Well after making a topic about getting a car. I will be needing one due to the missus now having a bun in the oven. Looking at Small and economical cars. So 900cc’s and 1 Litres.

Missus has a 900cc Fiat Cinquecento and its ok and has been super reliable over the 12 months she’s had it and its piss easy to work on.

Now im considering one like hers and the newer Seicento which is basically them same car, bar different styling and PAS. But they seem really expensive to get hold of £1000 for a 60 k S reg with T&T for 12 months.

My other options are

Vauxhall Corsa 1 litres
Nissan Micra
Fiat Punto 1.1’s

As they are affordable insurance wise also. 26 year old in Bolton with licence for 1 year £900 fully comp on any of the above.

what ever you look at make sure that you can *easily* lift whatever pushchair you arrive at in and out of the boot and there’s also room for the amount of bags you would currently take with you for a weekend away.

You will need to carry this much stuff at a minimum on every trip out for the next 3 years.

Anythign you buy whilst out will also need to be put somewhere.

Get a 4 door.

with older cars small ones can appear bad value – they fetch a better sale price than larger better spec’d cars. But thats because the larger cars tend to have more bells and whistles to go wrong so their low sale price reflects their higher running costs.

Micra’s are well regarded, fiats less so. Polos worth a look too, although you might pay a bit of a premium for one. At that age / price point have a look at how many cars of that age are around you on the roads. I’d bet you’ll see plenty of polos (and maybe Seat Ibiza) and micras, maybe a few corsas, almost no fiats, and similarly few french cars – usually let down by the same bells and whistles that are on bigger cars

I would echo the above about getting a 4 (or 5?) door. I have a 3 door 1l corsa (2001). It’s a great little car, sometimes feel I could do with slightly more power but I guess that’s the same with all small cars, and its happy at motorway speeds.

I’ve had it for 3 and a half years (and now coming up to 21) and was just under £600 this year, was about £800 first time round (that’s for just me, but only 3rd party, fire and theft). I expect “student” as occupation doesn’t help that

Not too bad with fitting stuff in, considering – but that’s where the extra doors would come in handy I think as maneuvering a bike isn’t all that easy, grandparents struggle getting in and out too!

Lovely car…really is… 🙂

Aye, not so fussed about looks just want reliable and cheap. Would much prefer to keep my motorbike. But I’m getting too annoyed with waiting for public transport when the winter weather sets in. Not what you want after a 14 hour shift.

Do they do 4 door micras, i have seen Corsas in 5 door vareity. Although saying that, i manged to get my Mountain bike in the missus Fiat easy enough, just took the wheels off and it slotted in nicely. No Innuendo intended!

My 1st car was a Corsa, great little car – really enjoyed driving at all round the UK and Europe.

I saw a Toyata Yaris for sale this morning on my way to work (Manchester) with 9k miles on an 09 plate, it didn’t have a price but that is some serious low miles on a 3 year old car. It was a 4 door as well.

What sort of age/price are you looking for?

Might be worth having a look at bigger ‘unfashionable’ cars as well. Stuff like older Nissan Almera’s and the like. Generally bought by older generations, so can be cheaper to insure.

Bigger car would also offer more space for ‘stuff’ and probably be safer in a collision.

Definitely get a 4 door. Leaning in to a 3 door to do up a kiddy seat is a real pain. Start work immediately on getting your other half to minimise the amount of kid kit you take away with you (they will fill a transit of you let them).

At your age I reckon a Vectra would be cheaper to insure…

Much more practical than a corsa and the likes when you have kids (and bikes).

Not a massive budget. Talking max of a £1000 been offered a 1.6 Vectra which is 4 door with hatchback boot. Not done a insurance quote on that tho yet.

Almera is definitely worth a look if you can find a good one, forgettable to look at but I really liked driving them.

And for insurance it may be worth checking this out…

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-quidco-and-car-insurance

I’ll ignore the 3/5 door debate for the moment, but if you want a cheap, reliable, easy to work on yet quite fun small car have a look at old style Ford KA’s.

They engine is an old unit and very lacking in electronic wizardary *so easy to work on, it’s suprisingly spacious inside and if you are prepared to work the geabox it is fun to drive as well. It is also the best car I have ever driven on snow, it just charges through. I sold mine with 100k on the clock and it was still plodding along nicely. You can get a bike in the back with the seats down as well, 2 with some creative thinking.

My first car was 1.8 VOLVO 440.. super low insurance, could fit everything I needed into it, it had 4 doors and it came off better than anything i crashed it into… including ditches on singletrack roads in scotland, dry stone walls, lampposts, my front garden wall… I can now drive thank jebus!

Tried lots of boring old fart cars and their £1600 plus as I’ll be paying monthly. Cheapest is Fiat Cinq and Vauxhall Corsa.

Its £900 with CO- OP young driver insurance, with a gps box fitted or £1300 with 1st Central using Quidco.

ah madness! I only had that volvo 11 years ago, and it was £360 for the year!… all these bloody claims plus bellends ruining it for everyone!!!

Aye its daft! It really makes me consider is it really worth having two cars. I mean I live 10 miles from work. Same for her. Bikes are used everyday apart from Icy conditions and snow. So maybe a month max of none use. For every other time the bikes uber reliable and epic Fuel Economy £27 to fill up and gets me 300 miles so about 85 to 90 mpg. Insurance is £150 for the 250cc and 600cc and its £89 my renewal this year.

Don’t do 3 doors, PITA for a baby seat etc.

I’d go basic family hatchback, but as you say check insurance – see if anyone will take your m/c experience into account.

