Typical, what car at 18

[FootLongK]

Hello guys!

Passed my test on 10th looking for a car and cannot figure out WTF!
Living in a band C area blah blah.
Im fine with paying 2-3k for insurance.
I dont know what to buy and i would prefer not to have a blackbox.

What would my options be besides corsa/fez/h10/c1 etc. Comparison sites ive given up on im getting 4-5k quotes for any car.

Would an FTO be a choice? Hyundai Coupe?
Please no sheds

Thank you, and no i do not live in a fluffly cloud im just looking for options before i resort to the maccies car park stalker cars.

Edited by FootLongK on Wednesday 23 December 05:50

EDIT: Budget for car 1.5k insurance 300max if no black box per month

Sorry

Edited by FootLongK on Wednesday 23 December 07:20

[jwilco]

I think it'd be useful to give your first year budget - i.e. insurance plus car.

[A500leroy]

just do some insurance quotes, try things not typical for your age, mondeo,qashqai etc.

[tomsugden]

You say no sheds, but £1.5k is shed territory. Try lesser know variants of the obvious cars, so rather than a VW Polo, try a Skoda Fabia / Seat Leon / Seat Ibiza. Cars less obvious to teenagers like Suzuki Swift, Alfa Romeo 147 or Mito. Good luck with the search.

[Maracus]

My 17 year old son has just passed his driving test.

He's had a Toyota Aygo since March, insurance is £700 now he's passed his test.

Personally, I would get something cheap to insurance and Japanese for a couple of years to get some no claims.

HTH.

[Pat H]

Aygo/C1s are absurdly cheap to run and maintain, but I didn't like the long gearing and slow steering.

My elder daughter has a 2007 1.5 Swift. Nice to drive and surprisingly cheap to insure. It's been reasonably reliable over the last four years, but parts aren't the cheapest. It's about to reach 100k and the front cross member is now rotten, the petrol filler pipe rotted through and it has needed rear wheel bearings, rear wheel cylinders and crank position sensor. I'm not sure I would buy another, but it's been a decent car.

Younger daughter has a 2002 K11 Micra. These things are brilliant, but it's really hard to find one that's not got rotten sills. Car tax is quite high and economy isn't up to modern standards, but they are nicer to drive than an Aygo/C1 and are really well designed and built. The rare 1.4s are worth seeking out for the extra performance.

[samoht]

FootLongK said:

Would an FTO be a choice? Hyundai Coupe?
Please no sheds

Congrats on passing your test! Big milestone, and glad you managed to get it done between lockdowns.

I think we can comment on cars within budget, but not so much on insurance as it'll be different for each person, so you'll just have to search and ring around for quotes.

FTO is a bit above your budget, be careful of rust with these. Hyundai Coupe is definitely possible, the last (7th gen) Toyota Celica is another good affordable coupe and is normally quite cheap to run. The last option, and perhaps the best to drive, is a Puma, again rust warning. There's the odd Mazda MX-3 around your budget, mostly with the 1.6 four-pot but a few with the 1.8 V6, or you might find an MX-6 with the 2.5 V6 or its Ford Probe platform-twin. Finally the 6th gen Toyota Celica is robust, spacious and (imo) good looking, but rare now.

I've no idea where insurance will end up on any of these coupes, but worth checking them all out.

[ZX10R NIN]

In all honesty you'll end up with a black box.

[survivalist]

Been a good 20 years since I’ve been in this scenario.
Do classic insurance people still cover the young? If so then ropey V8 with 12 months of MOT, cheap insurance and save the cash for the terrible mpg.

Sounds stupid, but he’s got about 10 years to enjoy a car that isn’t electric and does 99% of the driving for him.

[dasbimmerowner]

Start with group 1 cars and work your way up.

https://www.parkers.co.uk/car-insurance/cheap-cars...

[culpz]

ZX10R NIN said:

In all honesty you'll end up with a black box.

Not necessarily.

