Good starter car for 17 year old - £750-£1500 budget?
Discussion
Kinky said:
Interesting topic which I'm following as kinky Junior turns 17 in a few weeks time 
We already have a car sorted for him (an '07 1.4 Fiesta which has been in the family since new), But kind of a spin-off from the 'what car' question is the 'what insurance' question. I've not started nosing around yet, but Marmalade were mentioned to me by a few people, as a specialist: https://www.wearemarmalade.co.uk/
Just wondering if anyone has any experience or guidance on the best way to approach it.
Sorry for thread hi-jack, although it is kind of the next consideration after the car
If i remember they are good for when your still on L plates, not so good once passed.We already have a car sorted for him (an '07 1.4 Fiesta which has been in the family since new), But kind of a spin-off from the 'what car' question is the 'what insurance' question. I've not started nosing around yet, but Marmalade were mentioned to me by a few people, as a specialist: https://www.wearemarmalade.co.uk/
Just wondering if anyone has any experience or guidance on the best way to approach it.
Sorry for thread hi-jack, although it is kind of the next consideration after the car
Basically just run quotes with between 5k-8k mileage, add on parents as named drivers, change the start date from like 5 days ahead to 3 weeks, same again with when you bought the car as the family owned it so you can change this to suit (even I havent bought the car yet option sometimes helps). Play around with the parking options too, sometimes just marking it as private property over a driveway makes a big change.
Keep mixing it all up till you hit the magical point where it likes everything and shows 1 quote much less than the rest.
My son passed last year and we ended up getting him a KA Sport 1.6 as his first car. Standard KAs were about £850 for him to insure, the Sport about £1050. The car itself was about £900 IIRC. Finding one that wasn't effectivley more rust than metal was a challenge though.
Great little car to learn to drive in, handles like a go cart, nippy with the 1.6 engine and generally a great round town car. KA image is not up to much but the Sport is a step up from the standard ones.
He ran it for 6 months and then swapped it for a MG TF 1.8, which cost him an extra £400 top up for the remaining 5 months, but he'll be able to insure that next year with a years NCB for about the same as the KA was this year. So it might be worth hanging onto that MX5!
Great little car to learn to drive in, handles like a go cart, nippy with the 1.6 engine and generally a great round town car. KA image is not up to much but the Sport is a step up from the standard ones.
He ran it for 6 months and then swapped it for a MG TF 1.8, which cost him an extra £400 top up for the remaining 5 months, but he'll be able to insure that next year with a years NCB for about the same as the KA was this year. So it might be worth hanging onto that MX5!
Piersman2 said:
My son passed last year and we ended up getting him a KA Sport 1.6 as his first car. Standard KAs were about £850 for him to insure, the Sport about £1050. The car itself was about £900 IIRC. Finding one that wasn't effectivley more rust than metal was a challenge though.
Great little car to learn to drive in, handles like a go cart, nippy with the 1.6 engine and generally a great round town car. KA image is not up to much but the Sport is a step up from the standard ones.
He ran it for 6 months and then swapped it for a MG TF 1.8, which cost him an extra £400 top up for the remaining 5 months, but he'll be able to insure that next year with a years NCB for about the same as the KA was this year. So it might be worth hanging onto that MX5!
Funny you mention the Sportska as I have been looking at a few on ebay....always very well regarded as I recall, a sort of 2000s version of the Up GTI, in a way. What puts me off to some extent is the VED rate which is pretty high for a small car...I'm not sure but I think it may be as much as £280. That's a lot when you're running two other cars.Great little car to learn to drive in, handles like a go cart, nippy with the 1.6 engine and generally a great round town car. KA image is not up to much but the Sport is a step up from the standard ones.
He ran it for 6 months and then swapped it for a MG TF 1.8, which cost him an extra £400 top up for the remaining 5 months, but he'll be able to insure that next year with a years NCB for about the same as the KA was this year. So it might be worth hanging onto that MX5!
Re the MX-5, its coming up to the next round of rust treatment for its MOT so as this seems to be an annual event, I've been wondering if its time to bail out. I've had 2 and a half years of fun. But you're right, in a year or two the insurance might not be bad. Also, the last three letters of the MX5's numberplate, purely by coincidence I add, are LEB, which are my daughter's initials!
I'm on the south coast too, OP, and one issue you'll have is getting a decent selection to look at within sensible travelling distance. However, if you go for a Yaris, there should be four or five fairly local in the £750 to £1200 range. It's what we did for my daughter - they are also a good choice because they've got a cam chain, so no belt to worry about. Parts are cheap, so is insurance (relatively speaking) and they are simple enough to fix. They are easy to drive and will be easy to sell on later should you need to.
Another vote for the Aygo.
I love ours. It's an 07 "sport" model which at least has alloys, central locking, rev counter and aircon. Owned it for 7 years from 10k miles to 75k miles.
Only non-routine spend in all that time was under £300.00 to replace the clutch which had become a bit juddery. (Known issue and the uprated one is a lot better).
Even though it's a cheap car it has the most amazing grey metallic paint. It reflects countless colours in the sun with a superbly deep shine.
