Time to buy a car.

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Howdy all,

So finally decided after passing my test a year ago its about time to get a car seeing as my new job will probably require me to drive there due to the naff transport links here.

Looking on AutoTrader there is the usual Ford Ka 2000~, Clio, etc which tend to fall into insurance group 3 which still means im going to be paying through the nose being 23 and having no "no claims", but c'est la vie.

I stumbled upon this site and was wondering if anyone had any experience of em?

http://www.youngmarmalade.co.uk/

The usual pay 30% more than the value of the car cos your on finance, but appears to have insurance etc included which would mean for a fairly decent 07/08 plate car and insurance i would only (only..) be paying £130-140pcm?

Cheers,
Sam
 
Thats an interesting looking scheme..

My concern would be that the finance is over 5 years. Are you going to be happy driving an old Ka around at 28?
 
Buy a cheap car for your first year of motoring then upgrade once you have more experience.
 
In terms of insurance, you're getting high quotes on those small cars because they are typical young person cars so tend to get crashed a lot.

Ignore engine size and insurance groups for the minute - look at stuff like Focuses (1.6) or even Mondeos (1.8)
 
I honestly think the whole 'A Mondeo is cheaper to insure than a Ka!' thing is a complete and utter myth and applies only to certain insurers who have certain risk profiles. I would be hugely suprised if, despite what everyone bleats about, the cheapest possible quote for a Mondeo really was less than the cheapest possible quote for a Ka.

What is the case, however, is that often bigger cars are not hugely more expensive to insure.
 
Sorry if that's what it came across that I was implying - I was just suggesting to think outside the box of typical small first cars. When I was a new driver it worked out extremely well, so it's worth spending the time doing a bit of research
 
Don't buy a car on finance as your first car. Especially not one on a 5-year scheme! Give it a couple of years and you'll be cursing yourself. Just buy a cheap car outright and enjoy driving it. Get something simple so you can fix it yourself when it goes wrong.
 
[TW]Fox;16788451 said:
I honestly think the whole 'A Mondeo is cheaper to insure than a Ka!' thing is a complete and utter myth and applies only to certain insurers who have certain risk profiles. I would be hugely suprised if, despite what everyone bleats about, the cheapest possible quote for a Mondeo really was less than the cheapest possible quote for a Ka.

What is the case, however, is that often bigger cars are not hugely more expensive to insure.
Click to expand...

Ok, so its not a Mondeo, but during my search for a car I have got the following quotes (2 yrs no claims, 21 year old male):

Honda S2000 - £2300
Impreza WRX STI - £2300
Alfa GT V6 - £1600
Honda Civic Type R - £1300
Golf GTI - £1300
BMW 330Ci - £1300
Lexus Soarer - £900

So, the 4.0L V8 is the cheapest to insure! Get some quotes for some of the bigger cars like the Mondeo, doesn't always work but you might be surprised, end of the day though, its going to hurt for the first few years!
 
DiG said:
Ok, so its not a Mondeo, but during my search for a car I have got the following quotes (2 yrs no claims, 21 year old male):

Honda S2000 - £2300
Impreza WRX STI - £2300
Alfa GT V6 - £1600
Honda Civic Type R - £1300
Golf GTI - £1300
BMW 330Ci - £1300
Lexus Soarer - £900

So, the 4.0L V8 is the cheapest to insure! Get some quotes for some of the bigger cars like the Mondeo, doesn't always work but you might be surprised, end of the day though, its going to hurt for the first few years!
Click to expand...

What exactly were you trying to prove with your comparison?

A Soarer is considerably older, considerably less vaulable and considerably less desirable to thieves compared to everything else on your list.

Insurance companies aren't going to consider a relatively unknown 19 year old Import to be in the same league as a modern Afla or BMW...

By the way, it is not a Lexus!
 
Thats because despite being a 4.0 V8 it 'only' has 250bhp and is a luxury car, therefore it's probably nothing like as quick cross country as any of the other cars in your list. The V8 was not the range topping Soarer..
 
Joshy said:
What exactly were you trying to prove with your comparison?

A Soarer is considerably older, considerably less vaulable and considerably less desirable to thieves compared to everything else on your list.

Insurance companies aren't going to consider a relatively unknown 19 year old Import to be in the same league as a modern Afla or BMW...

By the way, it is not a Lexus!
Click to expand...

All I was trying to prove was that its worth considering different options, I know a 19 year old Soarer isn't comparable to a modern Alfa or BMW. And I know its a Toyota, but most people know it as a Lexus. My post was never meant to be a scientific proof that bigger engines are cheaper to insure. I was just sharing my findings from my car search
 
[TW]Fox;16788774 said:
The V8 was not the range topping Soarer..
Click to expand...

Actually, it was.

There were a number of different models, but to simplify:

2.5TT cars were the "sporty" ones and when compared to the higher spec 31/32 V8s had a basic spec - conventional shocks and springs (with TEMS on GTTLs), No EMV touchscreen computer and tended not to be spec'd with stuff like leather, heated ultrasonic mirrors, LCD rearview, etc .

The V8s were the daddies when it comes to toys. 31s had air suspension and a Touchscreen computer, and the extremely rare (873 ever made) 32s had actively controlled hydraulic suspension, 4 wheel steering and back in 91 had a standard spec list that would make most modern luxury cars sold today weep.

You have the the "30" V8s and the 3.0 cars, but these don't actually make any sense to me. They have a comparable specification to 2.5TT cars, but are considerably slower. Why anyone would have bought one is completely beyond me :confused:.
 
[TW]Fox;16788909 said:
I thought the TT was considerably quicker?
Click to expand...

It is, but out and out speed isn't what the soarer is about. The V8 is a smoother engine and perhaps better suited to luxury wafting, and as such it was fitted in the "Range toppers". And let's make this clear, the V8s certainly were the range topper - Some figures I've seen puts a V8 UZZ32 (which is actually a fair bit slower than even a 'standard' V8 car due to the patristic drain of the hydraulic pump on the engine) £15,000 more expensive than a 2.5TT when new. And this is apperently in 1991 money :eek:.
 
Insurance is never cheap for young drivers trust me i am one.

I to beleive people saying "oh a mondeo will be cheaper than a clio" is utter bullocks. Its based on cars reputation, group, engine size, cost to repair and value.

Find a cheap runner for a year run it into the ground and then get something you want (or closer to it).
 
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