he has a crap record but it was pretty cheap to insure, its one of the last ones, good spec (air con etc )and drives well I think for the money

Rickyy

6,618 posts

221 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
monaro55 said:
just a tip on insurance. As soon as your son is 17 and has a car put the insurance in his name but you as the main driver. As long as you are using the car as well you will be the main driver as your son will not be allowed to drive alone so may not be using it as much as you. If you are not going to use it more than your son then you can not declare yourself as the main driver. This should save you money till he passes his test then change main driver to your son. If he takes a while to pass test he is still getting closer to first year no claims at a fraction of cost. This is only my thoughts and should be gone through with insurance company.
You can't change the main driver without starting a new policy.

OP, the 1.4 Focus is only half a second slower to 60 than the a C1. That will mostly be down to the Citroen's low weight. It does move briskly off the line, but quickly runs out of puff.

I'd much rather the Focus, I'd imagine your Son would thankyou more for it too!

gubbabump

1,209 posts

141 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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id probably say +1 for the seicento - a few little tweaks and a sporting version that is aesthitically looked after will imo look smarter than a chavved up corsa. I had a few, but were nothing but trouble for me - as said above they were peanuts, maybe that's why?

but I know people who have had them and there were great.

Money wise on them, they have far more mod cons than a car you'd get for the same price ie. mine cost £400, the same I paid for my 106, it was 6 years newer, had alloys, had PS, had aircon, Electric windows, the lot.

I also had a 1.6 focus, surprisingly not too costly.

a few BMW's that didn't really affect insurance too much for my young age, but you find things like servicing, daily costs are much more.

kiethton

13,968 posts

182 months

Tuesday 26th November 2013
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http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Astra-Sport-Hat...

Should be reasonable to insure? - finishes soon though!

BorkFactor

7,266 posts

160 months

Tuesday 26th November 2013
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kiethton said:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Astra-Sport-Hat...

Should be reasonable to insure? - finishes soon though!
Genuinely hateful things with the 1.4 engine. Crap visibility in the 3 door as well.

I had one for a few days at work and it was probably the worst car I have ever driven. You had to rag it everywhere just to keep up with traffic (no exaggeration) and because of this it got crap fuel economy.

My Mum's 1.2 Corsa C is much faster (which is saying something!) and considerably more economical.

Avoid at all costs.

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

241 months

Tuesday 26th November 2013
quotequote all
BorkFactor said:
kiethton said:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Astra-Sport-Hat...

Should be reasonable to insure? - finishes soon though!
Genuinely hateful things with the 1.4 engine. Crap visibility in the 3 door as well.

I had one for a few days at work and it was probably the worst car I have ever driven. You had to rag it everywhere just to keep up with traffic (no exaggeration) and because of this it got crap fuel economy.

My Mum's 1.2 Corsa C is much faster (which is saying something!) and considerably more economical.

Avoid at all costs.
The Corsa C fares well in a crash too...