Cool "alternative" first cars for new drivers up to 5k?
Discussion
With my eldest (daughter) a couple of years off driving age and my son just a couple of years behind, I’m starting to put a bit of money aside to help them out with a first car. I don’t want to buy anything new but I’m thinking a 5k budget should get them something decent that’s safe and reliable and should have some life left in it? My first car was 4k, of which my parents put in 2k that my Grandma left me and I put in the other 2k from savings but 4k probably got you more car back then. Ideally, I’d like something that my daughter could use and then pass onto my son when he’s ready to drive (as I imagine that she might want to get something else herself at that point) but I guess if she found something that she really liked up to that value and wanted to keep it, I would put in half and she could put in the other half and then I would do the same for my son 2 years later (net result is the same). The alternative is that I just hold onto and give her my car (mk7 Golf estate) when the time comes and buy myself a new car. The advantage of that is that I have owned it for 5 years already and it’s highish mileage (125k) but I know its history and that it has been well-maintained and is safe and reliable plus it’s a really nice spec but then I guess a 17 year old might not necessarily want to drive an estate and it might be a little big for a new driver, plus it’s an automatic and I think that it would be a good experience for them to have a manual as their first car.
The de facto first car choice 25+ years ago when I got my licence was a mk2 Fiesta 1.0/1.1 or an Austin Metro 1.0/1.3, probably because these were the cheapest options but nearly near the end of their lives and anything much older than that would have been knackered. New car options today are pretty dreary but I guess the good thing now is that you can pick up a 15-20 year old car, which will still be pretty decent, safe, reliable and have a few years life left in it because 2000s- cars are just better than 80s/90s cars for the most part? Obviously a 10 year old Fiesta/Corsa would be the modern equivalent to a mk2 Fiesta/Metro, although I have some reliability concerns with those vehicles, so would more likely lean towards a Clio/Polo but I think the VW Up is a really cool little car too!
However, these traditionally popular cars amongst new drivers means that they are often quite expensive to insure and not a very individual choice. Are there any more interesting options that would make good first cars, cost the same or less to insure whilst being safe, reliable and relatively cheap to run?
My daughter likes Beetles and to be fair, the 2nd gen “new” Beetle is quite a cool little car I think but my son is less keen (he likes MINIs) but they can be a bit unreliable and expensive to fix. The Fiat 500 is also quite a cool little car but again my son is less keen (I guess they’re quite feminine) and having owned one, I didn’t find it that great to drive (not nice steering and a very choppy ride).
Initial thoughts are:
Fiat Panda 4x4 (mk3?) – possibly a cooler and better driving alternative to the 500 and more practical too, would also be quite a characterful little thing with the 2-pot Multiair engine?
Volvo C30 1.6 – safe and look cool, never driven one but I think it’s the same engine as the mk1 Focus and that was a great little car to drive
Suzuki Jimny – not sure how safe these are but cool and different, great visibility, should be reliable and they’re really not fast, so they shouldn’t get into too much trouble (although they could be more roll-prone than a regular car) and I don’t think they’re that great on the motorway.
In the same vein, maybe the Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin is a better option?
Have you been in a similar position and what did you get/did your kids get as their first car?
The de facto first car choice 25+ years ago when I got my licence was a mk2 Fiesta 1.0/1.1 or an Austin Metro 1.0/1.3, probably because these were the cheapest options but nearly near the end of their lives and anything much older than that would have been knackered. New car options today are pretty dreary but I guess the good thing now is that you can pick up a 15-20 year old car, which will still be pretty decent, safe, reliable and have a few years life left in it because 2000s- cars are just better than 80s/90s cars for the most part? Obviously a 10 year old Fiesta/Corsa would be the modern equivalent to a mk2 Fiesta/Metro, although I have some reliability concerns with those vehicles, so would more likely lean towards a Clio/Polo but I think the VW Up is a really cool little car too!
However, these traditionally popular cars amongst new drivers means that they are often quite expensive to insure and not a very individual choice. Are there any more interesting options that would make good first cars, cost the same or less to insure whilst being safe, reliable and relatively cheap to run?
My daughter likes Beetles and to be fair, the 2nd gen “new” Beetle is quite a cool little car I think but my son is less keen (he likes MINIs) but they can be a bit unreliable and expensive to fix. The Fiat 500 is also quite a cool little car but again my son is less keen (I guess they’re quite feminine) and having owned one, I didn’t find it that great to drive (not nice steering and a very choppy ride).
