First car - narrowed it down to 2

Deific

Deific

Deific

Soldato
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Cheshire
Okay so after having been interested in bikes, I'm now moving over to a car. I don't have a massive budget and obviously because my insurance will be high that limits what I can get in terms of performance. However I've seemingly narrowed it down to two cars which have about the best performance I can get without paying silly insurance premiums, get good writes ups in terms of practicality, handling, build quality etc. and would be a car I would be happy to own.

They are;

2003 BMW 316TI SE/ES 1.8L

and

2007 Vauxhall Corsa SXi CDTi 1.7L


The BMW costs roughly £2500 to buy and £3800 to insure, whilst the corsa comes in at a more hefty £4800(ish) to buy but £3000 to insure. The figures point to the BMW as it would be at least 3 years before the cheaper insurance on the corsa had made up for the heftier purchase cost (ignoring the fact that my insurance would go down), but I'm wondering what others think? whether you think there's anything better either, although I've checked every other car I can think of - none of which are either reasonable on purchase price/insurance or meet the performance of these two. Personally I'm leaning towards the BMW regardless of the fact it's initially cheaper, due to the fact I think it's a nicer car?

Thanks.
 
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Wouldn't get either...get a tidy 1.6 focus.

How old are you out of interest? Them insurance premiums are insane.

Scrap the focus get a 1.2 and build up your no claims!
 
Unless you got plenty of money your off your head paying 4k to insure what is a boring slow car.
 
More people on the insurance, ie; dad/mum?, limit the mileage a little more, and put your excess a little higher ie; £500/750. That insurance is very high, how long have you been passed with your driving?
 
I wouldn't suggest either for a first car tbh.

Buy your first car cheap, stop worrying about performance and just bide your time till the insurance is cheap.

3k on insurance for a corsa makes baby jesus cry :(
 
This is going to be a long term car so i want to get something decent rather than a run-around for a year or two, especially seeing as the insurance on even something like a 2001 clio is quoted at about £2600. That's how ridiculous insurance has become for first time drivers. It's laughable when i can insure the 600cc bike for 1400 quid - yet they're so much more dangerous. Also pointing out, I'm a first time driver - but I'm not 17 etc. lol can't imagine the insurance if I was.
 
£4000 for insurance, if I was you I would buy a cheaper car to build up my ncp.

If you're loaded then I would get a bmw.
 
Is this thread some sort of a joke?

I mean, really? Choosing between an old bottom of the range BMW that costs £3800 to insure and a much newer Corsa?
 
[TW]Fox;19472246 said:
Is this thread some sort of a joke?

I mean, really? Choosing between an old bottom of the range BMW that costs £3800 to insure and a much newer Corsa?
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Care to give some helpful input rather than criticising? I've been riding a motorcycle for the last few years, cars and insurance is something I haven't dealt with before so I'm looking for advice based on what I've said. Thanks for showing you can be a douche though.
 
well dont waste thousands on insuring what are seriously 2 **** cars, just get something cheap cos its gonna drive as well as those 2.
 
£330 every single month just to INSURE a car is completely ridiculous. It is a total waste of money - it is money thrown away that you will never see again.

Buy something much cheaper to insure or simply wait until insurance is more affordable for you. Because driving a 2003 316i is not worth £4000 a year.
 
I haven't passed yet. I'm looking at just how practical (or not) moving over to a car would be financially as it's something I may have to face. It's not really enticing moving from a high performance sport bike to a fairly medicore car and having to pay double the insurance.
 
Then stick to the bike i dunno what you want to hear really.
 
Deific said:
I haven't passed yet. I'm looking at just how practical (or not) moving over to a car would be financially as it's something I may have to face. It's not really enticing moving from a high performance sport bike to a fairly medicore car and having to pay double the insurance.
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WTF are you worrying about performance for when you've not even passed your test yet ??

At the risk of sounding like your dad, buy yourself a <1k Fiesta 1.25, something a bit like this:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2586389.htm

Get the insurance cheap, and build up some experience driving on your own, and crucially some NCB. Then instead of crippling yourself at 4k a year for a bottom of the range BMW, in 2 or 3 years time you'll be able to afford to insure something decent.

If you find it depressing, why not just keep a bike as a weekend thing. Boring econo drone box for the daily commute, bike for fun for the weekend. Buy a cheaper car and run both ? a bike doesn't exactly use a lot of fuel does it ...
 
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[TW]Fox;19472279 said:
£330 every single month just to INSURE a car is completely ridiculous. It is a total waste of money - it is money thrown away that you will never see again.

Buy something much cheaper to insure or simply wait until insurance is more affordable for you. Because driving a 2003 316i is not worth £4000 a year.
Click to expand...

So what would you suggest? Because as i said before a 2000 1.4L clio would cost me £2900 to insure. Surely paying an extra 100 is worth it for the Corsa. Okay, it's a corsa, but it's the best corsa made to date and gets great write-ups.
 
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