Mito / Swift / An other for £3.5k

[SwanJack]

My eldest needs a first car for when he starts his apprenticeship in Sept. He'll be 18 and will have passed his test for 6 months. He first of all wanted a Swift, but now has moved on to a Mito. He has £3.5k to spend. My head says swift, but heart MiTo, and you seem to be able to get far more MiTo than swift at that price. I can do alot of spannering myself (have done on my TVR for most of the 20yrs I've owned it, as well daily runners). Insurance is about the same. It's going to be a massive change for him so I'm happy for him to get something a bit 'special' to lessen the blow !! I anticipate there'll probably be issues with whatever he gets at that price range. Any opinions or anything else he could consider?

[Cambs_Stuart]

How about an RS Twingo?

[Mr Tidy]

I think you need to let him decide.

I know I wouldn't have taken any notice of parental suggestions when I bought my first car!

[ZX10R NIN]

I got my son a 1.4 Mito Veloce it's a great car & he's very happy with it now.

1.4 Veloce:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202306038...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202307069...

Twin Air Sportiva:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202307129...

I added this headunit so he has all the connectivity he needs so he has no excuse to touch his phone.

Pioneer SPH DA230 dab (I did add a proper DAB aerial):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225652371403?epid=30343...

Another good one is the 1.6 N/A DS3 DStyle Plus:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202307129...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202306168...

But they don't always come up with sensible insurance numbers so check them out, it's the same with the 208:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202307119...

1.2 Allure:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202307069...

Hope these help

[Canon_Fodder]

My Niece also had a Mito and it's been solid for 10 years - Auto too

[stevemcs]

Thats the perfect budget for a Volkswagen up

[Silvanus]

Absolutely loved my Mito, very underated little car. My daughter wants one as her first car

[georgeyboy12345]

Both Mito and Swift are decent choices. I'd recommend both.

A few other ideas

Seat Ibiza 1.2 S SC
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202307059...


Mazda 2 1.3 TS
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202304256...


Renault Twingo 1.2 16v
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202306309...


Fiat Grande Punto 1.2
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202306208...


Ford Fiesta 1.4
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202305297...

[SwanJack]

Thanks for the replies, certainly puts my mind at rest about the MiTo. The choice will be entirety his ( I was getting the impression that he was opting for swift because of the lowish insurance, which is around £2k !!) Going to compare and contrast a swift and MiTo this weekend. Will see if there's a Twingo and Up locally as well.

[Rob 131 Sport]

Based on our experience I couldn’t rate the Mito highly enough. We bought ours from Alfa as a 3 year old approved used car and 8 and a half years later with 91k on the clock it still looks fresh and drives beautifully.
I think the key to this and most cars is regular servicing. The Alfa gets a service every 7-8k, with the gearbox and coolant being changed at 50k.

[ZX10R NIN]

SwanJack said:

Thanks for the replies, certainly puts my mind at rest about the MiTo. The choice will be entirety his ( I was getting the impression that he was opting for swift because of the lowish insurance, which is around £2k !!) Going to compare and contrast a swift and MiTo this weekend. Will see if there's a Twingo and Up locally as well.

If the first one I linked to is close to you I'd go & take a close look at it, just for that interior

[ScoobyChris]

Probably no help to you, but back in the day (2007!) I test drove a Swift Sport and a Panda 100 HP and ended up buying the Panda! The Swift has big car running costs but without the big car performance to go with it whereas the Panda was hilarious to drive with a fizzy engine that liked to be revved and kept on the boil and “concrete” suspension that meant it could go round corners at comedy speeds.

If you’re not considering a Panda, I’d look at the Mito

Chris

[SwanJack]

ZX10R NIN said:

If the first one I linked to is close to you I'd go & take a close look at it, just for that interior

I saw that brown leather and thought of chopping my car in for it!! It's a bit far unfortunately.

There's one Mito close to us (within 40 miles) for window shopping, going to look at a Twingo, swift and Ibiza as well. Keeping the MiTo to view last as this seems to be his favourite after seeing those two posted. He'll be doing almost 40 miles a day, maybe the diesel MiTo will be an option?