Initial thoughts are:
Fiat Panda 4x4 (mk3?) – possibly a cooler and better driving alternative to the 500 and more practical too, would also be quite a characterful little thing with the 2-pot Multiair engine?
Volvo C30 1.6 – safe and look cool, never driven one but I think it’s the same engine as the mk1 Focus and that was a great little car to drive
Suzuki Jimny – not sure how safe these are but cool and different, great visibility, should be reliable and they’re really not fast, so they shouldn’t get into too much trouble (although they could be more roll-prone than a regular car) and I don’t think they’re that great on the motorway.
In the same vein, maybe the Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin is a better option?
Have you been in a similar position and what did you get/did your kids get as their first car?
Baldchap said:
Daughter had a Copen and The Boy had a Twingo 133. Neither were bonkers on insurance and I think both are proper interesting first cars.
Yes, they're both really interesting options. I hadn't thought of a hot hatch/sports car, as I thought that insurance would just be too prohibitive (it was for me back then), which is why I was thinking maybe a small 4x4 (cool and a bit different but not too performancey). I always quite fancied a Suzuki Cappuccino but I imagine finding a non-rusty one would be quite a challenge!Edited by white_goodman on Thursday 23 January 21:21
No arguments from me on the Panda 4x4. Pretty easy to run and insurance shouldn't be crazy. Though I have heard that they get pinched more often than you'd think.
Jimny must be at least a little bit cool. A family member who is 17/18 has one and loves it. I had a look at these a while ago though and there are some very scabby ones about so choose carefully.
On a similar line to the Jimny, there's the Daihatsu Terios.
Last time I looked into this, Lupo Sports (the little revvy 1.4 with the centre exhaust) were quite reasonable to insure. Quite fun and look pretty funky in the right colour. Not that many around though. There was a Seat Arosa version too.
Jimny must be at least a little bit cool. A family member who is 17/18 has one and loves it. I had a look at these a while ago though and there are some very scabby ones about so choose carefully.
On a similar line to the Jimny, there's the Daihatsu Terios.
Last time I looked into this, Lupo Sports (the little revvy 1.4 with the centre exhaust) were quite reasonable to insure. Quite fun and look pretty funky in the right colour. Not that many around though. There was a Seat Arosa version too.
Bought a Grande Punto Tjet.
Less than 2 grand to insure.
1.4 Turbo with 118BHP. (Plenty of scope for a remap too
)
Hers has discs all around, cruise control, aircon, pano roof etc. I put an Android Auto head unit so has a pretty good spec for a small car.
The thinking mans Abarth 500 really.
Less than 2 grand to insure.
1.4 Turbo with 118BHP. (Plenty of scope for a remap too
)Hers has discs all around, cruise control, aircon, pano roof etc. I put an Android Auto head unit so has a pretty good spec for a small car.
The thinking mans Abarth 500 really.
Edited by BricktopST205 on Thursday 23 January 21:16
I went through this exact same thing with my daughter last year, and being the OCD type I am, I made a spreadsheet.
Budget of 2 grand and searched autotrader and punched the number plates of about 20 different cars in to confused .com pretending she was 18 and just passed her test, her as main driver with me and mrs nicks90 as named drivers. Insurance to commence 21 days hence. In all cases I choose base spec models, as I found that typically the exact same car with the middle or high trim levels were 25% more expensive. Not quite sure why leccy windows, central locking and bluetooth increases risk so much.....but whatever.
Fully comp with £500 total excess.
Obvs postcode area and personal situations make a difference to each person, but I found the majority of cars were about £2-2,500 per year, some with and some without black boxes
Only ones significantly cheaper were the Ford ka mk2 and the tiny citroen and Peugeot- about £1500 per year
Could I justify nearly 1 grand a year more in insurance so she could drive a panda4x4 or a Suzuki swift over a Ford ka?
Nope
As for way more interesting cars like a Jimmy, it was outrageous. I also tried qashqai etc and they were all way over 3 grand. For pooh and giggles I also tried my Volvo xc90.....8000 per year. Hahaha
Biggest thing I found impacting the costs was actually the ncap rating. I am presuming for risk / cost for personal injury claims,
And the trim level, which I still can't get my head around.
