Insurance gone loopy.... need some car ideas!

[H_Kan]

Grrrrrrr.

The plan had been to get an e46 330ci when I had a job sorted out, things are now looking positive on that front (touch wood) and so I start looking and find they've dipped in value as well. However they were previously coming in around £950 to insure but this is now around £1500- which imo is too much.

So I thought I'd look at some alternatives including e39 530i, e36 328ci, S2000, VX220, Jag X type 3.0 Sport, Saab 9-5 Aero Hot, Honda Accord Type R for some more left field performance cars which may be a bit cheaper on insurance then something that has the sort of reputation 3 series coupes have. Not a single one came in at less then £1300. Even a mk2 MX5 is clocking in at a grand!

So are there any quick cars which are performance bargains that I am missing?

I am 23, professional, 5 years driving experience, 1 year ncd and 1 fault claim 4 years ago. Car would be for soc and comm. and probably do around 6000 miles a year, parked on road at home overnight and usually in office car park in good area in the day.

I could spend upto £8k, but would MUCH prefer it to be around the £5-6k mark. 4 seats preferable and needs reasonable running costs and mpg.

Edited by H_Kan on Monday 1st November 11:44

[H_Kan]

Come on PH.... there must be some suitable cars knocking about.

[Crusoe]

smaller hot hatches if you are looking for fun but want to keep your insurance down, lupo gti or 106gti both quite cheap to insure.

325ci isn't that much slower than the 330 but was a few groups lower and maybe worth a quote too.

Edited by Crusoe on Monday 1st November 12:15

[Papa Hotel]

What about a 320? You can still pose around in it then get rid of it in two years when you have a sensible NCB to shout about and are the magic 25 years old. It'll still be a decent drive.

[H_Kan]

Papa Hotel said:

What about a 320? You can still pose around in it then get rid of it in two years when you have a sensible NCB to shout about and are the magic 25 years old. It'll still be a decent drive.

Even a 320 is around £1200 to insure and similar money to buy, in which case I may as well stomach the extra £300 pa. Will look to see if the 325 can achieve a similar saving though.

Hatches like the Lupo and 106 don't really appeal in that they aren't a sports car but don't have any of the practicalities of a larger car either. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[300bhp/ton]

H_Kan said:

Grrrrrrr.

The plan had been to get an e46 330ci when I had a job sorted out, things are now looking positive on that front (touch wood) and so I start looking and find they've dipped in value as well. However they were previously coming in around £950 to insure but this is now around £1500- which imo is too much.

So I thought I'd look at some alternatives including e39 530i, e36 328ci, S2000, VX220, Jag X type 3.0 Sport, Saab 9-5 Aero Hot, Honda Accord Type R for some more left field performance cars which may be a bit cheaper on insurance then something that has the sort of reputation 3 series coupes have. Not a single one came in at less then £1300. Even a mk2 MX5 is clocking in at a grand!

So are there any quick cars which are performance bargains that I am missing?

I am 23, professional, 5 years driving experience, 1 year ncd and 1 fault claim 4 years ago. Car would be for soc and comm. and probably do around 6000 miles a year, parked on road at home overnight and usually in office car park in good area in the day.

I could spend upto £8k, but would MUCH prefer it to be around the £5-6k mark. 4 seats preferable and needs reasonable running costs and mpg.

Edited by H_Kan on Monday 1st November 11:44

Classic and kit cars are likely to be cheapest to insure. This also leads into modified cars. Amazingly these can be cheaper to insure than standard ones, even more so if older.

And yes I know people will say you can't have a classic policy with one car at this age. But that's not what I mean. You can still insure a classic car on a normal policy, but it is likely to be cheaper than a more modern car.

e.g a mate of similar age to you but 0 NCB found that it only cost around £50 more a year to insure my 1977 3.5 V8 powered TR7 sports car compared to their 1994 1.4 Corsa.

So with £8k on offer, you could look at a very nice modified BMW e21 or maybe an e30. Triumph 2000/2500 or a Dolly Sprint. Rover SD1 V8 and LPG.

[BoRED S2upid]

Would a TDI be cheaper to insure?

[winshent]

you need to try some specialist insurers.. and maybe some sort of bmw club membership will get your further discount..