Vauxhall Corsa was my first car 1.2 8V 1996 (Premier Model) Great little car, loved it, and it certainly got abused. Interesting point. The insurance depends so much on the model. For example my “Premier” model was the cheapest to insure, even cheaper than a 1.0.

Recently sold a 1996 Astra 1.4 8V. Did a tour around europe in it. Total 4,000 in about 3 months. (2,600 on the tour) and it never put a foot wrong. That cost £300.

Cheap & Reliable – I’d look at vauxhall Corsa/Astra or Ford Fiesta/Focus.

Disagree hugely re the Ka. They’re very very good fun for what they are, but the maintenance required is terrible.

Every 6000 miles they need an oil and filters service. They have tappets to adjust – can’t remember the interval but it’s every 6 or 12k. Changing a headlamp bulb is a half hour job if you’ve done it a couple of times before. The sills rust for fun…

My run-around/bike lugger car is a 52 plate 1.6 astra.
It’s the SOHC/8 valve engine, and actually quite cheap to insure (group 3 or 4?).
Not massively powerful, but will get 40mpg, pull away fast enough, has 5 doors/big rear space with seats folded.
Not a small car, but not a big one either.

I was looking to sell, by thankfully decided to keep – they only fetch about £1k!

Could fit the bill??

DrP

Have to have a shop around. One thing that scares me is the bikes will have to go. Can’t afford to have both. And in summer it will annoy me. Although saying that, i seem to be more into my mountain biking nowadays and Gisburn is a 30 min drive from work. So could go for a hour after work.

May have a look at Astra, my Dad has had them for years. And its been very reliable. He’s had the 1.4’s, 1.6’s and the 2.0 litre diesels and now has a 09 plate VXR and its a cracking drive. Bit plasticy inside but seem good cars.

I don’t understand how my insurance is so steep. £1800 for a 1.6 Astra. Girlfriend is paying £1000 and she is only 23. You’d think, being 26 it’d be cheaper.

Gisburn is a 30 min drive from work. So could go for a hour after work.

you’ll be lucky 🙂

You’ll welcome a snatched hour on a bike at 5 on a Saturday afternoon once the baby arrives.

haha Got 8 months to go yet! So get it all in while i can.

Toyota Corolla or a Nissan Almera. Both can be had cheap with reasonable miles (especially Almeras since they’re about the drabest car going)

Myself, I’m your classic Almera driver. I’ve had mine for ages, its rusted to **** and the exhaust blows, but its dead reliable and has cost me next to nowt to keep on the road.

Insurance is crazy. Depends so much on your postcode!

Add your mum as a second driver, that always reduces the premium. Fully comp insurance with a high excess, not ideal if the car is expensive mind.

How do old Ford Festa’s compare? I know the bodywork sometimes goes around the wheel arches but if you ca nfind a good ‘un it should be a worthwhile investment.

Fiestas are really expensive for me,even more than Astras. Cheapesr is seicento then Micra followed by a Yaris and Corsa. This with co op and having my driving monitored for a year. With 1 years ncb next year it drops to below £700. Got my mum as a additional driver on all quotes. I live in a BL2 post code which is a lovely area Harwood, vut Breightmet webbed feet and dualing banjo estate is a dump and full of crime.

How do old Ford Festa’s compare? I know the bodywork sometimes goes around the wheel arches

Change sometimes to always, and you’re about there. Wheelarches and filler caps. The 1.25 engines are meant to be decent.

General ideas for decent cheap motors:

Late MK3 Golfs and early MK4 Golfs can be had for about a grand. They’re decent cars and are easy to work on – lots of room, 10000 mile service intervals, very little rust. The later MK3s seem to rust far far less than the earlier ones – I’ve read that they’re galvanised as per the MK4. I’ve had > 45mpg out of a 1.6 Golf on a run, and they’re not horribly slow.

Polos are overpriced. Nothing wrong with them, but they’re very dear. Fabias are Polos in drag, and they’re now under a grand. Pretty much the same comments as the Golf – same engines, similar mechanicals, smaller body.

ZXs and 306s both run and run. Both are the same car in different suits, as is the later Xsara. The electrics are rubbish – about 7 fuses in the whole car vs 20 or so different circuits on a VW, but the diesel engines are very solid. Galvanised shells, so no rust.

106 diesels are OK too. Slow, but galvanised, fairly simple and OK to drive.

You’ll take one look at your new bundle of joy and want to wrap him or her in as big a tank as possible 🙂 Vectra / Signum / Something equally massive?

Buy a motorcycle and sidecar.

*Thumbs up*

But once the little one turns up you may also be concerned about the crash survivability, and bigger/newer is normally better. And since you live so near to work, pretty much ignore mpg, as your insurance will be more…

Whatever you get, be sure it has CENTRAL LOCKING! I know most cars do, but we moved to a Golf without CL when we had Son1. You will normally be accessing three doors and the boot every time. Got a bit annoying after a while!

Wife had an Almera for 8 years, and in that time it needed a section of exhaust pipe, one light bulb and tyres.

Dull as dishwater, but a perfect car for when we had a single income and needed it to be reliable. Drove pretty well as well.

Sold it because safety had moved on, and the Almera isn’t great.

Check the NCAP rating and get a safe car.

http://www.euroncap.com

Have you not considered getting a “classic”car , plenty of big 4door saloons to look at and insurance could be considerable cheaper than what you would be paying on a Astra or similar.
For example a Mk3 or 4 Ford cortina would give you all the room you need are very simple to work on,parts should be cheap and pretty easy to get hold of and dirt cheap to insure plus a little different in this day and age.