Budget of 2 grand and searched autotrader and punched the number plates of about 20 different cars in to confused .com pretending she was 18 and just passed her test, her as main driver with me and mrs nicks90 as named drivers. Insurance to commence 21 days hence. In all cases I choose base spec models, as I found that typically the exact same car with the middle or high trim levels were 25% more expensive. Not quite sure why leccy windows, central locking and bluetooth increases risk so much.....but whatever.
Fully comp with £500 total excess.
Obvs postcode area and personal situations make a difference to each person, but I found the majority of cars were about £2-2,500 per year, some with and some without black boxes
Only ones significantly cheaper were the Ford ka mk2 and the tiny citroen and Peugeot- about £1500 per year
Could I justify nearly 1 grand a year more in insurance so she could drive a panda4x4 or a Suzuki swift over a Ford ka?
Nope
As for way more interesting cars like a Jimmy, it was outrageous. I also tried qashqai etc and they were all way over 3 grand. For pooh and giggles I also tried my Volvo xc90.....8000 per year. Hahaha
Edited by Nicks90 on Thursday 23 January 21:42
Biggest thing I found impacting the costs was actually the ncap rating. I am presuming for risk / cost for personal injury claims,
And the trim level, which I still can't get my head around.
Edited by Nicks90 on Thursday 23 January 21:46
I found when trying to squeeze insurance down for a new driver, the number of seats had a big impact on the insurance premiums. A 2 seater was surprisingly affordable compared to 4 & 5 seaters ... I assume a combination of less chance of getting egged on by a big bunch of mates into doing something silly, and less people to be claiming if the very worst were to happen.
Obviously it would all depend on a 2 seater fitting in with what you/your offspring envisage doing with their car.
Maybe looking at something leftfield like a Renault Wind or a Vauxhall Tigra (other crappy engine'd 2 seaters may well be available, but those 2 were the ones that first sprung to my mind) might be interesting and surprisingly affordable ...
Obviously it would all depend on a 2 seater fitting in with what you/your offspring envisage doing with their car.
Maybe looking at something leftfield like a Renault Wind or a Vauxhall Tigra (other crappy engine'd 2 seaters may well be available, but those 2 were the ones that first sprung to my mind) might be interesting and surprisingly affordable ...
As people are mentioning insurance. I did a policy with her as a provisional when we bought the car in October. She will pass around March-April time. Then I will only have to pay around 6 months full wack and she will get 1 years no claims quicker.
The policy with her provisional licence and both parents on the policy was just £300 for the year.
The policy with her provisional licence and both parents on the policy was just £300 for the year.
My son had a Twingo RS for his first car at 17, insurance was decent. His second car a year later was and Abarth 595, again not too dear. And then shortly after that an SLK200 that was the cheapest (obviousy with a couple of years NCB).
You've got to look for cars a little bit out of the ordinary that have low claims I reckon. Also the 2 seater rule certainly applies, as mentioned above.
You've got to look for cars a little bit out of the ordinary that have low claims I reckon. Also the 2 seater rule certainly applies, as mentioned above.
BricktopST205 said:
As people are mentioning insurance. I did a policy with her as a provisional when we bought the car in October. She will pass around March-April time. Then I will only have to pay around 6 months full wack and she will get 1 years no claims quicker.
The policy with her provisional licence and both parents on the policy was just £300 for the year.
Just make sure your insurance company will insure once they have passed their test. There are a number of companies that only insure provisional licences. The policy with her provisional licence and both parents on the policy was just £300 for the year.
Not sure a small 4x4 would be on my list for a young inexperienced driver. Most of them are crap to drive, have poor safety records and offer very little passive safety. I would imagine that insurance for them would be very expensive.
I would be looking for a smart tidy hatchback with a high NCAP rating, probably a low trim level of a popular model. Mini, A1, Polo etc. Easy car to repair and service, lots of aftermarket bits and bobs to personalize it a bit. Get the high risk first year or two out of the way and then branch out into something more “interesting” after that. One of my lads went Mini 1Diesel, Lexus IS200, Lotus Elise for his first 3 cars. One of my other lads went Mini 1Diesel, same car, Audi A4 Avant 2.0TDi , BMW 118i for his first 3.
Not cool maybe but what’s more important?
