So with luck I’ll pass my test in a couple of months. I’m 26 and male so my insurance will be reasonably high. Whats out there i imagine it’ll be in the supermini category. Needs to be cheapish £2k tops really as it’s only a car. I’m off out so will reply tomorrow.

[sits down comfortably]
It’s going to be a long night then. Cake anybody?
[/sits down comfortably]

I was expecting loads of responses to this!!

I passed at the age of 23 or 24… Can’t quite remember which is worrying but insurance was stupid on a lot of cars but I knew I wasn’t paying 2k for a 1l fiesta. I opted for a 2l 306 dturbo which gave me 100bhp and 1k insurance tpft and an excess of 150 with tesco. I paid a grand for my 306 and only sold it a year ago as it was a reliable car that was cheap to run and maintain.

My friend on the other hand bought a horrendous Nissan primers gt and pauses same as me in insurance presumably as it’s a bit of a grandad car and he lived outside of the city

Micra or a Polo if you don’t want to spend your whole life fixing it.
Corsa, Clio or Punto if your Dads a mechanic.
1000cc Micra is an awesome little car(not the newest shape one).
Nippy, economical, will cruise at 75-80 all day long.
Also relatively cheap to insure.

+1 for a Polo here. Fiesta also a good choice too.

Otherwise something leftfield which isn’t on the insurers radar as a desirable car… Seat Leon, Skoda Octavia or something like that might be a good compromise between size and insurance category.

“1000cc Micra is an awesome little car(not the newest shape one).”

Pretty much indestructible as well. If you remember to put oil and water in them,they just keep going and going.Apart from the old duffer image, brilliant little cars.

Escort van or similar (pash/bike wagon).

My first car was a mk1 XR2 and it was great. 🙂

van insurance is typically more expensive though.

Polo is reliable and cheap to service

Skoda + Ford Focus might be worth a look too

Mazda 323 in the hatchback option? Looks boring but might be cheap to insure. There was a 03 reg one for £1650 ono near my uni. So they are not that expensive as well.

pickup’s and other commercial vehicles are cheap 1 st time as i pass last year when i was 17 aa polo or a punto was just over £2600 !!!! where as my current pick up is only about £1000 ish. another option would be a company car which is even cheaper!!!!

Kia, Skoda, maybe a Nissan Almera if not the Micra, bit bigger for bike duties. Had one for over 3yrs and never touched it bar servicing. Chain driven cam so no worries re breaking/changing cam belts.

Quite a few of my biking buddies and son have 308 or 407 Pug estates that have various “built in ” faults but are great workhorses nevert the less.

Make a wish list and then either spend some time googling insurance company quotes or nip in to a broker for personal advice/quotes.

Passed my test in november – got a 1999 1.2 16 valve cosra. I can’t say it’s anything special, but it does the job. I’d imagine about £600, £400 insurance? I’m 37 though.

Two of the local lads both under 25 have vans, one T4 and a Dispatch, as first cars and in their first years of driving, pretty sure they pay around £600 insurance, Great bike, kit, kip vehicles! One of my mate daughters drives a Moggie Minor with £300 insurance!

Find something with a 1 or 1.2l engine. If you can stretch to a polo get one, they’re pretty bulletproof.

I’d get something bigger and more practical if I was you. Your insurance won’t be too horrendous if you’re 26, as long as you get something sensible.

Mine was a white H-reg VW Polo 1.3 coupe.

Great little car.

I passed my test at 26 at the second attempt; first attempt was when I was 17.

The first car I owned was one of these:

on a 1982 Y plate.

Cost me just under £500, insurance for the first year in inner city Bradford was £350. This was 1991 by the way.

Since then I’ve had these:
– what a lemon
– ok
– lovely until the grease monkeys broke it
– even nicer

and now I have one of these:

My first car was a little blue one, no brakes and two pedals you pushed back and forward,really cheap to run and a babe magnet as well, i was about 5 when i had my first cash though

Thanks guys the micra sounds like a great idea. I had briefly looked at a fiesta van, but the micra has a bit more character. Why havre all modern cars got so little character, I thought car design would be fiercely competitive.

Bit slow but..

Micra if you don’t want to spend your whole life fixing it.
+1

Yep, exactly what my mechanic said to me when I mentioned my brother was looking for a car for his 17 year old son. He’d also owned one (well his missus) & had to do nothing to it whilst he owned it.

I just got a seat ibiza sport 1.9tdi. I have no no-claims as I had a company car and was then on my wifes insurance. Cost me £260 to insure.

If you got a 7-8 year old one it would probably be in budget and its pretty nippy and can be mapped to 140bhp 🙂

Handles like a go cart too, I love it

Surly Big Dummy with the bike attachment kit, a bike bag for easy train transport and a hefty dose of MTFU.

I imagine a Honda Civic hatchback of some form or another would be a good first car in terms of affordability, build quality, reliablity and practicality.

Should be able to get a decent one for £2k as they sold lots of them new.

How handy are you with a spanner?

Something like a Triumph Spitfire and classic car insurance would cost you about £2k for the car and about £200/year insurance. And chicks dig classic cars. Old chicks, anyway.

Do civic’s come with small engines? Current one has a 1.4 engine. thanks or the ideas. 🙂