First car?

[anonymous-user]

So my son turned 15 and 9 months exactly today and has applied for a provisional ! Obviously it will be suicide to take him out in any of my cars so he wants to buy his own first car to learn in and use when he’s 17 but is having no luck. He is a proper no nonsense petrolhead, he loves cars of any type and is sensible and not image focused (he suggested a Previa as no 17 year olds would drive one, on the suggestion that cars 17 year olds hate will have lower insurance rates)

Budget is under £1k , maybe £1500 (he’s paying me off out of his first job salary - working unofficially part time already, ready to go into the car sales business aged 16, while he works towards STEM work/accountancy)


Criteria:

Relatively out of the box (i.e he wouldn’t mind an old Mk4 golf that he grew up with but he doesnt want a Fiesta, Corsa, Polo etc)

Not stone age. 1998 onwards

Not so slow you will die before it reaches 60.

Not trillions to insure. Make it reasonable

A good steer

Suggestions already that he likes: Saxo, 106 (no one owns these anymore, and the family has a soft spot for a blue 106 Rallye we had the pleasure of sitting in down some Devon b roads), old Golf, Fiat Panda.



Also, he’s not clueless, he’s driven before, spends half his life on Forza with wheel and pedals, is familiar already with manual w/clutch, has some karting experience and understands speed kills.

Big or small, slushbox or manual, 10mpg or 100mpg, it doesn’t matter.

Thanls

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 18th September 16:41

[Whitester]

Golf for sure. 1.6 Mk1 Focus? Shouldn’t be insane to insure and enough for him to have fun with, without ending up in trouble

[anonymous-user]

Whitester said:

Golf for sure. 1.6 Mk1 Focus? Shouldn’t be insane to insure and enough for him to have fun with, without ending up in trouble

Focus 1.6 sounds perfect! I remember those being great to drive. I’ll check it out! Surely clean early models aren’t going for more than £850?

[Tomthespesh]

Whitester said:

1.6 Mk1 Focus? Shouldn’t be insane to insure and enough for him to have fun with, without ending up in trouble

Not bad cars but rust is a big issue. When I used to work in a garage 6 years ago they failed MOTs all the time on the sills being rotten, all the fords of that era had issues with it.

Guy I work with has a Mazda 2 if they are in budget he swears by it as a first car.

[Whitester]

sleepera6 said:

Focus 1.6 sounds perfect! I remember those being great to drive. I’ll check it out! Surely clean early models aren’t going for more than £850?

Yes great little cars. Like the other poster said issues with rust but if you find a clean example then it shouldn’t be a major problem and as it’s a first car I imagine he won’t be keeping it for donkeys. Some have issued with clutch and/or gearbox so watch out for that but great bargains can be found on these for well within £1000. Plenty of people I know have had, and loved, these.

Should also be good on fuel, manual, good insurance. Proper driver’s car for next to nothing money. Just keep an eye on it and maintain it well

[anonymous-user]

Tomthespesh said:

Whitester said:

1.6 Mk1 Focus? Shouldn’t be insane to insure and enough for him to have fun with, without ending up in trouble

Not bad cars but rust is a big issue. When I used to work in a garage 6 years ago they failed MOTs all the time on the sills being rotten, all the fords of that era had issues with it.

Guy I work with has a Mazda 2 if they are in budget he swears by it as a first car.

I’m showing him this thread and he said he likes the Mazda2, especially in that hideous green.. teenagers!! The SkyActiv has a bit of a punch I assume.

[anonymous-user]

Considering I know of someone who bought their daughter a brand new Polo as a first car who she binned within a few weeks, I’d bloody well expect him to be chuffed with a T plate focus ! He reads PH a lot so he knows about how good of a steer it is.

[Tomthespesh]

sleepera6 said:

I’m showing him this thread and he said he likes the Mazda2, especially in that hideous green.. teenagers!! The SkyActiv has a bit of a punch I assume.

