Warm Hatchback?

[SB8999]

Hello all.
Looking to buy a first car, i'll be 17 in February. I will have about £5000 for the car itself and upto £2000 for the insurance. I am looking for a hatchback that is reasonably fast (for a first car) eg. Under 9 seconds 0-60 and has good cornering ability. I want to keep the car for at least 3 years so want a fastish car so i don't have to spend more money down the line getting a faster car. I do not want any suggestions of buying a rubbish car first, apart from that all suggestions are appreciated.

[InitialDave]

SB8999 said:

Hello all.
I do not want any suggestions of buying a rubbish car first, apart from that all suggestions are appreciated.

A less powerful car is not necessarily a rubbish car. Buy something that drives nicely and gets half-reasonable insurance, learn to get the most out of it, then use what you've learned to help choose what (if anything) you want to change to.

[iwantagta]

Guessing you are a youngster - if so Renault Sport Clio;
Special edition within budget - non special edition available with far lower mileage.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[SB8999]

InitialDave said:

SB8999 said:

Hello all.
I do not want any suggestions of buying a rubbish car first, apart from that all suggestions are appreciated.

A less powerful car is not necessarily a rubbish car. Buy something that drives nicely and gets half-reasonable insurance, learn to get the most out of it, then use what you've learned to help choose what (if anything) you want to change to.

Sorry what I meant was to not suggest cars like a 1 litre corsa

[InitialDave]

SB8999 said:

Sorry what I meant was to not suggest cars like a 1 litre corsa

Well, I don't like Corsas much. But a 1.0 or 1.2 will shift along well enough if you use it right, and it's a lot of fun to do so.

How much are Ecoboost Fiestas down to now? Those are good.

[SB8999]

iwantagta said:

Guessing you are a youngster - if so Renault Sport Clio;
Special edition within budget - non special edition available with far lower mileage.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

A quote for the 2 litre is £9500 which is a bit too steep unfortunately but the 1.6 comes in at £1600 so thanks for the suggestion.

[iwantagta]

Just seen you are 17.
I think the clio will be faaaaar too expensive on insurance.

Best of luck.
You really don't need a lot of power to have fun driving, or even a great handling car.
My first car was a Fiesta Flight with very skinny wheels, it didnt like corners particularly. However - i learnt huge amounts about car control from it.

[SB8999]

InitialDave said:

SB8999 said:

Sorry what I meant was to not suggest cars like a 1 litre corsa

Well, I don't like Corsas much. But a 1.0 or 1.2 will shift along well enough if you use it right, and it's a lot of fun to do so.

How much are Ecoboost Fiestas down to now? Those are good.

The ecoboost fiesta is another good suggestion thanks but they're still £6/7000

[InitialDave]

Suzuki Swift Sport perhaps?

What I'd say is just spend an evening farming insurance quotes on everything. There's bound to be something that for a weird statistical reason is markedly cheaper without being horrible.

The trouble is, something like a C1 - although they are a bit of a laugh to drive - gets driven (and stacked) by loads of teenagers, so it wouldn't surprise me if they're disproportionately expensive to get cover on.

[SB8999]

InitialDave said:

Suzuki Swift Sport perhaps?

What I'd say is just spend an evening farming insurance quotes on everything. There's bound to be something that for a weird statistical reason is markedly cheaper without being horrible.

The trouble is, something like a C1 - although they are a bit of a laugh to drive - gets driven (and stacked) by loads of teenagers, so it wouldn't surprise me if they're disproportionately expensive to get cover on.

Thanks for the comment, the swift sport could be a possibility as it looks a good choice.

[Croutons]

Look for a Fiat panda 1.4, with 100bhp.

2-3k to buy, a proper hoot. Keep the rest of your cash for advanced driving lessons/ when you have ncb and want to upgrade.

[SB8999]

Croutons said:

Look for a Fiat panda 1.4, with 100bhp.

2-3k to buy, a proper hoot. Keep the rest of your cash for advanced driving lessons/ when you have ncb and want to upgrade.

But waking up in the morning and thinking "sh*t! I have a fiat panda" would make me want to cut my wrists.

[InitialDave]

SB8999 said:

But waking up in the morning and thinking "sh*t! I have a fiat panda" would make me want to cut my wrists.

Look at the number of positive threads about them on PH, though.

[Croutons]

SB8999 said:

Croutons said:

Look for a Fiat panda 1.4, with 100bhp.

2-3k to buy, a proper hoot. Keep the rest of your cash for advanced driving lessons/ when you have ncb and want to upgrade.

But waking up in the morning and thinking "sh*t! I have a fiat panda" would make me want to cut my wrists.

You asked for "good cornering ability". It will be significantly better than you.

And it's half your budget.

If you were spending £50K you could afford the additional arrogance.

[SB8999]

Croutons said:

SB8999 said:

Croutons said:

Look for a Fiat panda 1.4, with 100bhp.

2-3k to buy, a proper hoot. Keep the rest of your cash for advanced driving lessons/ when you have ncb and want to upgrade.

But waking up in the morning and thinking "sh*t! I have a fiat panda" would make me want to cut my wrists.

You asked for "good cornering ability". It will be significantly better than you.

And it's half your budget.

If you were spending £50K you could afford the additional arrogance.

But it's a fiat panda even the name sounds horrible.

[SB8999]

I don't doubt that the 100hp fiat panda is a good car but it's just the thought of having one that annoys me. Oh and the interior is dreadful.

[InitialDave]

SB8999 said:

But it's a fiat panda even the name sounds horrible.

Well, Ford Fiestas are ok, and those share the name of your dad's era jazz mags, so I wouldn't get too caught up in whether it's a silly name.

What you want is something that isn't crazy on insurance, which unfortunately means you're unlikely to get great gobs of power, but low weight and a decent chassis will more than make up for it. About 100bhp in a lightweight hatchback that handles nicely will go plenty fast enough if you know how to use it.

[Ron99]

SB8999 said:

But it's a fiat panda even the name sounds horrible.

Fiat Panda 1.4 (100hp) would be on my shortlist.
Also Kia Picanto or Citroen C1 with 1.2 (84hp). Not remarkably quick but quick enough and very agile with low running costs.
And of course, a Suzuki Swift Sport 1.6 (I have one as my second car).

Half the fun is having a car that is little-known or underestimated and then wiping the smirk off someones face when they have a 'WTF?!' moment.
My main/family car is a six-year-old Insignia (Elite trim level). It looks just like all the other Insignias.
However, underneath the Mr.Average exterior it's a 2.8T V6 with 4wd and adaptive suspension which mean the handling and ability to get the power down cleanly are vastly better than you'd expect for such a big hefty old girl.

[Turbojuice]

I doubt you'd be able to insure a Renaultsport car, maybe a sport Twingo at a push. VXR's and ST's absolutely no chance. I do reckon you could insure a Swift Sport though, and imo the Swift is better than the Twingo, so win win.

I'd recommend phoning up insurers and haggling. Bit of a faff compared to comparison sites but it's the only way to get the best deals these days.

[Ron99]

InitialDave said:

...What you want is something that isn't crazy on insurance, which unfortunately means you're unlikely to get great gobs of power....

My SSS was a lot cheaper to insure than I expected, relative to other cars our household has or had in the last several years.
I think it's partly because the SSS isn't considered quick enough for the hooligans, who are more interested in a Corsa VXR.

So Corsa VXRs get crashed a lot by the hooligans, which pushes up the insurer's risk assessment of a Corsa VXR and anyone wanting to insure one gets penalised.
But SSS are less attractive to hooligans so they have less claims and the insurer views the car as less risky therefore cheaper to insure.