First Car?

Rainagul

Rainagul

Rainagul

Associate
Joined
4 Aug 2009
Posts
1,727
Location
Canterbury
Hey,

What would people recomend as a first car for a young guy. Currently 18, about to turn 19, have my drivers licence and now looking for a car. Will be located in canterbury for university, and whilst I don't really need a car for the university campus, I will be needing one for when I need to go up to london, which will be every now and then.

Obviously I need a car which is:
-Most importantly cheap to insure
-Has a good mpg rating
-Somewhat stylish

Oh and I'd rather walk then drive a Citreon (bad experience with one) or a Ford Ka. Im up for any other suggestions though :)

Cheers
 
Going by how I drove at your age, I would avoid the mini if you enjoy being alive.

MK2 golf, yeah I suppose if that's your thing. Don't expect a GTI though.

Personally I would just buy a **** box untill you have learnt to drive. You will crash so get something you won't mind putting dents in. Buy yourself something nice in a couple of years :)
 
Any opinions on a honda civic/crx? You have a good point about needing a ****box and these seem like good candidates.
 
Tbh (I may very well be wrong in which case I appologise) the cars you have suggested so far (excluding the mini) have a following for their sporty variants, you are not going to get insured on a GTI, Type R/Vtec etc... This means the type of car you will end up with will be rubbish, unless you have a thing for slow boxy hondas or rotten golfs.

You will be better off buying a Fiesta/Corsa/106 etc... As they are cheap to run, insure and most importantly (especially the fiesta) fix. Sure it might not be what you want but nor was my first car (a 1.2 45hp pea green Corsa Montana with rainbow colour seats). As I said in a few years time buy your MK2 GTI/CRX Vtec/Type R Honda.

My bet would be a ford fiesta with the 1.3 engine, drives ok economical (ish not as much as 1.25 lump) totaly bomb proof engine will get you from A to B and not break down etc...
 
ubersonic said:
Don't spend that much on first car, your going to kill it.
Click to expand...

Come on now, it is you're.
Please don't take advice from a man who hasn't mastered punctuation for 7 year olds.

Why the heck would he kill it anyway? Sure he may get the odd scuff on it, but I still have my first car and have had it 6 years.
I haven't done a handbrake turn into a bus shelter or flipped it over from racing.
 
mglover070588 said:
Come on now, it is you're.
Please don't take advice from a man who hasn't mastered punctuation for 7 year olds.

Why the heck would he kill it anyway? Sure he may get the odd scuff on it, but I still have my first car and have had it 6 years.
I haven't done a handbrake turn into a bus shelter or flipped it over from racing.
Click to expand...

Getting boring now mate.

As for why would he "kill it" Mr pedant, he is statistically likely to.
 
MeEsH BaKkA said:
Getting boring now mate.

As for why would he "kill it" Mr pedant, he is statistically likely to.
Click to expand...

I will stop banging on about grammar when OCUK masters Key Stage 1 English.
You won't get anywhere in like speaking like a trolley boy.

He is 19, not 17. This should make a fair difference in the chance of binning it.
Fox has a 330i when he was in his early 20s, so he clearly flipped that into a ditch.
Oh wait.

I would agree that young people are very very likely to scuff or dink their first cars, but we don't all have the spacial awareness of a health and beauty college girl or compare Wolfrace rims in the KFC carpark at night.
 
Don't spend more than £500 and buy on condition. You will likely scrape it, and if you spend a lot, you will cry.
 
Ok I will bite.

What has age got to do with driving experience? It's his first car.

As for grammar what has it got to do with a persons knowledge of cars?

I'm 24, I drive a 240bhp car and got an ungraded mark for my GCSE English. If I had only passed my test yesterday there is no chance driving ability or road sense would be a safe combination with my current car. As for my English, yeah I speak like a trolley boy and don't have much of a clue about grammar, but IMO people derailing threads over trivial things are much more of a nuisance than the use of english language.

Do you actualy have anything you would like to add to this thread, perhaps a car suggestion for the OP?
 
If you like your legs don't get a mini

The idea of mk2 golf is sensible though, either a 1.3 or 1.6.

Pros

Almost bomb proof reliable

simple so most work can be done your self.

Very cheap to insure, at 19 mine was £1300 to insure through Footman James, the trick being to get it on classic insurance

Cons
Old
Less powerful than modern cars with similar sized engines, although it weighs the same as a house fly.

looks are subjective, I love them.

Standard suspension is very soft and fairly horrible ride wise.

The clutch is like moving a small planet

Fuel economy isn't great


However given the criteria of most young drivers they fit the bill quite well. just please if you do one stay away from the VW scene.
 
Alright, well thanks for the pointers guys. Ill definitely look into a cheap car that will get me from A to B and worry about a more decent car after a year or two as insurance (hopefully) doesn't cost as much.
Currently looking at some classic coopers for under a grand that I can knock about since I always wanted one, but I guess ill settle for something that has 4 wheels at the end of the day.
Hopefully will have an update about what I get in 2-3 weeks.
 
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