What car for learners?

[Kentish]

What would you buy for people to learn to drive in?


Has to be reliable and take abuse.

Very economical.

Reasonable residual value.

Good all round visibility from cabin.

Good image - not like you went out and bought the cheapest car you could find


Over to you folks.....

[Kentish]

No R32's

[Jimbo.]

Fiesta of any mark
Micra (before they went all "fat frog"/bug-eyed!)
Yaris
...?

EDIT: Mazda2. Funky looking thing, especially in blue or green. Mazda reliability, good to drive. Sorted!

[SirVandru]

Caterham 7

[Kentish]

I think the Fiesta is a good choice but I've heard they are a rather bumpy ride.

I'll have to check them out.

Mazda 2, that's a Fiesta isn't it ....or is that a 3??

[Kentish]

SirVandru said:

Caterham 7

err maybe not

[anonymous-user]

Focus? Big enough so that people can learn in a decent-sized car, but easy to drive and control.

[tbc]

Caterham 7

you could get a nice Tiger kit car, be a good way of learning to drive 'properly' without any modern kit

[Petrolhead95]

I'm going to learn to drive in an A4 estate in a couple of weeks..

[Kentish]

Fiat 500 seems popular choice but I'm not convinced on robustness.

[magpie215]

K11 micra[/end]

[ad70x7]

I've seen a few Fiat 500's. I think BSM used to use Vauxhall Corsa's.

[simoid]

All tye MK5 fiestas I know of (I think mk5, from around 02-08?) Have been horrendously unreliable and less than robust.

[CBR JGWRR]

My thoughts:

(Reasons for all of these, although some may/will be fairly obscure)

Le Mans GT40

Aston Martin DB9

Corsa (It is probably what they will get anyway)

Lotus Elise

Formula Ford

Impreza or an Evo

15 old ladies in Micras going in the opposite direction.

Ford Transit

old land rover



Bikes:

Aprilia RS 125 (Or any of the old 2 strokes)

CBF 125

S1000RR

Goldwing

GSX 1300R Hayabusa

GSX-R 750

Bonniville

Probably a lot more which could be added to both lists.





Feel free to ask why the hell some of them are there.

[toon10]

I passed my test in a '88 Suzuki Swift. I'd say the new one would be a good bet. Relaible, easy to see out of and easy to drive.

[Rufus]

Not just jumping on the new PH bandwagon, but all of my kids learned to drive in Pandas, great visibility, they really learn about what happens when grip runs out as it frequently does and they are so cheap they got one each!

[versus]

Fiesta. i loved that car. they can take some abuse and still carry on. got lots of equipment (nice windscreen defroster as well), they handle well. good visibility. anyone can repair them

i suppose a Ka would be also be ok but they have no glovebox which is essential for L plates and spare rear view mirror etc.

Edited by versus on Friday 17th February 13:27

[S2Mike]

Take a look at what the Driving Schools around you are using. They will have researched over the years to find the best vehicle. Corsa, Fiat 500, Clio, Fiesta, Micra. But beware, see my thread from a couple of weeks ago, Whats the cheapest car to insure for 17 year old son. Insurance is the main cost of learning to drive. The cheapest was £1200 per year while on provisional licence and £2500 when passed test onto full licence. Work out your finances budget for the insurance cost and see what you can buy with whats left. ( push bike anyone ? )

[Donatello]

Kia Pro Cee'd 1.6 CRDi - I'd say if it is a new car this would be perfect. I think they look ok but the 7 year warranty would be a good thing for an instructors car IMO.

If used, I think a Fiesta (maybe a Zetec-S TDCi if image is important) as they are good little city cars...

Wild card... Abarth 500!!!!

[EDLT]

Something with 5 doors, quite a few 3-door hatches have bugger all rear visibility. There is a Skoda Fabia VRS (the old diesel version) being used as a learner car around here.