Edited by winshent on Monday 1st November 12:44

[H_Kan]

The Crack Fox said:

An E46 325CI is (on paper) a second slower 0-60 than the 330CI. As a 330CI owner I would imagine you'd really feel that in the real world, they are quite heavy cars.

S2000 insurance won't be any cheaper then a 330CI.

Save up for another year, insurance and cars will be cheaper then

Thanks for the advice re 330 v 325.

The s2k was wishful thinking really, just ran the quote as I really like them. The VX though did come in at sub £1k to insure however this too has shot up.

Depressing thing is that I'm not at all sure that the prices will return to the levels of 12 months ago in the future- much like petrol under £1 a litre is a distant memory!

[Clark]

I was led to believe the S2000 can be a pain to get decent quotes for, although someone will probably correct me.

[morrellski]

bias opinion but how about a octavia vrs?

[HellDiver]

You're going to have to bend over and take an ass-raping for another 7 years at least until your insurance rates come down.

The old "cheap insurance at 21" is a falacy - realistically it's 30 now.

[H_Kan]

Having looked, the e36 328i coupe, Mini Cooper S, Mini Cooper S Works and MX5 mk2 are sub £1k for insurance.

What would people go for amongst these? I like the idea of a Mini Cooper S, but not sure how it will be fuel? Commute will be around 10 miles mainly urban.

Also, is the works package worth the extra?

[hoppo4.2]

look harder for your insurance. or picka car that has a specialist folowing i had a cerbera at 24 insured with mannings for less than £750.

BMW do seem to be expencive to insure though when i changed to my M3 took me a long time to get a decent quote less than £1K

[FRMATT]

Maybe you would be better with a less premium brand car, making the octavia a good choice

My Ibiza FR TDI is only £630 at age 21, 2 years no claims, single vehicle fault claim at age 18.

[300bhp/ton]

H_Kan said:

Having looked, the e36 328i coupe, Mini Cooper S, Mini Cooper S Works and MX5 mk2 are sub £1k for insurance.

What would people go for amongst these? I like the idea of a Mini Cooper S, but not sure how it will be fuel? Commute will be around 10 miles mainly urban.

Also, is the works package worth the extra?

The R53 MINI (the supercharged engine) is not great on fuel for a little car and engine. I hear 28mpg is sort of expected upto 32mpg max average. The latter R56 turbocharged MINI is much better on fuel but doesn't look quite as good and isn't as good to drive.

In terms of Works package. With the R53 it was very marketing lead but the differences are small and make little odds. No reason not to get one for similar or a little more money but don't over pay for one. Changes are different rotor tips in the blower but same as 04 onwards MINI CS non works. There was head work but apparently makes almost no HP and a different intercooler setup that had a rigged dyno test to make it produce much higher figures than it really does. Bigger brakes and the sports suspension were still options on the Works too.

R56 Works package is very different. There are two variants. 1. Is a dealer upgraded Cooper S with more power and a few addons and options. The factory JCW had a different engine even more power and an eDiff. Not sure if they are in budget though.

Head over to minitorque.com for more info.

As for your question which is best. Well it depends what you want. The e36 is a rwd coupe, pretty quick and a good drive and practical with rwd. But older and less of a looker IMO. The MINI is a modern fwd hatch but much smaller boot and rear seats. The Mazda is the slowest but it's the only sports car out of the 3. Chuckable fun and wind in the hair joys.

All have tuning potentials too.

Edited by 300bhp/ton on Tuesday 2nd November 08:23

[slipstream 1985]

i cant understand how everyone is struggling with increased insurance costs. mines came down only difference was turning 25 instead of 24

[jw golf mk4]

i do like the e36 328's something abit classy and understated about them over the Mini

[H_Kan]

FRMATT said:

Maybe you would be better with a less premium brand car, making the octavia a good choice

My Ibiza FR TDI is only £630 at age 21, 2 years no claims, single vehicle fault claim at age 18.

Not a big fan of the Octavias styling, but in any case it is more to insure then the 3 or 4 cars I mentioned earlier, all of which I'd have over the Octavia so it's pretty much out of the running, thanks for the suggestion though.

300bhp, thanks for the info, exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. 28mpg is just about ok, my old mk1 mx5 was similarly crap for such a small engined car! Will head over to the Mini website for some more info.

[TomS09]

I'd try the Accord Type R, found the insurance pretty cheap compared to cars with similar performance. Mine is 860 fully comp and I'm 21 with 3 years no claims.