[SWoll]

SwanJack said:

ZX10R NIN said:

If the first one I linked to is close to you I'd go & take a close look at it, just for that interior

I saw that brown leather and thought of chopping my car in for it!! It's a bit far unfortunately.

There's one Mito close to us (within 40 miles) for window shopping, going to look at a Twingo, swift and Ibiza as well. Keeping the MiTo to view last as this seems to be his favourite after seeing those two posted. He'll be doing almost 40 miles a day, maybe the diesel MiTo will be an option?

Spotted a Mito with identical spec a coupe of months ago and was very interested for my lad. Unfortunately at 6.3" he just didn't fit properly and couldn't get comfortable (not as bad as the 500 Abarth he also tried but still not good). The interior was great though, in the way only Alfa seem to be able to do.

He's now got his eyes out for a Giulietta with a similar spec.

[ric p]

My daughter has had a Mito as her first car. Her choice but encouraged by me!

It is a 1.4 95hp petrol Veloce and a great little car. I’ve enjoyed driving it and, in Veloce trim, pretty fun to be in although the interior is commensurate with price. Been very reliable, bought for £2400 at 68k miles 3 years ago and now on 117k miles.

Needed exhaust, pads, just done front discs this morning and a few oil and filter changes so nothing unexpected. Only other common issues are the blue and me unit failing, which can occasionally flatten the battery, I just removed it as daughter uses a parrot type thing. The other common issue is the wiring loom from body to boot lid can fail due to flexing from opening and closing boot. Known and a fix is available but I opened up the bundle and re-soldered the wires.

Have also had a 1.5 ‘08 Suzuki Swift a few years ago. A great little fun roller skate. Probably even more basic and simple to run. Nothing went wrong on that.

Both are cheap, comparative to Corsa, Polos etc, for first driver insurance as less frequently owned by teenagers. For fun factor and coolness, Alfa. For absolute cost to run, probably Swift.

[Slowboathome]

Voila

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202303155...

[TT Tim]

My son and I bought a Mito 1.4 16v, it had a dented wing and damaged bumper, so had been written off.

We fixed it and started to 'improve' it, all within what would have been OE spec, to keep the insurance bearable.

Bought the software to interrogate the ECU's..

Added cruise control, easy job as its all electronic, changed the steering wheel to multi-function, changed the head unit cheap Chinese unit, so has carplay and maps and to work with the steering wheel and resprayed to look OE. refurbished wheels to match grey interior trim. New rear bumper to improve rear end look. Interior changed to tan leather... change mirror and light surrounds to chrome, add and programme in fog lights...

In terms of maintenance, its needed brake pads, a new front flexi-hose on the exhaust, as the 1.4 16v sits quite low at the front, and a set of decent tyres to replace the ditch-finders the previous owner put on it. Oh and an alternator as the old one froze due to a poor scuttle drain location, do check that this has been done!

Son passed test in it last Aug and has racked up nearly 10K ragging it around the SE of England, and the odd trip to Lake district and East Yorkshire.

Insurance isn't too bad at £1400, and its holding up well, in addition its a Euro Cat 5 car so a lot safer than anything I had at his age!!

My youngest wants one now, he's just turned 16 so we'll be on the lookout for a dark grey with Red leather over the next 6 months.

I've played with a lot of cars over the years, and the Mito is just an honest little runabout, and even the 16V 95 bhp is fun when you put it in Dynamic.

Can't recommend them enough.

[SFTWend]

Another vote for the Mito. My wife's was very reliable and nice to drive. Great value compared to some of the overpriced boring boxes.

[SwanJack]

TT Tim said:

My son and I bought a Mito 1.4 16v, it had a dented wing and damaged bumper, so had been written off.

We fixed it and started to 'improve' it, all within what would have been OE spec, to keep the insurance bearable.

Bought the software to interrogate the ECU'.

Great stuff !!

Is that 'multiscaneu'?

Positivity for the MiTo from lots of posters