I would be looking for a smart tidy hatchback with a high NCAP rating, probably a low trim level of a popular model. Mini, A1, Polo etc. Easy car to repair and service, lots of aftermarket bits and bobs to personalize it a bit. Get the high risk first year or two out of the way and then branch out into something more “interesting” after that. One of my lads went Mini 1Diesel, Lexus IS200, Lotus Elise for his first 3 cars. One of my other lads went Mini 1Diesel, same car, Audi A4 Avant 2.0TDi , BMW 118i for his first 3.
Not cool maybe but what’s more important?
Nicks90 said:
I went through this exact same thing with my daughter last year, and being the OCD type I am, I made a spreadsheet.
Budget of 2 grand and searched autotrader and punched the number plates of about 20 different cars in to confused .com pretending she was 18 and just passed her test, her as main driver with me and mrs nicks90 as named drivers. Insurance to commence 21 days hence. In all cases I choose base spec models, as I found that typically the exact same car with the middle or high trim levels were 25% more expensive. Not quite sure why leccy windows, central locking and bluetooth increases risk so much.....but whatever.
Fully comp with £500 total excess.
Obvs postcode area and personal situations make a difference to each person, but I found the majority of cars were about £2-2,500 per year, some with and some without black boxes
Only ones significantly cheaper were the Ford ka mk2 and the tiny citroen and Peugeot- about £1500 per year
Could I justify nearly 1 grand a year more in insurance so she could drive a panda4x4 or a Suzuki swift over a Ford ka?
Nope
As for way more interesting cars like a Jimmy, it was outrageous. I also tried qashqai etc and they were all way over 3 grand. For pooh and giggles I also tried my Volvo xc90.....8000 per year. Hahaha
Biggest thing I found impacting the costs was actually the ncap rating. I am presuming for risk / cost for personal injury claims,
And the trim level, which I still can't get my head around.
That's a bit disappointing. Base engine is fine and to be honest, even the base engine on a modernish car is probably more potent than anything our generation had as a first car. My mighty Astra 1.4 had all of 60bhp!Budget of 2 grand and searched autotrader and punched the number plates of about 20 different cars in to confused .com pretending she was 18 and just passed her test, her as main driver with me and mrs nicks90 as named drivers. Insurance to commence 21 days hence. In all cases I choose base spec models, as I found that typically the exact same car with the middle or high trim levels were 25% more expensive. Not quite sure why leccy windows, central locking and bluetooth increases risk so much.....but whatever.
Fully comp with £500 total excess.
Obvs postcode area and personal situations make a difference to each person, but I found the majority of cars were about £2-2,500 per year, some with and some without black boxes
Only ones significantly cheaper were the Ford ka mk2 and the tiny citroen and Peugeot- about £1500 per year
Could I justify nearly 1 grand a year more in insurance so she could drive a panda4x4 or a Suzuki swift over a Ford ka?
Nope
As for way more interesting cars like a Jimmy, it was outrageous. I also tried qashqai etc and they were all way over 3 grand. For pooh and giggles I also tried my Volvo xc90.....8000 per year. Hahaha
Edited by Nicks90 on Thursday 23 January 21:42
Biggest thing I found impacting the costs was actually the ncap rating. I am presuming for risk / cost for personal injury claims,
And the trim level, which I still can't get my head around.
Edited by Nicks90 on Thursday 23 January 21:46
I think that I drove a mk2 Ka once (that's the one that's basically a Fiat 500 right?) and I don't think that I took to it that much, which is a shame, as my mum had a mk1 Ka and that was a great little car (SportKa even better) but I expect that most of them have rusted away by now. I'm not a huge fan of the C1/107/Aygo either but as you say, a grand difference on insurance is a lot. Did you try re-quoting on TPFT and if so, did it make much of a difference? Based on those figures, my daughter will need most if not all of her car budget just for the insurance!
It was a long time ago but IIRC my 1.4 Astra was sub 1k to insure TPFT with 0 NCB (maybe about 800?) and after a year they said that if I kept my licence clean and didn't make any claims, they would upgrade that to fully comp for the same premium but then I got a 205 GTi and had to go back to TPFT!
I remember being gutted at 24 when I finally had a bit of money and wanted to buy my first "nice" car and really wanted an Integra/Civic Type R but the insurance would have been 3k! I went MX5 in the end, which was less than 1k, which lends some credence to the 2 seat thing, although the Celica 190, which on paper offered virtually identical stats to the Type R was sub 1k too.
