What car would you buy a 17 year old?

[Sim75]

It's coming, in a few months with my eldest son.

Had my eye on a previous generation A1 1.4, but insurance costs for these have skyrocketed since i last looked 6 months ago.

I know, I know, insurance is differrent for everyone, but there must be some ok(ish) cars that buck the trend of eyewateringly high motoring.
When I was a wee lad my 1.3 SR was exactly this.

Specific makes and models would be mopst helpful, rather than the typical 'just a £500 banger mate'

[Scrump]

I bought my daughter a 107. Fun and easy to drive, reliable and economical. An obvious choice but they are popular for a reason.

[CraigyMc]

VW up! Is quite cheap to insure.

[Geffg]

Going through the same with my daughter. Been looking at a fiesta or a polo.

[Peanut130]

fiat panda 1.2

[paintman]

Based on my experience with both my sons a small car in what would be considered 'ladies cars' category
At that time - noughties - insurance quotes ruled out anything by Ford & Vauxhall and ruled in small Nissans & Peugeots.
We had several Peugeot 205 1.4 hatchbacks & the insurance was sensible.
Frankly I was surprised as they went like the proverbial off a shovel & handled like go-karts!

[Vasco]

Fiesta 997cc

[BoRED S2upid]

CraigyMc said:

VW up! Is quite cheap to insure.

That’s a good shout and can be quite cool.


If you were in France it would be a Ami.

[595Heaven]

Another vote for a VW Up!

Great first car - my boy loves his

[Ranger 6]

BoRED S2upid said:

CraigyMc said:

VW up! Is quite cheap to insure.

That’s a good shout and can be quite cool.


If you were in France it would be a Ami.

Both mine enjoyed the Up! - in fact my son still has it. Not only cheap to insure, cheap to run and reliable.

[MC Bodge]

Something cheap and simple.

Old Fiesta, Fabia or Corsa?

Encourage them to maintain it at home. Show them how. You can learn so many useful skills from cars.

[BoRED S2upid]

Ranger 6 said:

BoRED S2upid said:

CraigyMc said:

VW up! Is quite cheap to insure.

That’s a good shout and can be quite cool.


If you were in France it would be a Ami.

Both mine enjoyed the Up! - in fact my son still has it. Not only cheap to insure, cheap to run and reliable.

Very low insurance group as well. What’s not to like.

I was thinking the Toyota IQ looks pretty funky £0 tax, 60mpg but insurance group 4e. UP is 1e.

[VS02]

My first car was a Polo 1.0 mpi with a measly 60bhp

Served me well for 2 and a half years
Cheap as piss to insure
Cheap as piss to run
Looked great
Was so refined


Cost me £810 to insure without a black box

Cheap to repair when you bin it (I binned mine)

Usually carted 5 lads around the country with the stereo banging (sounded great for a standard system)

I managed to vmax it (private road) at 103 indicated with 3 lads downhill. Took about 16 and a half seconds to reach 60 so that took about an eternity.

The funniest moment I had was when I managed to get 8 6 foot lads in the car (again, private road) and the car just refused to go anywhere because the puny 60hp engine couldn’t handle it!

Learnt to drive in it, passed my test in it, and drove it everywhere. Made so many of my memories


Proper fun car. Easy to park and taught me a lot about driving. Made a great noise too

Polo/ibiza/audi a1 hold their value extremely well

Bought my Polo for 6500 at 3 years old with 23,000 miles
I sold mine 2 and a half years later this summer with 36,000 miles for 7790


Now moved on to bigger cars but won’t ever forget that little Polo

Edited by VS02 on Monday 31st October 20:15

[samoht]

BoRED S2upid said:

I was thinking the Toyota IQ looks pretty funky £0 tax, 60mpg but insurance group 4e. UP is 1e.

Possibly the super-clever packaging results in more stuff getting broken in a shunt, and more labour to repair it ? And/or repair parts come from Japan and are more expensive. It's pretty rare so there may be fewer pattern parts around too.

[PK0001]

One son has had a VW Up followed by a 2016 VW Polo 1.2. Both excellent first cars with low insurance and running costs. Up really is an excellent car.

Other son has a 2018 Seat Ibiza FR with the 3 cylinder 1litre 115bhp engine. All the toys inc apple car play, sports seats etc and very easy to drive. Difficult to find but I think he will keep it a while.

[gareth h]

Swift attitude, bought one for my son, quite a funky thing and drove much better than my daughters Fiat 500.
https://www.evo.co.uk/suzuki/swift/7161/2012-suzuk...

[Tagteam]

CraigyMc said:

VW up! Is quite cheap to insure.

Great car too , feel like a teenager when driving it

[Mr Squarekins]

This is Pistonheads, so someone suggest a 911. (or a Jensen Interceptor).

Up! or even a Lupo gti ?

[fooman]

Any insurance group 1, it really makes a difference, I've got two teens insured on a Panda and it's reasonable only about 50% more than my Merc!

Chevrolet
Spark

Citroën
C1

Fiat
Panda

Ford
Ka Plus

Hyundai
i10

Kia
Picanto Hatchback
Rio

Nissan
Micra Hatchback

SEAT
Mii

Skoda
Citigo
Fabia

Smart
Forfour

Vauxhall
Corsa

Volkswagen
Fox
Polo
Up

[duckson]

Found that the Kia Picanto was about the cheapest for my 17yr old son and hoping it’ll have decent reliability (been fine for the 6 months we’ve had it).

Which insurance company are you using? Direct Line seem/seemed the best and cheapest back in Feb.