Car for 17 Year Old?

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Hey, turning 17 in december and am looking into which car would be a good car to start off with. Been looking into Clios and the like but have no experience with cars? The budget is around £4000 so spec me!! Thanks
 
A time machine so you can jump forward a year.

On a more serious note i wouldn't buy anything till you've done your lessons and passed.
 
Spend £2k-£3k on a Fiesta, Punto, Focus or something similiar. No real need to spend all your money on a first car as you will end up nudging things and stuff.
 
I wouldn't spend that much on my first car - but then again, I had an accident in my first car and it wasn't the wisest purchase.

I think £500-£1000 will get you a tidy little runabout - 1.0 to 1.3l with an MoT and Tax and you can then spend the rest of your budget on insurance and save the rest for a rainy day.

You will find that the insurance will take a big slice out of your budget - I still pay my Insurance monthly - though I wouldn't recommend it because most Companies charge Interest.

In fact, I still pay monthly now, hopefully I'll have enough money on renewal to pay it in one lump.

My first Insurance was £1400, then it was £1020 and now £660.
 
I wouldn't spend that much on my first car - but then again, I had an accident in my first car and it wasn't the wisest purchase.

I think £500-£1000 will get you a tidy little runabout - 1.0 to 1.3l with an MoT and Tax and you can then spend the rest of your budget on insurance and save the rest for a rainy day.

hmm what about renault clios, you can get a good 2003 model for under £3000 which I thinks pretty good. How long is it before you can upgrade to a better car without the insurance going mad?
 
hmm what about renault clios, you can get a good 2003 model for under £3000 which I thinks pretty good. How long is it before you can upgrade to a better car without the insurance going mad?

Renault Clios are nice to look at; in fact, I have even considered purchasing one myself, but my Corsa hasn't broken yet!

Usually after 1 year no claims you'll get a good amount off, but I reckon you will get at least 3-5 good years out of it; provided the mileage isn't too high - which is long enough to get a faster car, get a good amount of experience and a much nicer Insurance quote.
 
How long is it before you can upgrade to a better car without the insurance going mad?

As a male, you are looking at about 25 years old.

Although by the time you are 23 if you have no points you might start to see a decent reduction. Depends what car you get and what you call "mad".
 
Renault Clios are nice to look at; in fact, I have even considered purchasing one myself, but my Corsa hasn't broken yet!

hmm corsas and clios look like one of the best ways forwards within a £2000 which is more sensible than £4000 on a first car. If you dont mind me asking Gamefreak, how old is your car? How much did you pay for it and what is the engine size? And what are the most likely thing to go wrong with these cars?


yeh I wish

Mondeo ST220

A V6 would be nice as a first car ;)
 
hmm corsas and clios look like one of the best ways forwards within a £2000 which is more sensible than £4000 on a first car. If you dont mind me asking Gamefreak, how old is your car? How much did you pay for it and what is the engine size? And what are the most likely thing to go wrong with these cars?

No problem - I have a 1.4, 1998 'R' registration Corsa Breeze - I bought it in 2008 for £750 with 86-88,000 miles on the clock (a bit high) and I now know the Clutch is on it's way out (not really worth repairing, but I did buy the parts with the idea I'll eventually sort it) but it's had 2 MoTs with no major MoT failing points apart from two new rear wheel-bearings this year.

It will go on for another year at least and it returns on average 27-35mpg and very easy to maintain and repair. It costs £125 a year to tax.

It is my third Car - however - my first car was a Spitfire 1500, then a Ford Escort Freedom 1.4 and I passed my test over 3 years ago.

I hope this helps!
 
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Spend £2k-£3k on a Fiesta, Punto, Focus or something similiar. No real need to spend all your money on a first car as you will end up nudging things and stuff.

These comments make me chuckle, I can only assume you were "nudging things and stuff" as a new driver seeing as you're giving this advice, its amazing how many bad (new) drivers there were.

I can't think of any of my friends that were like this, except the ones that are just accident prone and still do it now.
 
Don't spend £4000 on a first car, please!

Spend between £1000 and £2000, try to tend towards the lower end too.

Get something as a run about, expect to hit things, and don't get stuck in a rut when things go wrong, you'll have money to fix it etc.

Insurance, expect to be £2000 ish depending on where you live, will take ages to go down but such is life.
 
These comments make me chuckle, I can only assume you were "nudging things and stuff" as a new driver seeing as you're giving this advice, its amazing how many bad (new) drivers there were.

I can't think of any of my friends that were like this, except the ones that are just accident prone and still do it now.

I used to think like that till my daughter took up banger racing on the road.

Then after an exhaustive investigation its come to light all her mates are the same. It must just be better on the IOW :)
 
buy the cheapest little run around you can find, seriously. if they're right that something like 1/4 of new drivers will stuff it in the first year (thats what they have been saying on the radio today anyhow) then i wouldnt want to be one of those new drivers putting a nice dent on £4k's worth of car.

buy older, something astra/focus/c3/306/xsra sized. cheaper insurance and better car for the dosh than anything you are likely to be looking at.

When i passed i paid £1500 for a ph1 xsara vtr. the insurance was also £1500 (ouch) but car was and still is bullet proof. ive put 20-odd k miles on it and literally all ive had to spend out on is two services, an mot and some oil. oh and a broken wiper blade. it's been the perfect example of a decent runner. Ok its floaty, slow (its only a vtr :() and its french but the car is pretty sorted inside and out.. so much better than any clio you are going to find for £4k and of course, half the price!
 
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These comments make me chuckle, I can only assume you were "nudging things and stuff" as a new driver seeing as you're giving this advice, its amazing how many bad (new) drivers there were.

I can't think of any of my friends that were like this, except the ones that are just accident prone and still do it now.

Didn't hit anything in my first car which I had for 2 years, it's pretty common knowledge though that a high percentage of new drivers have little bumps and knocks.

Take Mark's daughter and her Mini for example!
 
Get a trusty Fiesta 1.25

Great first cars, look alright if you get one that's been looked after and will not cost you a penny, mine didn't, well one tyre to replace the spare but that's it

Cheap to insure too!
 
I used to think like that till my daughter took up banger racing on the road.

Then after an exhaustive investigation its come to light all her mates are the same. It must just be better on the IOW :)

I do notice people are far more aggressive in their driving on the mainland
 
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