If you were starting out again, what cars would you buy?
Discussion
A good friend of mine has a small, relatively modest collection of cars by virtue of being quite shrewd with his choices and never selling any car he has owned! I quite admire his little collection and it is very personal to him and the qualities that he admires in vehicles.
Most of us are probably a few years and a few cars into our driving careers (25+ years) in my case but inevitably that has involved getting rid of cars that we would have liked to have kept due to personal/financial/space constraints and although we would probably like our next vehicle to be a progression/improvement of the last, those reasons may lead to some sideways/backward steps too. With my kids only a few years off driving age themselves now and having tried to instill some love for cars in them, I often wonder what their motoring journey will look like.
So, if you were starting out as a new driver in 2025 and building a collection of (up to) 6 cars (assuming you have the space), what would you go for and how does that differ from what you actually went for?
Here are my choices.
1) First car. VW Up. Has to be a small, low-powered hatchback really and that's no bad thing. My first car was a red Fiat Cinquecento Sporting!
GTi would be too expensive to insure obviously. IIRC wasn't there a lower powered non-GTi TSI version, which would be the one to have if you can find one I think? I can't find one, so I guess a 75bhp NA one would do. Should be red probably but I quite like this blue.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/17654023
Failing that, not quite as cool but a 3 door TSI Polo.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202412107...
Either should cover the first 3 years and then become the ultimate leave anywhere/pop to the shops "station" car.
2) 2nd car. Ford Fiesta ST (mk7). Difficult to argue against a hot hatch. First performance car for many (myself included). Mine was a Peugeot 205 GTi 1.6 (had a 1.4 Astra in between the Fiat and Peugeot, which was a mistake). Best value and most fun IMHO is the mk7 Fiesta ST.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/12836780
3) 3rd car. BMW M2. A more serious sports car. I had an NB MX5 that I never really gelled with but probably my fault, as would have responded well to some mods but I only owned it for a short time and moved on for financial reasons. A GR86 is tempting but doesn't really offer any more performance than the Fiesta, so I'd go 981 Cayman/original M2. I don't much care for the wheels on the M2 and the colour/trim options are a bit limited but it's a bit more practical as a day-to-day car and there's probably more that you can do with it to improve it and make it into quite a capable fast road/track car.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/17367934
4) 4th car. Land Rover Discovery 4. Something practical. Probably time to think about settling down/having a family/buying a house at this point, so something practical/utilitarian is required. A fast estate appeals but makes less and less sense in 2025. Discovery 4/L322 Range Rover was "peak" Land Rover IMHO. Probably the Discovery for the extra seats/utility but it's not Euro 6 (were any of the diesel L322 Range Rovers Euro 6)? We (or should I say my wife) had the rather less cool Chrysler Grand Voyager. I wouldn't have wanted to drive it every day but I do miss its utility.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/16778574
5) 5th car. Jaguar F-Type Convertible/Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG. Something a bit indulgent. All the bases are now pretty much covered, so something I want rather than need. Mine was an E30 325i Cabriolet, as I had a company car, so didn't need to own my own car but had always thought these were cool. Everyone "needs" a V8, so I think if budget allowed an F-Type convertible with the supercharged V8.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410245...
Or on a slightly more modest budget, an SL55 AMG.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202407171...
6) 6th car. Audi R8 V10 Plus. Dream car. Perhaps if you're shrewd with your car buying purchases, the "dream car" might be attainable. The closest I got was probably my Impreza WRX Wagon but if I could find a way of getting there, the Audi R8 Coupe is still as cool AF IMHO. I do like the early V8 manuals but the V10 is an event and puts it into proper supercar territory doesn't it, so probably an early mk2 V10 Plus (without the noise filters) and they're a relative bargain.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410115...
So, if you were starting out in 2025 as a fresh-faced 17 year old driver with the intention of building an (up to) 6 car collection over the next 10-15 years that covers all your automotive requirements then what cars would you buy?
Most of us are probably a few years and a few cars into our driving careers (25+ years) in my case but inevitably that has involved getting rid of cars that we would have liked to have kept due to personal/financial/space constraints and although we would probably like our next vehicle to be a progression/improvement of the last, those reasons may lead to some sideways/backward steps too. With my kids only a few years off driving age themselves now and having tried to instill some love for cars in them, I often wonder what their motoring journey will look like.
So, if you were starting out as a new driver in 2025 and building a collection of (up to) 6 cars (assuming you have the space), what would you go for and how does that differ from what you actually went for?
Here are my choices.
1) First car. VW Up. Has to be a small, low-powered hatchback really and that's no bad thing. My first car was a red Fiat Cinquecento Sporting!
GTi would be too expensive to insure obviously. IIRC wasn't there a lower powered non-GTi TSI version, which would be the one to have if you can find one I think? I can't find one, so I guess a 75bhp NA one would do. Should be red probably but I quite like this blue.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/17654023
Failing that, not quite as cool but a 3 door TSI Polo.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202412107...
Either should cover the first 3 years and then become the ultimate leave anywhere/pop to the shops "station" car.
2) 2nd car. Ford Fiesta ST (mk7). Difficult to argue against a hot hatch. First performance car for many (myself included). Mine was a Peugeot 205 GTi 1.6 (had a 1.4 Astra in between the Fiat and Peugeot, which was a mistake). Best value and most fun IMHO is the mk7 Fiesta ST.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/12836780
3) 3rd car. BMW M2. A more serious sports car. I had an NB MX5 that I never really gelled with but probably my fault, as would have responded well to some mods but I only owned it for a short time and moved on for financial reasons. A GR86 is tempting but doesn't really offer any more performance than the Fiesta, so I'd go 981 Cayman/original M2. I don't much care for the wheels on the M2 and the colour/trim options are a bit limited but it's a bit more practical as a day-to-day car and there's probably more that you can do with it to improve it and make it into quite a capable fast road/track car.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/17367934
4) 4th car. Land Rover Discovery 4. Something practical. Probably time to think about settling down/having a family/buying a house at this point, so something practical/utilitarian is required. A fast estate appeals but makes less and less sense in 2025. Discovery 4/L322 Range Rover was "peak" Land Rover IMHO. Probably the Discovery for the extra seats/utility but it's not Euro 6 (were any of the diesel L322 Range Rovers Euro 6)? We (or should I say my wife) had the rather less cool Chrysler Grand Voyager. I wouldn't have wanted to drive it every day but I do miss its utility.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/16778574
5) 5th car. Jaguar F-Type Convertible/Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG. Something a bit indulgent. All the bases are now pretty much covered, so something I want rather than need. Mine was an E30 325i Cabriolet, as I had a company car, so didn't need to own my own car but had always thought these were cool. Everyone "needs" a V8, so I think if budget allowed an F-Type convertible with the supercharged V8.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410245...
Or on a slightly more modest budget, an SL55 AMG.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202407171...
6) 6th car. Audi R8 V10 Plus. Dream car. Perhaps if you're shrewd with your car buying purchases, the "dream car" might be attainable. The closest I got was probably my Impreza WRX Wagon but if I could find a way of getting there, the Audi R8 Coupe is still as cool AF IMHO. I do like the early V8 manuals but the V10 is an event and puts it into proper supercar territory doesn't it, so probably an early mk2 V10 Plus (without the noise filters) and they're a relative bargain.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410115...
So, if you were starting out in 2025 as a fresh-faced 17 year old driver with the intention of building an (up to) 6 car collection over the next 10-15 years that covers all your automotive requirements then what cars would you buy?
Edited by white_goodman on Monday 6th January 19:57
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