Great fun to chuck around, an eager little thing that returns 55-65mpg with ease. As mentioned earlier in the thread it has no power to speak of but I won't be parting with mine unless it throws up massive repair bill and even then I'd still think about keeping it. It's one of the very few cars I've owned that I've really felt attached to, the other ones being my previous and current MR2 Roadster.
I love ours. It's an 07 "sport" model which at least has alloys, central locking, rev counter and aircon. Owned it for 7 years from 10k miles to 75k miles.
Only non-routine spend in all that time was under £300.00 to replace the clutch which had become a bit juddery. (Known issue and the uprated one is a lot better).
Even though it's a cheap car it has the most amazing grey metallic paint. It reflects countless colours in the sun with a superbly deep shine.
Great fun to chuck around, an eager little thing that returns 55-65mpg with ease. As mentioned earlier in the thread it has no power to speak of but I won't be parting with mine unless it throws up massive repair bill and even then I'd still think about keeping it. It's one of the very few cars I've owned that I've really felt attached to, the other ones being my previous and current MR2 Roadster.
Kinky said:
Interesting topic which I'm following as kinky Junior turns 17 in a few weeks time
We already have a car sorted for him (an '07 1.4 Fiesta which has been in the family since new), But kind of a spin-off from the 'what car' question is the 'what insurance' question. I've not started nosing around yet, but Marmalade were mentioned to me by a few people, as a specialist: https://www.wearemarmalade.co.uk/
Just wondering if anyone has any experience or guidance on the best way to approach it.
Sorry for thread hi-jack, although it is kind of the next consideration after the car
Cooperative Insurance Services (CIS) were always good 'when I was young' - cheap rates and offered Third Party Only cover on driving other cars from 17, which most places didn't offer until 25.We already have a car sorted for him (an '07 1.4 Fiesta which has been in the family since new), But kind of a spin-off from the 'what car' question is the 'what insurance' question. I've not started nosing around yet, but Marmalade were mentioned to me by a few people, as a specialist: https://www.wearemarmalade.co.uk/
Just wondering if anyone has any experience or guidance on the best way to approach it.
Sorry for thread hi-jack, although it is kind of the next consideration after the car
Not sure if that's still the case, though.
RSTurboPaul said:
Cooperative Insurance Services (CIS) were always good 'when I was young' - cheap rates and offered Third Party Only cover on driving other cars from 17, which most places didn't offer until 25.
Not sure if that's still the case, though.
That changed sadly, I think elephant also did this which changed too.Not sure if that's still the case, though.
CubanPete said:
Does it have to be a small car?
One of the apprentices at work ran a volvo S60 with the 5 pot diesel, because it was an old man's choice, I don't think he paid any more to insure it than the 1.2 Corsa choosers.
Er, no......I cant imagine any 17 year old girl wanting to drive a Volvo S60??!!!One of the apprentices at work ran a volvo S60 with the 5 pot diesel, because it was an old man's choice, I don't think he paid any more to insure it than the 1.2 Corsa choosers.
RSTurboPaul said:
Why not insure said 17 year old on the MX5?
Parts are super cheap, they are simple to fix, stick it on some decent brand 14" tyres and buy an afternoon of skidpan training - the entire world drove RWD before FWD became common, so no reason not to start with RWD now.
This is a surprisingly good shout, especially if the mx5 is the 1.6.Parts are super cheap, they are simple to fix, stick it on some decent brand 14" tyres and buy an afternoon of skidpan training - the entire world drove RWD before FWD became common, so no reason not to start with RWD now.
Even more so if the mx5 is the 1.6 that got the detune to 90bhp.
Had a friend who ran one of these as a first car, was cheaper for him to insure than the usual small eurojapboxes he was looking at. Not fast but still perfectly capable of pressing on in the right hands!
seriousrikk said:
RSTurboPaul said:
Why not insure said 17 year old on the MX5?
Parts are super cheap, they are simple to fix, stick it on some decent brand 14" tyres and buy an afternoon of skidpan training - the entire world drove RWD before FWD became common, so no reason not to start with RWD now.
This is a surprisingly good shout, especially if the mx5 is the 1.6.Parts are super cheap, they are simple to fix, stick it on some decent brand 14" tyres and buy an afternoon of skidpan training - the entire world drove RWD before FWD became common, so no reason not to start with RWD now.
Even more so if the mx5 is the 1.6 that got the detune to 90bhp.
Had a friend who ran one of these as a first car, was cheaper for him to insure than the usual small eurojapboxes he was looking at. Not fast but still perfectly capable of pressing on in the right hands!
NorthernSky said:
If the MX5 is a mk1, share a classic insurance policy with her. How many 17 year old girls do you see driving these around?! Sports car as a first car... she'd be v lucky. Saves you taking risks on varying degrees of overpriced 'modern' hatchbacks.
be careful, most classic policies don't accrue NCB(/D)...defblade said:
NorthernSky said:
If the MX5 is a mk1, share a classic insurance policy with her. How many 17 year old girls do you see driving these around?! Sports car as a first car... she'd be v lucky. Saves you taking risks on varying degrees of overpriced 'modern' hatchbacks.
be careful, most classic policies don't accrue NCB(/D)...This is all null and void if it isn't a MK1 of course (;
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