Planet Rugby Forum

I know nothing about cars.
We are looking to get my son a first car to learn to drive in.
It must not have a lot of power!
We have a budget of about £3k.
Looking at some of the older polos about 2009 and Corsas
What is more important years or mileage?
Any recommendations or help would be appreciated

If you can get a decent Toyota Aygo, it's a cracking car.

Condition, service history, petrol engine in that order

I have a 2012 Renault Clio, extremely economical, comfortable but not the quickest. Electrics arent great at times though but hardly anything major, just lights dimming slightly when putting window up and down

http://www.usedcarsni.com/2012-Renault- ... -176308646 heres one for 3.5k

Cheers for the advice so far

Its a bit of a minefield this for people like me who have no idea, I always feel like car salesmen are trying to rip me off!

Sandstorm wrote:Condition, service history, petrol engine in that order

Yep. Good advice.

Insurance is the costly bit. I bought my stepdaughter said Aygo then forked out more on her insurance in the first year than I paid for it.

I think you have to keep the cc down and you can now fit this stuff that monitors how they drive, which lowers the premium.

Good luck. It is a minefield. (Sorry)

WInnie, where are you based ?

I would say Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall corsa, Honda Civic or Toyota aygo as either being cheap to fix and run, and / or very reliable provided you choose a manual petrol.

Edit - 3k for a first car is a lot, he will likely prang it. SAve yourself 2500 and get him a 14 year old Astra or Accord, pretty bombproof.

I speak as someone who has had the same Astra since new for 17 years without problem larger than a failed headlamp bulb.

Sandstorm wrote:Condition, service history, petrol engine in that order

Also not French

Don't buy a small French car - the electrics alone aren't worth the hassle (particularly when you are only spend 3 grand on it).

Something German or Japanese. You'd be a fool to look outside tried and tested first time cars like Golfs, Civics, etc....

Try get something diesel as well - cheaper to tax and insure and running costs are considerably lower. In my experience, insurance will be you main limiting factor.

Honda Jazz (no street cred)
Suzuki Swift
Toyota Yaris

All bomb proof

Edit: and don't get a diesel. He'll do a limited mileage, mostly around town, and will clog the DPF in no time.

Winnie wrote:Cheers for the advice so far

Its a bit of a minefield this for people like me who have no idea, I always feel like car salesmen are trying to rip me off!

Citroen C1s are inexplicably cheap and the kind of small low powered thing you are looking for. They shared the development costs with lots of other firms and have passed on the saving somewhat. You'll get one about 3-5 year old for about 3k-4k. I've mentioned it on here before you can lease them with insurance and breakdown included for £180 a month. Maybe worth doing that in your name and putting them on your cover. The thing is under warranty then as well, so you don't have to worry about it being french. Hand it back in 3 years and get another one. You don't have to go through the hassle of selling and the maths is about equal on depreciation. You're never buying other people's problems, just passing them on.

Keith wrote:Honda Jazz (no street cred)
Suzuki Swift
Toyota Yaris

All bomb proof

Edit: and don't get a diesel. He'll do a limited mileage, mostly around town, and will clog the DPF in no time.

Nothing that a good hard blast on a dual-carriage way or motorway every now and again won't clear.

backrow wrote:WInnie, where are you based ?

I would say Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall corsa, Honda Civic or Toyota aygo as either being cheap to fix and run, and / or very reliable provided you choose a manual petrol.

Edit - 3k for a first car is a lot, he will likely prang it. SAve yourself 2500 and get him a 14 year old Astra or Accord, pretty bombproof.

I speak as someone who has had the same Astra since new for 17 years without problem larger than a failed headlamp bulb.

I'm based in NI, my dad is in Scotland so I've also got him scouring the garages over there!
I agree with the 3k, the wife is worried about his street cred! My opinion is that he should be happy to get any car but it's falling on deaf ears lol

Really liking all the advice from everyone
Going to try and check out a few Citroens and toyotas over the weekend

The best plan for avoiding hideous insurance as a new driver is to buy something that other new drivers don't usually buy.

The more popular first driver cars are all heavily weighted as insurance risks as they are bought and crashed by more new drivers. You might find something a bit more leftfield is actually cheaper to insure even if it has more power.

Try something like a Volvo C30 1.6 http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... 1.6&page=1

Winnie Junior takes his first ride:

Learning to drive or learning to pass a driving test?

Winnie wrote:

backrow wrote:WInnie, where are you based ?

I would say Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall corsa, Honda Civic or Toyota aygo as either being cheap to fix and run, and / or very reliable provided you choose a manual petrol.

Edit - 3k for a first car is a lot, he will likely prang it. SAve yourself 2500 and get him a 14 year old Astra or Accord, pretty bombproof.

I speak as someone who has had the same Astra since new for 17 years without problem larger than a failed headlamp bulb.

I'm based in NI, my dad is in Scotland so I've also got him scouring the garages over there!
I agree with the 3k, the wife is worried about his street cred! My opinion is that he should be happy to get any car but it's falling on deaf ears lol

Really liking all the advice from everyone
Going to try and check out a few Citroens and toyotas over the weekend

Worrying about street cred ?! Wtf ?
are you 'cool' parents ?

I would steer clear of diesel for the DPF issues although a 17 year old kid taking the shite out of the car might keep it clear anyway.

At 17 you want a 1 litre or 1.2 max, with a good safety rating because he will drive it like a knobhead.

Go on 'compare the market' and put loads of different cars in for quotes- new shape minis are cheap to buy and insure. Your boy may not want one though

MrDominator wrote:Winnie Junior takes his first ride:

Spoiler: show

His mate got one for his 17th, he has nicknamed it the cherry popper

In all seriousness, get an MX-5
- cheap
- reliable
- and actually a proper driver's car but also well behaved

Torquemada 1420 wrote:In all seriousness, get an MX-5
- cheap
- reliable
- and actually a proper driver's car but also well behaved

The insurance would be mental.

Your best bet would be a petrol Toyota Yaris or Honda Jazz. Both bullet proof.

feckwanker wrote:

Keith wrote:Honda Jazz (no street cred)
Suzuki Swift
Toyota Yaris

All bomb proof

Edit: and don't get a diesel. He'll do a limited mileage, mostly around town, and will clog the DPF in no time.

Nothing that a good hard blast on a dual-carriage way or motorway every now and again won't clear.

That'll look good when the report from the telematics box comes through

Torquemada 1420 wrote:In all seriousness, get an MX-5
- cheap
- reliable
- and actually a proper driver's car but also well behaved

The wife's 2.0 mk3 was anything but well behaved (easy to get the tail out with the traction control on, very tail-happy in the wet with it off)

Good luck insuring a 17 year old in one

Anyone who is likely to spend most of their time driving in an urban area would be a bloody fool to buy a diesel, dual carriageway blasts or not.

Plus, air pollution's now in the news big time and I think diesel's days in the city are numbered. Perhaps not this decade, but it's going that way.

Renault clio as said, £30 tax per year
Insurance using direct line drive plus, put them as an additional driver on your policy, after a year, they as a named driver, will get their own one years no claim bonus, and so it starts

Winnie wrote:I know nothing about cars.
We are looking to get my son a first car to learn to drive in.
It must not have a lot of power!
We have a budget of about £3k.
Looking at some of the older polos about 2009 and Corsas
What is more important years or mileage?
Any recommendations or help would be appreciated

Ford Fiesta?

You should also consider servicing costs, older vw's can get expensive. Agree that a fiesta is worth a look at.

Insensitive b@stards. Stop talking about bulletproof and bombproof cars in front of the Nordie.

Without wanting to threadjack, I'm gonna threadjack.. From lurking memory, I think my post count would be shouted down if I start a new thread.

So I went from a corrado to a mb vito, long story..

I want to replace the vito.

I do about 500km a week, want some space for lugging stuff, surfboard on top. Home is a country lane with parking being tight to a wall so the tractors can pass, limited off road parking. Needs to be low on tax, cheap to service. But needs to be fun to handle and enough grunt to overtake on country roads, also cheap servicing costs and reliable.

Thinking of an estate but if anyone can recommend an SUV that fits the bill..

Price, anywhere from 5k money down to 15k with finance.

The alpha 159 is the sensible choice, right?

I had an Alfa 159 and I loved it - beautiful looking car, and fun to drive.

I had the saloon, but the estate is a good looking motor too

Torquemada 1420 wrote:In all seriousness, get an MX-5
- cheap
- reliable
- and actually a proper driver's car but also well behaved

That's ridiculous advice

Much as I hate to agree with yeeb about anything, a decent old Astra is a good call

Leinsterman wrote:Insensitive b@stards. Stop talking about bulletproof and bombproof cars in front of the Nordie.

MaccTaff wrote:I had an Alfa 159 and I loved it - beautiful looking car, and fun to drive.

I had the saloon, but the estate is a good looking motor too

How was it reliability; servicing wise. They look so good, and would be a drivers car but I am struggling between the sensible head versus the petrol head when it cones down to it

james garner wrote:Without wanting to threadjack, I'm gonna threadjack.. From lurking memory, I think my post count would be shouted down if I start a new thread.

So I went from a corrado to a mb vito, long story..

I want to replace the vito.

I do about 500km a week, want some space for lugging stuff, surfboard on top. Home is a country lane with parking being tight to a wall so the tractors can pass, limited off road parking. Needs to be low on tax, cheap to service. But needs to be fun to handle and enough grunt to overtake on country roads, also cheap servicing costs and reliable.

Thinking of an estate but if anyone can recommend an SUV that fits the bill..

Price, anywhere from 5k money down to 15k with finance.

The alpha 159 is the sensible choice, right?

Honda CRV

VW Polo, no contest.

james garner wrote:

MaccTaff wrote:I had an Alfa 159 and I loved it - beautiful looking car, and fun to drive.

I had the saloon, but the estate is a good looking motor too

How was it reliability; servicing wise. They look so good, and would be a drivers car but I am struggling between the sensible head versus the petrol head when it cones down to it

I don't think it has an amazing reputation for reliability, but I think that's partly the Alfa reputation. They got some krauts in several years I think, ago to add some German efficiency and solidity to the Italian flair.

I never had any issues with mine over the 3 years and 50,000 miles I racked up.

I had the Lusso, but the TI was the cooler one.

Honda jazz's is a great car.

A mate has one of those, fairly good reports from him, how are they for drive ability though? I like the slightly older, blocker version. Not a fan of the new one, but likely the new one out of price range. Can't find many for sale so far but will keep looking