Good learner car for 17 yr old girl

[Tiggsy]

Whats a good choice for a kid to learn in? Budget of £2k (ish)

Anti-boyfriend ejector seat handy.

Needs to be as safe as it can be in the hands of a muppet and cheap to insure, etc

[anonymous-user]

I did the same a year ago 2003 Renault Clio 1.2 (1149(CC) 65000 miles. £1450.
Great car learnt and passed test in it and now passed it on to her brother, bet he can break it !

[Wild Swordfish]

Honda Jazz if you can find one for that price.

[billzeebub]

Ford Ka is a great little first car

[chrisw666]

Polo

Mk4 fiesta

Peugeot 206

Citroen C3

Beetle

[Tophatron]

Kia Picanto. Easy to drive, parts are cheap and it's reliable.

I've got one with 102k miles on it and it still goes fine and has never let me down.

If you go for a 1.1 LX they come with a lot of stuff you wouldn't expect on a older city car - 4 x electric windows, remote central locking, air con, MP3 stereo, leather steering wheel/gearknob..

[littleredrooster]

billzeebub said:

Ford Ka is a great little first car

Disagree. Daughter's Ka cost Daddy a fortune. Rust. More rust and rot. MOT failures. Bosted steering rack. Suspension bushes. Seized spark plugs. Thirsty.

"They all do that, sir"

Micra
Polo
Seicento
Panda
Lupo
Getz


All better cars to start learning without having huge expense.

Edited by littleredrooster on Monday 11th February 20:22

[orangesrule]

Seat ibiza, 1.4mpi slow, reliable, cheap to run, insure and buy. Fairly well built, and really good visibility all around.

[FakeConcern]

Got both of my daughters a Mk2 Clio 1.2 when they were 17, both passed & still have the cars (now aged 18 & 20 nearly 19 & 21!). They both now have fully comp insurance at under £600 each despite being students living away from home with their cars.

[M3CS]

Mk4 fiesta... all in all, still the best car I've ever had, for the stage of life I was at. Never 'loved' a car since.

I had a 1.3 encore... no extras, little to go wrong. And it'll be so cheap that when she inevitably has a prang, you won't care (about the car, that is).

[expensivegarms]

1.2 Corsa SXi. Brilliant little cars. I know they hardly set the world alight though!

[vrooom]

dont touch french stuff. go for something japanese, if you buying the car.

[JREwing]

expensivegarms said:

1.2 Corsa SXi. Brilliant little cars. I know they hardly set the world alight though!

This. Mine started off as a snotter and for this exact purpose and slowly my other car ceased to be part of my life and it's now my sole car. Everyone loves to mock them, but there really is no reason why they're worse than any of the rest - and they're certainly better than many.

[Andurron]

K11 Micra

[andy-xr]

Get her a 206, preferably diesel. It'll flag up so many faults she'll never get to drive it other than to the garage and back again

/bitter

[carl_w]

Landie -- at least you won't have to knock the dents out.

[0a]

vrooom said:

dont touch french stuff. go for something japanese, if you buying the car.

This man is right. If I had to purchase a car for a 17 year old girl it would be a mk1 Yaris. I had the Mk1 when it came out and it was so good my younger sister still drives one (after making the mistake of spending £1k on a Fiesta).

Cheap to insure, economical, utterly reliable (look at the classifieds and see the number that have done well over 100k compared to other superminis) and safe. Shhhh they are quite fun to drive as well.

The bubble micras are tough but feel several generations behind and I suspect they are not as safe in an accident.

[Greengecko]

littleredrooster said:

Disagree. Daughter's Ka cost Daddy a fortune. Rust. More rust and rot. MOT failures. Bosted steering rack. Suspension bushes. Seized spark plugs. Thirsty.
[/footnote]

Agree with all that, depending on the condition when you buy it. But if it was thirsty there is something seriously wrong, get equal MPG or just under with the family KA run around to the astra diesel work van.

[crazy about cars]

If its a first learner car I'd tend to stick with a low CC petrol (rather than diesel). Kia perhaps?

[tbc]

how about a job?

stop spoiling your children and make them work for something, they'll appreciate it a lot more. I know I always do.