Later I had problems getting insurance on a 6 year old Impreza WRX. My then current insurer wanted a Tracker fitted and wouldn't even give me a quote on the one with the PPP pack that I was looking at initially but in the end, I got it down to a sensible figure with another insurer without a Tracker on a standard WRX but it was still a few hundred pounds more than the other car that I was looking at (mk4 Golf R32) but the Subaru was thousands less to buy like-for-like at the time, so it won out. The Golf was probably considered as a less juvenile choice at the time but I expect that hot Golfs are relatively expensive to insure now.
Your observation on trim level making a huge difference is bizarre I agree. We lived in Canada for a few years and trim level didn't really make much of a difference to the premium. It was expensive ie it cost us as much to insure one car as it did 2 in the UK and we just had a Civic and a Corolla. My Civic was just a mid-spec 1.8 but I could have insured the Si version (Type R equivalent, it was an NA K24 with around 200bhp) for the same figure. I recall Mercedes/Audi being really expensive to insure but BMW quite reasonable for some reason. I once got a quote on an E90 M3 just for fun, as there was a nice one for sale locally and it was $300 cheaper than the Civic to insure! They had an interesting insurance system. The insurance company was run by the provincial government, so you could only insure your vehicle with them and there was no negotiation/shopping around but it was simpler in some respects, as the vehicle was insured not the driver, so anyone with a licene was allowed to drive it. Young drivers were also not penalised. For instance, I did some tutoring when I first arrived and my 17 year old student was paying less to insure his vehicle (an old V8 pickup) than I was because he had 1 year NCB and I had 0 NCB, even though I was in my 30s at the time. Probably a fairer system but frustrating for an old git with lots of driving experience like me!
A few people have mentioned the Renault Twingo as being cheap to insure, so I might look into them. Small and French, quite cool and a bit different/unusual and something that would appeal to both my daughter and son I think. It doesn't need to be an RS really, a 1.2 would be fine for them I think.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410125...
Edited by white_goodman on Friday 24th January 15:31
Edited by white_goodman on Friday 24th January 15:32
bigmowley said:
Not sure a small 4x4 would be on my list for a young inexperienced driver. Most of them are crap to drive, have poor safety records and offer very little passive safety. I would imagine that insurance for them would be very expensive.
I would be looking for a smart tidy hatchback with a high NCAP rating, probably a low trim level of a popular model. Mini, A1, Polo etc. Easy car to repair and service, lots of aftermarket bits and bobs to personalize it a bit. Get the high risk first year or two out of the way and then branch out into something more “interesting” after that. One of my lads went Mini 1Diesel, Lexus IS200, Lotus Elise for his first 3 cars. One of my other lads went Mini 1Diesel, same car, Audi A4 Avant 2.0TDi , BMW 118i for his first 3.
Not cool maybe but what’s more important?
You make some good points. I would say something “cool” is probably very important to them (it certainly was to me at their age) but not so much to me as a parent. Interesting about the Euro NCAP rating, which is probably based a lot on active rather than passive safety systems these days (which ironically makes modern cars more expensive to fix)! Also interesting about what some are saying about 2 seaters being cheaper to insure. amongst the people on my course at University, we mostly owned cheap, crappy hatchbacks but there was someone with a mk1 MR2 and also someone with a mk1 MX5 and another with an MGF. At the time, I thought that these must have been the rich kids and that they were spending a fortune on insurance but maybe they were the smart ones!I would be looking for a smart tidy hatchback with a high NCAP rating, probably a low trim level of a popular model. Mini, A1, Polo etc. Easy car to repair and service, lots of aftermarket bits and bobs to personalize it a bit. Get the high risk first year or two out of the way and then branch out into something more “interesting” after that. One of my lads went Mini 1Diesel, Lexus IS200, Lotus Elise for his first 3 cars. One of my other lads went Mini 1Diesel, same car, Audi A4 Avant 2.0TDi , BMW 118i for his first 3.
Not cool maybe but what’s more important?
There were certainly insurance loopholes back in the day and we all tried to get something different/better than the standard choice without breaking the bank on insurance. A friend in 6th form discovered that a Peugeot 309 1.6 was cheaper to insure than a 205 1.1, so a few others followed suit, another insured a Sierra 1.6 for less than a 1.1 Fiesta, my 1.4 Astra was cheaper to insure than a 1.2 Nova/Corsa and a couple of people had “Series” Land Rovers, as they were cheap to buy and insure at the time.
