Which first car to choose?

[Lanxx]

Soon I'm going to need my first car. I'm 18 so insurance could give me a spanking.

I want something old, nothing flash. Needs to be cheap to buy, reliable (ok lets be realistic) and ok on fuel.

I've been thinking:

Peugeot 205/309
VW Golf mk2/mk3
VW Polo
Ford Escort mk4
and I recently saw A 91 VW Jetta for sale for £400. It's just a Golf with a boot right?

Any ideas on these? ^^^^
Cheers all. Oh and no GTI's please, I can hardly afford to insure a wheelbarrow at my age

[deveng]

Don't get your hopes up on any particular make/model, just find a car that's in good nick for the money and won't require Vaseline to insure.

[Eunos]

Nissan Sunny, 1.6 SR one or even a 100nx would be a nice & cheap first car.

[Jayho]

Doesnt really matter on engine size tbh, its all the fictatious insurance stats which they use. I've always found, personally, that German cars, especially VW have been over the odds for insurance.

Example is Leon Cupra, VW Golf GTI, Octavia VRS and Audi A3, all with the 1.8T engine, the most expensive to insure was the Golf GTI by £250, and cheapest was the Leon.

Have a look at Astra's Mk4, They've always returned decent quotes for me.

[Rawwr]

[Lanxx]

Rawwr said:

WOO at least I'd get a Primera! Haha but seriously that made me laugh

[Rawwr]

Joking aside, there's some truth behind it.

Avoid cars you think would be cheap to insure. Everyone your age buys the same subset of cars because they think they're cheap. They then go on to park these cars in trees, hedges and childrens' playing areas, which makes them an insurance nightmare.

I'd be willing to bet certain important bits of my anatomy that there are a handful of larger, more powerful cars you can insure for less than a Corsa 1.2.

[Lanxx]

Rawwr said:

Joking aside, there's some truth behind it.

Avoid cars you think would be cheap to insure. Everyone your age buys the same subset of cars because they think they're cheap. They then go on to park these cars in trees, hedges and childrens' playing areas, which makes them an insurance nightmare.

I'd be willing to bet certain important bits of my anatomy that there are a handful of larger, more powerful cars you can insure for less than a Corsa 1.2.

You got it in one. I showed my mum how stupid it all was. Ok so I put her as the main driver and me as a named (which I obviously won't do for real)

Renault Clio 1999 1.1L petrol: 1250 a year
1987 Ford Capri 2.oL with no alarm or immobiliser: 750 a year

Dumb or what?

[Rawwr]

Think 'korean barges with over 2000cc' and see where that goes.

[geeteeaye]

Lanxx said:

Soon I'm going to need my first car. I'm 18 so insurance could give me a spanking.

I want something old, nothing flash. Needs to be cheap to buy, reliable (ok lets be realistic) and ok on fuel.

I've been thinking:

Peugeot 205/309
VW Golf mk2/mk3
VW Polo
Ford Escort mk4
and I recently saw A 91 VW Jetta for sale for £400. It's just a Golf with a boot right?

Any ideas on these? ^^^^
Cheers all. Oh and no GTI's please, I can hardly afford to insure a wheelbarrow at my age

Would steer away from the 205, 309 & Escort. Nowt wrong with them per se and I've looked at 205's & 309's, but only for the GTi - a basic 1.1 will be pretty nasty by now, rattly and will break a lot (unless you are mechanically minded). The Escort mk4 was pretty crap in its day and now is a horrible thing.

If you want an older car, the Mk2 Golf, Polo, Jetta or best of all IMO an old Scirocco (quite rare and nice looking)

If you want just something reliable, cheap to fix but more modern, a 2000/1/2 Fiesta can be had for small money. Otherwise a Mk4 Astra as has been said or preferably a Focus.