Ideal first cars....

[schmalex]

One of my friend's daughters has recently passed her test and has asked me to give her some advice on a first car. Bearing in mind, she doesn't want to rip the Tarmac up too much, wants something with less than 100k miles and has a budget of about £1,500, I have suggested the filling options for her:

Ford Ka
Ford Fiesta
Chevrolet Kalos
Toyota Yaris
Honda Jazz
Fiat Punto
Fiat Seicento
Renault Clio
Peugeot 106
Ford Puma 1.4
Suzuki Ignis
Suzuki Swift
VW Lupo
Seat Arosa
VW Polo
Nissan Micra

Her Father is paying the insurance for her, so we can possibly stretch it slightly

What else have I missed, folks?

[Rochellc01]

Vauxhall Corsa 00-06 MY

Good to drive, cheap parts, and mind numbingly slow. what better first car.





I am biased a little......

[forzaminardi]

Any pics?

[P I Staker]

All I can say is don't get a Peugeot 106, they're st although a fun drive if you can get it to work properly for a bit.

[welaye]

forzaminardi said:

Any pics?

This... And avoid renault clio at that price.

My money would go on the yaris for a young lass, I've seen a couple of 52 plates in reasonable nick round here for the budget.

Haven't seen a jazz at that price, got 3 in the extended family people just don't seem to sell em.

[schmalex]

No pics, but I can assure you she's quite fit if willowy blondes are your thing...

I forgot to add the Corsa - that was on my initial list for her.

The Pug was caveated with "I wouldn't have one for as long as I have a hole in my arse"

All options were found with examples on A/T. The Jazz is a rare fund, but I reckon that or the Yaris would be the smart choice for a trouble free intro to cars

[itcaptainslow]

Rover 25/MG ZR-fun to drive, cheap (you'll get a really nice one for £1,500) and cheap to run/repair, plus they go alright in 1.4 form and handle well.

[31mph]

The lupo from that list,

Although you might not find a decent one for £1500

IIRC, it'll be the lowest to insure from the lot too, although if her Daddy is paying for it that's not much of a factor.

Edited by 31mph on Monday 25th February 20:29

[LukeSi]

MK2 MR2...

Erm yeah.

[Aizle]

1.6 Mk1 Focus in budget?

[31mph]

I had an Arosa as my first car, criminally underpowered (I had the 1.0) but it was quite fun.

[Rufus]

Fiat Panda - fun, good little cars with lots of visibility for the new driver.

[ImpossiblyDaft]

itcaptainslow said:

Rover 25/MG ZR-fun to drive, cheap (you'll get a really nice one for £1,500) and cheap to run/repair, plus they go alright in 1.4 form and handle well.

They're vastly underrated cars, but I'd only recommend them to someone who's the sort to keep an eye on things given they're pretty fragile when it comes to cooling system problems and they're mostly over 10 years old so waterpump, thermostats etc probably won't be the freshest on most of them these days.

[lufbramatt]

Skoda Fabia.

Suzuki alto. simple old tech and not cool at all but appear to be bombproof.

From experiences of mates that own fiestas, both petrol and deisel, steer well clear, they've all had problems that have cost a lot to put right (in one case with a 55 plate 1.5tdci, 3 different garages were unable to diagnose a running fault and she ended up part-ex'ing the car to get rid of it).

[31mph]

Avoid French.

I know many people who had cheap 106s/206s/clios and they all had problems

[lufbramatt]

31mph said:

Avoid French.

I know many people who had cheap 106s/206s/clios and they all had problems

yep, the 1.5tdci lump that ford use that gave problems in the fester was a Peugeot engine IIRC.

[007 VXR]

Corsa

[therealpigdog]

Yaris.

To be honest they passed me by, but Mrs TRPD has a 51 plate which is fantastic. Cheap to run, reliable and a surprisingly good steer.

Ours has 140k on the clock and still going strong.

[Raize]

If you think car purchases with women ever involve making a list of sensible options, comparing them to your requirements, logically eliminating cars until you have a short list of candidates then searching for those specific makes and models, you are completely wrong. It's 100% impulse purchase at dealers. Don't even try to help.

[TheLordJohn]

itcaptainslow said:

Rover 25/MG ZR-fun to drive, cheap (you'll get a really nice one for £1,500) and cheap to run/repair, plus they go alright in 1.4 form and handle well.

This is a good shout.
Drop anything French from the list, add anything Japanese.
Yaris would be ideal, civic., Mitsubishi colt, etc etc.