Obviously a Boxster is out of the question and I find a mk3 MR2 quite appealing, although probably not a good choice for a novice driver but something like an NC MX5 might be worth looking into? How old does a car have to be to qualify for classic car insurance? I’ve heard that can be cheaper.
I guess the only disadvantage of a 2 seater is that me and Mrs White_Goodman will have to get a taxi/walk home from the pub!
Edited by white_goodman on Friday 24th January 15:30
I went through this a couple of years ago and took some good advice from here but the insurance was and still appears to be a complete lottery!
My eldest first car was 06 Honda Civic 1.8. He liked the look of car both in and out, its bigger, was well equipped and drove pretty well compared with normal starter cars. Bought it for £2k, only issue was the aircon fuse? which was a £10 fix. It also had 138 bhp but the insurance with a black box with him as named driver and me and Mrs M on it was £750 for first year after he passed his test. Great dump car with all the space and clever folding rear seat but I had to remember it was on a black box! Sold when he went to Uni for £1850. His next car finishing Uni was a Peugeot RCZ which was daftly cheap to insure.
My youngest, never liked look of Civic, decided he liked a Mito and we found a decent one but with some poor paintwork for just under £2k. Took a gamble that the aircon did only need only need a top up and was lucky that was true. Good looking car, it was the 90bhp version in black with alloys so youngest liked it. Insurance was just over £900 but no black box if it went to £1050 and so he paid the difference. Nice to drive but very.........Alfa.......so needed love and maintenance and even then would spit its dummy out every so often. Had it for about 2 years but last MOT my friendly mechanic was clear in saying it would need proper money and effort to get it through so traded it in for an Audi A1.
My eldest first car was 06 Honda Civic 1.8. He liked the look of car both in and out, its bigger, was well equipped and drove pretty well compared with normal starter cars. Bought it for £2k, only issue was the aircon fuse? which was a £10 fix. It also had 138 bhp but the insurance with a black box with him as named driver and me and Mrs M on it was £750 for first year after he passed his test. Great dump car with all the space and clever folding rear seat but I had to remember it was on a black box! Sold when he went to Uni for £1850. His next car finishing Uni was a Peugeot RCZ which was daftly cheap to insure.
My youngest, never liked look of Civic, decided he liked a Mito and we found a decent one but with some poor paintwork for just under £2k. Took a gamble that the aircon did only need only need a top up and was lucky that was true. Good looking car, it was the 90bhp version in black with alloys so youngest liked it. Insurance was just over £900 but no black box if it went to £1050 and so he paid the difference. Nice to drive but very.........Alfa.......so needed love and maintenance and even then would spit its dummy out every so often. Had it for about 2 years but last MOT my friendly mechanic was clear in saying it would need proper money and effort to get it through so traded it in for an Audi A1.
Something like a Volvo S40 maybe a good option, as its finding that car that doesn't have bad claims history for them.
I personally like the C30 but I see an awful lot being driven by 20 year olds which may lead to a higher claim ratio.
My eldest daughter is 17 later this year and is convinced her dad is buying her a car... she'd desperate for a Mint Green Fiat 500...
Her cousin has a MK2 Ford Ka (Fiat 500 in drag...), I'd also look at a Panda as you mentioned as not as popular with the teenagers as a 500.
Good luck.
I personally like the C30 but I see an awful lot being driven by 20 year olds which may lead to a higher claim ratio.
My eldest daughter is 17 later this year and is convinced her dad is buying her a car... she'd desperate for a Mint Green Fiat 500...
Her cousin has a MK2 Ford Ka (Fiat 500 in drag...), I'd also look at a Panda as you mentioned as not as popular with the teenagers as a 500.
Good luck.
66HFM said:
Something like a Volvo S40 maybe a good option, as its finding that car that doesn't have bad claims history for them.
I personally like the C30 but I see an awful lot being driven by 20 year olds which may lead to a higher claim ratio.
My eldest daughter is 17 later this year and is convinced her dad is buying her a car... she'd desperate for a Mint Green Fiat 500...
Her cousin has a MK2 Ford Ka (Fiat 500 in drag...), I'd also look at a Panda as you mentioned as not as popular with the teenagers as a 500.
