i'm looking to spend 1500 around to get my first car.
i would like space for my bikes and low insurance please,any ideas ,hints or tips.?

Big cheap ass volvo….say around £300 or so and the rest on insurance (Which should be relatively low)

tomzo, you beat me to it. 1500 should cover the third party insurance shouldn't it? 😯

I have a polo for my first car – low insurance (avoid the 1.0 model though) an fit 2 bikes in with wheels off and seats down 🙂

Can't emphasise more the worth of buying a good running tiny powerless but good handling car to learn in. Dont buy something too old, you wan't decent brakes and lifespan and that didn't often come cheaply 15 years ago 🙂

Something like a 1.9TD pug 306 might be a smidge higher on insurance but 40-45 mpg and bike room? £250-750 quid, plenty left for insurance. Insure TPFT, no point in paying a grand a year to protect a car worth less, but be aware that some companies will charge less for fully comp, I've not figured out why yet but maybe because you're obviously more worried about your vehicle if you insure it against your stupidity.

MY first car was a 1.1 litre peugeot 205. Other than creature comforts I'd buy another, uber simple to fix/run, 35-40 mpg, 2 bikes and camping gear in it, handled far better than its price suggests and only cost £500 back then, but first insurance was 900.

Almera 1.4 – group 4 insurance, 2 bikes with front wheels off, incredible reliability and 45 mpg. Check for rust as it's the only thing that kills 'em.

P,R,S,T plates for less than a grand rest on insurance. Insurance on my Almera cheaper than on my previous 1.0l Polo coupe (L plate – 1994) !

Nobody nicks 'em because they are gopping ugly, left mine unlocked in numerous dubious places and nobody even emptied the glovebox.

Polo or a Volvo, as above.

Seriously second the Almera, I had one as my first. It was a great car, I sold it with 140,000miles and it's still going now. Never had a mechanical part replaced.

thanks guys.
almera then….i was looking at focus estates?

I had a Focus estate, it was a great biking car, but if you could insure and buy for 1500 notes i was fleeced!

Vauxhall astra estate. Get in 1.4 or 1.6 then they are cheap to insure, or an even older one for less money. That be my choice. Parts are also peanuts!

i'm currently learning on my GFs Ka – 10 yrs old, and just over 50,000 on the clock.
nice and nippy, with my greatly limited experience the handling seems fun (70 certainly feels a lot faster in the ka than in my instructors corsa!). small engine, but small car so it still moves okish (gotta get the right gear if you want to accellerate uphill though…)
can fit 2 bikes plus kit in it too (and we're gonna try and get the tandem in it too… passenger sat behind driver, ft seat down too…)

best thing? me and her cost just over £300 to insure fully comp 8)