My first car

[ConorE]

Hi. In about a month, I'll be looking to get my first car I'm stuck between 2 choices- VW Polo 6n2 1.0, and a mk2 Clio 1.2.

The main thing I'm worried about is the reliability and running costs, as insurance on the two are very similar. Are there any obvious things I should be looking out for? Also, has anyone got any experience with either of these?

Thanks in advance.

ETA- Thanks mods for adding a title-no idea what happened there.

Edited by ConorE on Saturday 9th August 22:54

[iva cosworth]

I have no experience of either.

Buy the Polo,it's not French.

[lightthefuse]

I've got experience of the Clio - they're fine when they're not going wrong, to the point of being quite fun to chuck around.

Get the Polo if you want hassle-free motoring but Teutonic (lack of) charm. Only got experience of entry-level Golfs and they leave me cold.

Oh, and my supermini in the garage IS French (Pug 208)... faults or breakdowns in 18 months = 0. I rate Pugs a class above Renaults for reliability though.

[Ved]

Polo for me. Our of interest what's your budget and insurance like?

[ben5732]

I had the polo model before with the 1L as my first car, whilst it was rather slow it was rather fun to be fair and a rather strong car when I decided to bend it. I'd go with the polo myself whilst the Clio will most likely be a bit quicker I imagine it won't be anywhere near as reliable or if you bend it you'll be in trouble.

[ConorE]

Ved said:

Polo for me. Our of interest what's your budget and insurance like?

Around 700-1k for the car and about 2k for the insurance- I'll have to use a black box though

[lamboman100]

Despite widespread perceptions, German cars are as unreliable as French cars these days.

The newer VW Polo has one of the lowest MOT pass-rates in the entire UK car market. The newer Polo's MOT pass-rate is *worse* than the newer Clio's.

In many reliability surveys of older cars, there is little to choose between the Polo and the Clio:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-26...

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100

[ConorE]

lightthefuse said:

I've got experience of the Clio - they're fine when they're not going wrong, to the point of being quite fun to chuck around.

Get the Polo if you want hassle-free motoring but Teutonic (lack of) charm. Only got experience of entry-level Golfs and they leave me cold.

Oh, and my supermini in the garage IS French (Pug 208)... faults or breakdowns in 18 months = 0. I rate Pugs a class above Renaults for reliability though.

From that, the Polo seems the better choice for me. I must admit, I did want the Clio to come out on top

[ConorE]

ben5732 said:

I had the polo model before with the 1L as my first car, whilst it was rather slow it was rather fun to be fair and a rather strong car when I decided to bend it. I'd go with the polo myself whilst the Clio will most likely be a bit quicker I imagine it won't be anywhere near as reliable or if you bend it you'll be in trouble.

Thanks for the insight, and if I'm honest, the speed issue wouldn't bother me for the first year or two, so that's not a problem.

[ben5732]

Also just a tip. I actually found the insurance was cheaper on a mk3 1.8 golf than the 1L polo also the other half has just passed her test and pays 600 quid insurance on a 406 2.1 TD so might be worth you I having a look at them as well. Add your parents on as named drivers as well if they have clean licenses it lowers mine down still by 200 quid and I'm 25 and only pay 350 a year on a T5.

[ben5732]

Also before anyone mentions reliability on the 406 we've owned it 8 months now and only spent 40 quid on a new Speedo clock and that's it and only cost us 400 quid with 6 months MOT and tax left

[ConorE]

ben5732 said:

Also just a tip. I actually found the insurance was cheaper on a mk3 1.8 golf than the 1L polo also the other half has just passed her test and pays 600 quid insurance on a 406 2.1 TD so might be worth you I having a look at them as well. Add your parents on as named drivers as well if they have clean licenses it lowers mine down still by 200 quid and I'm 25 and only pay 350 a year on a T5.

I'll have a look on insurance prices on the class up when I next get a chance, thanks for the tip

[lightthefuse]

ben5732 said:

Also before anyone mentions reliability on the 406 we've owned it 8 months now and only spent 40 quid on a new Speedo clock and that's it and only cost us 400 quid with 6 months MOT and tax left

I won't - I think they're another car that seem to be bulletproof despite the French and therefore unreliable tag... as said, I'm heavily biased towards Peugeots though.

[eldar]

ConorE said:

Around 700-1k for the car and about 2k for the insurance- I'll have to use a black box though

At that price range VW vs Renault is irrelevant, the condition of the individual car counts. A decent one of either is what to look for.

[Spare tyre]

At that price either could be total junk

Buy the car based on the car you see, not hearsay from the interweb

[Mr Daytona]

In typical PH fashion I'll totally ignore both of the OPs nominations and suggest something Japanese and petrol if reliability is the be all and end all.

I give you the Nissan Micra, or a Toyota Yaris/Honda Jazz.

[ConorE]

eldar said:

At that price range VW vs Renault is irrelevant, the condition of the individual car counts. A decent one of either is what to look for.

I'll keep that in mind then, I'll be looking at a few in the near future so that will defiantly be near the top of my list of considerations.

[lightthefuse]

Spare tyre said:

At that price either could be total junk

Buy the car based on the car you see, not hearsay from the interweb

This is admittedly true - definitely down in "buy on condition" territory. I'd say the limit's at £3k and 5 years for that mind, above that you should expect halfway decent no matter what. Then again, I've spent three grand only to replace a clutch not a thousand miles later (how the feck I didn't pick up on it during the test drive I'll never know... it was a heart over head purchase admittedly and I don't plan on too many more of those).

[ConorE]

Mr Daytona said:

In typical PH fashion I'll totally ignore both of the OPs nominations and suggest something Japanese and petrol if reliability is the be all and end all.

I give you the Nissan Micra, or a Toyota Yaris/Honda Jazz.

I wouldn't say reliability is the be all and end all, it would just be a deciding factor between the two cars that fulfil my other 'wants'.

[ConorE]

lightthefuse said:

This is admittedly true - definitely down in "buy on condition" territory. I'd say the limit's at £3k and 5 years for that mind, above that you should expect halfway decent no matter what.

That would be fine really, I wouldn't expect anything perfect at that price point, just something that I can use to get a bit of experience and a year or two of NCB.