First Car choice, split between 2, help and advice please?
Discussion
I am 19 and i am looking to choose my first car but im stuck between 2 cars due to split friends opinions. I am looking for a car that is fun and i am also able to add parts too it. The 2 cars i am split between are as follows:
A 1998 1.4i Honda Civic
Or a 1999 1.4 golf s
Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!
A 1998 1.4i Honda Civic
Or a 1999 1.4 golf s
Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Personally, of those two? The Civic. Don't get me wrong, they aren't god's gift to motoring, It's just that the mk4 golf was a bit of a tank to drive and the 1.4 and 1.6 models have a propensity to suffer catastrophic failure of the gearbox plus various electrical niggles. The Civic is a more basic car but what's bolted onto it is good, well-engineered stuff.
Honestly? Neither. Don't buy a car on your friends recommendations - it's a very grey area. The Golf (especially by me) is often associated with Chavs and people who constantly try to out drag you, regardless of what you drive.
The Civic is good, but IMO it lacks imagination.
If you want a golf, the ones worth getting are the diesels, and the GTI's (1.8T) and if you want a Civic, get the EP3. You can get early ones now for about 1k.
If you've got a little more saved, why not have a look at a Astra? Reliable, cheap to run and insure, and cheap to maintain. And easily self-serviceable.
Hope this helps.
The Civic is good, but IMO it lacks imagination.
If you want a golf, the ones worth getting are the diesels, and the GTI's (1.8T) and if you want a Civic, get the EP3. You can get early ones now for about 1k.
If you've got a little more saved, why not have a look at a Astra? Reliable, cheap to run and insure, and cheap to maintain. And easily self-serviceable.
Hope this helps.
If you are buying a 15 year old car, buy on condition, don't narrow your choice to one model and variant,unless you want to wait a long while, or spend more on traveling round the country viewing candidates than the car actually costs.
For example a quick glance at Autotrader shows less than 10 3 dr 1999 Civic manuals for sale in the entire country.
For example a quick glance at Autotrader shows less than 10 3 dr 1999 Civic manuals for sale in the entire country.
Mr SFJ said:
Honestly? Neither. Don't buy a car on your friends recommendations - it's a very grey area. The Golf (especially by me) is often associated with Chavs and people who constantly try to out drag you, regardless of what you drive.
The Civic is good, but IMO it lacks imagination.
If you want a golf, the ones worth getting are the diesels, and the GTI's (1.8T) and if you want a Civic, get the EP3. You can get early ones now for about 1k.
If you've got a little more saved, why not have a look at a Astra? Reliable, cheap to run and insure, and cheap to maintain. And easily self-serviceable.
Hope this helps.
Hi there, thank you for your advice. I did see a EP3 civic 1.4 for £795 but i couldnt find many reviews about the EP3 civic's. Do you know if these are good cars or not? The Civic is good, but IMO it lacks imagination.
If you want a golf, the ones worth getting are the diesels, and the GTI's (1.8T) and if you want a Civic, get the EP3. You can get early ones now for about 1k.
If you've got a little more saved, why not have a look at a Astra? Reliable, cheap to run and insure, and cheap to maintain. And easily self-serviceable.
Hope this helps.
The EP3 Civic is very good from what I can recall (ran a friends for a month) Reliable, fairly quick (unless you're used to a 160bhp Turbocharged Grande Punto!)
The "EP3" is the model name, if you search by that you won't find many. If you search for a Honda Civic and narrow your search between 2001 and 2005 you'll find loads - The only thing that I would suggest, as others have, if you're looking at a high miler, say 90k+ make sure that the cambelt has been changed, and that it has an up to date service history. 1 or 2 regular services missed is nothing, but the bigger cambelt needs to be done to save yourself from a world of potential s
t and check to see the VTEC kicks in and doesn't sound odd. I would do a good 3-6 hours solid research on common faults, and recalls and owners opinions of the car. For this, I think you'll need to find a Civic forum and put the feelers out there. But have a look at specific cars. Sadly, I would forget the type R for the moment
First car I would suggest the 1.4 petrol, but Check insurance costs first, and don't get your parents to front for you (take the policy out for you and DO NOT pay monthly, save up for it, even if it means waiting. Coughing up big for the first year then having much bigger discount because of NCD is better than being mid 20's with loads of driving experience but no NCB.
As I think I said, I coughed up £1500 for insurance on my old Ford Ka for my first year and on my renewal, same job, more mileage and a new car with 3 times the power and 4 times the torque I paid less than half for my year, and I'm only 20.
Hope this helps
The "EP3" is the model name, if you search by that you won't find many. If you search for a Honda Civic and narrow your search between 2001 and 2005 you'll find loads - The only thing that I would suggest, as others have, if you're looking at a high miler, say 90k+ make sure that the cambelt has been changed, and that it has an up to date service history. 1 or 2 regular services missed is nothing, but the bigger cambelt needs to be done to save yourself from a world of potential s
t and check to see the VTEC kicks in and doesn't sound odd. I would do a good 3-6 hours solid research on common faults, and recalls and owners opinions of the car. For this, I think you'll need to find a Civic forum and put the feelers out there. But have a look at specific cars. Sadly, I would forget the type R for the momentFirst car I would suggest the 1.4 petrol, but Check insurance costs first, and don't get your parents to front for you (take the policy out for you and DO NOT pay monthly, save up for it, even if it means waiting. Coughing up big for the first year then having much bigger discount because of NCD is better than being mid 20's with loads of driving experience but no NCB.
As I think I said, I coughed up £1500 for insurance on my old Ford Ka for my first year and on my renewal, same job, more mileage and a new car with 3 times the power and 4 times the torque I paid less than half for my year, and I'm only 20.
Hope this helps
andyalan10 said:
If you are buying a 15 year old car, buy on condition, don't narrow your choice to one model and variant,unless you want to wait a long while, or spend more on traveling round the country viewing candidates than the car actually costs.
For example a quick glance at Autotrader shows less than 10 3 dr 1999 Civic manuals for sale in the entire country.
This.For example a quick glance at Autotrader shows less than 10 3 dr 1999 Civic manuals for sale in the entire country.
Work out a budget, and see what's around locally for the money, pick 3 favourites (after checking insurance costs), and then take a look at all 3, and buy the best. Image, performance etc. can wait. As to 'adding parts', I presume you want to be part of the tuning scene? I imagine Japanese cars are all good, and then small hatches? At your budget I'd maybe have a butchers at a few Saxos - loads of parts for them (I assume, judging by the amount of tuned ones I see about), and maybe some Fiestas?
rozzaa146 said:
I am 19 and i am looking to choose my first car
rozzaa146 said:
to add parts too it.
Don't bother adding performance parts (guess this is what you mean) wait a year/2 years and buy a performance car, you save money on the mods and declaring it on insurance to pay for the extra costs in running a better car. There's only so much you can polish a turd. why mod a crap car if you can get a better one to start with?
Just need a little patience and commitment.
What would you rather pull up outside work/ to a girls house with? a fancy, yet discreet Hot hatch, or a Max Power Civic/106/Saxo?
To get the car I wanted, I put a picture of one as my phone background and everytime I unlocked my phone I looked it at and thought "one will be mine one day" sure enough, 6 months later, I own the car that I actually wanted 18 months ago.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff