Looking for advice here. I need a car for my children to learn to drive in, but which is big enough for bikes and dogs (though not at the same time).

We had a petrol Ford Focus (1.6) which did this admirably, apart from being the dullest car in the world to drive. So much so that I was forced (against my will) to buy an ancient MX-5 to cheer myself up.

I’m expecting that my children are going to scratch and scrape it, so new and shiny is not good. Budget is therefore around £3-5k so that I don’t feel too sad when it comes home with a big gouge in the side.

But I’d really like reliable – the MX-5 is pretty amazing in that respect (apart from the coolant leak, but that’s another forum post….).

Oh, and cheap to insure. That rules out all those lovely petrol estates with nice big engines 🙁

What’s out there?

EDIT: the choice is not helped by having recently been driving a 2017 SEAT Leon 🙁

You might be surprised on the big estate thing – cars like that are not normally driven by learners so statistically they might be low risk.

another focus?

oldnpastit – Member

Oh, and cheap to insure. That rules out all those lovely petrol estates with nice big engines

How about diesels? I was gobsmacked when I got my 2.2 mondeo, it cost about the same to insure as my old 1.8 focus despite having basically twice the power and 50% more throw-weight. Because boy racers and nutters don’t buy a diesel mondeo, basically.

(other big diesels are available)

Most cars are reasonable to insure while they are a learner as they have a driver next to them who is mildly experienced. It gets more expensive when they pass and are allowed out on their own so worth doing some quotes.

My money would be on a Focus estate or golf estate.

Toyota avensis/auris or similar.
Great on the reliability stakes.
They are pretty dull generally so maybe less likely for the kids to rag it around, and if they do they probably don’t go that fast anyway.
I would imagine they are cheap to insure too.

Just get another Focus. There are loads about, they don’t go wrong all that often and when they do they’re usually cheap to fix. Most people don’t rate them as quite the dullest car to drive either.

Most people don’t rate them as quite the dullest car to drive either.

Mk1 was a great handling car. 1.6 petrol, cheap as chips.

The last generation Toyota Corolla would be on my short list…

A Toyota avensis 1.8 turns out to be about £250 cheaper to insure than a 1.6 focus. Bizarre.

Last year I replaced my Focus with a 2007 VW Golf 1.6 FSI

Auris is a bit unloved (and dull to drive so perfect) so should be available fairly cheap. We got our kids a Yaris. All panels are now dented after 3 of them and 10 years. You could buy a cheap already dented car.

avensis/auris… i mean for who really wants this cars, insurance should pay me/us to drive one of this

Is this just for them to learn to drive in or do you want them to run it after they’ve passed? It makes a big difference.

Cheapest way for both of our two to learn was to buy a separate learner cover policy that applied only whilst they were supervised in an already insured vehicle and lapsed as soon as they passed. It allowed them to learn in our cars, which were, coincidentally,
(elder one) a Mondeo diesel estate
(younger one) an Auris petrol

I would have taught both in the Mondeo but for the fact that learner policy would not cover it for the younger one. They said 163 ps was too powerful for a learner, so beware of some exclusions if you follow this route.
Within limits though, most cars cost the same under these learner policies.

If however the car also needs to be driven by them after they pass, then none of the options listed so far are going to be cheap once the test is passed.