Good luck.
Good shout. I considered a V50 D5 myself a few years ago. I think an S40 1.6 is quite a cool little car (but my daughter may disagree). She doesn't understand that 25 years ago the equivalent choice would have been Volvo 340/440/Ford Orion, which were far from cool!I personally like the C30 but I see an awful lot being driven by 20 year olds which may lead to a higher claim ratio.
My eldest daughter is 17 later this year and is convinced her dad is buying her a car... she'd desperate for a Mint Green Fiat 500...
Her cousin has a MK2 Ford Ka (Fiat 500 in drag...), I'd also look at a Panda as you mentioned as not as popular with the teenagers as a 500.
Good luck.
Madness60 said:
I went through this a couple of years ago and took some good advice from here but the insurance was and still appears to be a complete lottery!
My eldest first car was 06 Honda Civic 1.8. He liked the look of car both in and out, its bigger, was well equipped and drove pretty well compared with normal starter cars. Bought it for £2k, only issue was the aircon fuse? which was a £10 fix. It also had 138 bhp but the insurance with a black box with him as named driver and me and Mrs M on it was £750 for first year after he passed his test. Great dump car with all the space and clever folding rear seat but I had to remember it was on a black box! Sold when he went to Uni for £1850. His next car finishing Uni was a Peugeot RCZ which was daftly cheap to insure.
My youngest, never liked look of Civic, decided he liked a Mito and we found a decent one but with some poor paintwork for just under £2k. Took a gamble that the aircon did only need only need a top up and was lucky that was true. Good looking car, it was the 90bhp version in black with alloys so youngest liked it. Insurance was just over £900 but no black box if it went to £1050 and so he paid the difference. Nice to drive but very.........Alfa.......so needed love and maintenance and even then would spit its dummy out every so often. Had it for about 2 years but last MOT my friendly mechanic was clear in saying it would need proper money and effort to get it through so traded it in for an Audi A1.
Re the "black box", are they spying on you all the time or will they only review the data if you have an accident (and potentially review the rest of the data to determine a pattern of "overenthusiastic" driving)?My eldest first car was 06 Honda Civic 1.8. He liked the look of car both in and out, its bigger, was well equipped and drove pretty well compared with normal starter cars. Bought it for £2k, only issue was the aircon fuse? which was a £10 fix. It also had 138 bhp but the insurance with a black box with him as named driver and me and Mrs M on it was £750 for first year after he passed his test. Great dump car with all the space and clever folding rear seat but I had to remember it was on a black box! Sold when he went to Uni for £1850. His next car finishing Uni was a Peugeot RCZ which was daftly cheap to insure.
My youngest, never liked look of Civic, decided he liked a Mito and we found a decent one but with some poor paintwork for just under £2k. Took a gamble that the aircon did only need only need a top up and was lucky that was true. Good looking car, it was the 90bhp version in black with alloys so youngest liked it. Insurance was just over £900 but no black box if it went to £1050 and so he paid the difference. Nice to drive but very.........Alfa.......so needed love and maintenance and even then would spit its dummy out every so often. Had it for about 2 years but last MOT my friendly mechanic was clear in saying it would need proper money and effort to get it through so traded it in for an Audi A1.
Does she need to have a small car for any particular reason? Do you live in an area with small roads or does she need to park somewhere awkward?
Something like a Volvo S80 with a small engine might be surprisingly cheap to insure relatively speaking. She can then drive her mates around in relative comfort and be several metres away from an impact if she crashes it.
Smaller S40 or S60 options might be more suitable.
Something like a Volvo S80 with a small engine might be surprisingly cheap to insure relatively speaking. She can then drive her mates around in relative comfort and be several metres away from an impact if she crashes it.
Smaller S40 or S60 options might be more suitable.
The black box policies are quite scammy.
0-20 in 6.9 was considered harsh acceleration, and a 22° change of direction (i.e. 1/16th of a full 360) in 2 seconds was harsh steering.
Both were please pay money jobs. We binned them off with both kids for minimal increases and never looked back.
0-20 in 6.9 was considered harsh acceleration, and a 22° change of direction (i.e. 1/16th of a full 360) in 2 seconds was harsh steering.
Both were please pay money jobs. We binned them off with both kids for minimal increases and never looked back.
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