Nothing wrong with a ridiculous colour! Though I'm not sure how many of the second gen ones are in budget. The older ones are the boxy things you normally saw driven by people over 100...

[anonymous-user]

Tomthespesh said:

Nothing wrong with a ridiculous colour! Though I'm not sure how many of the second gen ones are in budget. The older ones are the boxy things you normally saw driven by people over 100...

Certain to keep him a virgin then....

[anonymous-user]

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

I like this, what do you lot think? Saw one for £390 as well

[kieranblenk]

K11 Micra or early Skoda Fabia. I had the latter as my first car and it was the cheapest out of all my mate's cars to insure by a long shot (against a C1, Ka, Punto, Corsa & Clio). I loved it so much so I bought a Mk2....then after a spell with other cars a Mk3! They're a bit blue rinse but tremendous cars for the money.

[anonymous-user]

Would a 306 XSI be cheap to insure?

[anonymous-user]

kieranblenk said:

K11 Micra or early Skoda Fabia. I had the latter as my first car and it was the cheapest out of all my mate's cars to insure by a long shot (against a C1, Ka, Punto, Corsa & Clio). I loved it so much so I bought a Mk2....then after a spell with other cars a Mk3! They're a bit blue rinse but tremendous cars for the money.

Fabia is nice. Checking that now

[ZX10R NIN]

The Focus is an okay shout but if your boy is a true petrol head get him one of these:

147 1.6

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

These are as reliable as a Focus & you get a sweet car that you don't see all over the place.

1.2T Clio (these are worth taking a look at as the 1.2T gives him some scope for play later on down the line)

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

MG ZR

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

206 GTI (sometimes these come up cheap insurance wise)

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

GTI 180

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Now I know it's not the done thing to recommend a diesel but there are two that stand out because they have a decent bit of poke decent handling & are normally cheap to insure:

206 Quicksilver/Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Grande Punto Sporting

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[anonymous-user]

ZX10R NIN said:

This was a great and helpful post. 147 and Clio Turbo definitely on the list, as well as the 206 GTI

[anonymous-user]

Saw a Ford Mondeo too, 1400 quid, 08 plate, petrol, suicide?

[colin_p]

I've recently been through this...

It is cheaper to buy a 'bolt on' learner policy so he can learn in your or your Wifes car with a company like Marmalade than trying to insure him on his own car. Driving lessons are quite good fun that way but make sure he has a bit of time first with a proper instructor.

As for the car itself, I toyed with the cheap new car with insurance all-in route but dismissed it because I thought it too risky for a new driver and that you could end up paying more in the long run. Also a lot of these are very limited mileage wise and can impose curfews.

What I did was buy him a £300 1.4 8v Pug 206 about a month before his test. We went over the car, doing the cambelt, brakes etc and I put a set of four new tyres on it for safety's sake and it has been fantastic. Yes, the insurance is a little more with it being a 1.4 over the 1.1 but the joy it brings is priceless. The 206 also is one of those cars that really gives the sensation of speed when within the speed limits so less risk of him doing anything silly.

As for the insurance you have be careful also as, like the lease deal cars, the policies can be mileage limited with curfews as well. Along with paying a little bit more for the 1.4, I also paid more to give him 10,000 miles in the year and no nightime curfews. He does have a black box fitted though.

It is NOT cheap! However you wangle it.

That was for my oldest son, the younger son is 17 next next year, so it'll be more expense!

[Whitester]

Mondeo is suicide definitely and he’ll probably find it boring. Some great suggestions in the thread, take note of that black box stuff - I had one of them and exceeded my mileage limit and to buy more miles was something like £100 for 250 miles. This was 6 months into the policy and I ended up paying £400 odd quid just to cancel the damn thing. They can be tricky so if a black box is the only option it pays to overestimate even if the initial outlay is higher.

[Integroo]

Puma?

[Willy Nilly]

A lot of older cars could well be knackered by the time he passes his test.