There used to be an old trick of looking at bigger and more unusual cars for a 18 old to drive, like Volvo's and such. I've got a feeling that insurance companies may have wisened up to this though.

I'd still give it a try, as you may be surprised. Look at quotes on anything and everything that you could realistically afford to run. Still maybe expect quotes of between 2-3k, but at least it's a decent saving.

[exelero]

My sister in law just passed her test like 6 months ago. Got herself a Polo because badge. I told her not to get such an expensive car as a first one but she wouldn’t listen. She spanked out 7.5 grand for a 1 litre Polo and another 3 grand on insurance. She managed to crash it into a taxi ( well not crash as such just hitting it) less than 100 miles later. It’s somehow my fault tho because I told her she will crash it lol. Anyway you can end up with no box, but it won’t be cheap . I would go for something like a 1.4 Corolla or similar .

[WonkeyDonkey]

In your position 10 years ago I got extremely bored at looking at 'sensible' cars like Focus and fiestas and ended up buying a mk2.5 MX5. Insurance was £1500 at the time which was comparable to the Ford's.

A lot will depend on postcode but it's good to see someone looking at different cars. All the younger adults round here seem to end up with Corsa/Fiestas or leased German tat.

[gareth h]

I bought my son a Suzuki Swift Attitude a few years ago, looks quite sporty with carbon look roof and mirrors, I drove it a few weeks ago to have some tyres fitted, drives really nicely, particularly compared to my daughter’s Fiat 500.

[Little Lofty]

Insurance is weird. My son passed his test in February at 17, he is a lucky lad and has a UP GTi. His insurance is just under £800 with a black box, his mates have 5 year old Cora’s/Fiesta etc and pay double that. I assume Fiesta/Cora’s have a bad claims history for young drivers so more obscure cars fair better. The best thing to do is play around on Go Compare, input various registrations of cars you like and see what comes out the best.

[aaron_2000]

I had a Focus ST170 as my first car, it was cheaper to insure than a lot of cars at the time.

[Salmonofdoubt]

As has been said look at cars nobody wants or consider something that’s a classic or modern classic.

An older car gives you a hobby, stands out and marks you as a far more interesting person than someone who drives another Corsa.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012086...


https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202012137...

[Ilovejapcrap]

gareth h said:

I bought my son a Suzuki Swift Attitude a few years ago, looks quite sporty with carbon look roof and mirrors, I drove it a few weeks ago to have some tyres fitted, drives really nicely, particularly compared to my daughter’s Fiat 500.

This all day long or the prev generation, cheap to insure relative problem free and a nice place to sit for what they are.

Please just get a cheap jap car and run a couple of years. The money I lost buying and insuring fancy cars as a kid makes me cry now.

[mickyh7]

Good God how times have changed.
When I was 17 and had just passed my test, I bought a 1.6 XL Capri, Yellow with the Black Vinyl Roof.
Insurance cost next to nothing.
I was bored within a few months and traded up to another Capri, a 3.0 Ghia.
Midnight Blue, manul box.
The Insurance went up, but not by a huge amount. I was living inner city at the time.
Same with bikes, I had a Suzuki GT750 through Norwich Union Rider Policy , at 18, again very cheap.
Motoring is all but finished fun wise.

[gareth h]

mickyh7 said:

Good God how times have changed.
When I was 17 and had just passed my test, I bought a 1.6 XL Capri, Yellow with the Black Vinyl Roof.
Insurance cost next to nothing.
I was bored within a few months and traded up to another Capri, a 3.0 Ghia.
Midnight Blue, manul box.
The Insurance went up, but not by a huge amount. I was living inner city at the time.
Same with bikes, I had a Suzuki GT750 through Norwich Union Rider Policy , at 18, again very cheap.
Motoring is all but finished fun wise.

I know, happy days, I had a Triumph GT6 and a Honda CB900, although I seem to remember we all had 50cc rider policies which allowed you to ride any motorcycle provided it didn’t belong to you!