Car for girlfriend - New driver - £2500

Buchanan0204

Buchanan0204

Buchanan0204

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Joined
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Scotland
She's due to pass her test and in the market for her first car.

I'm thinking,

Toyota Yaris TSport (Seem to all have been owned by boy racers)
Citroen C2 VTS (French!)
Suzuki Swift (probably out of budget)
Mitsubishi Colt (Seems pretty cheap and reliable)
Fiesta 1.25 (A bit common)
Focus (Too common and ugly at this price point)

The reason for the Tsport and VTS is I think from experience she will be pulling her hair out with a painfully slow car after a few months of driving. She will also be driving on the motorway perhaps once or twice a week for around 30 minutes. There's a lot of country roads where we live, so I think something with a little poke will be ideal. Although this isn't a deal breaker as she will just have to suffer the speed, especially as the petrol and insurance will be better on the slower cars.

If I've missed anything, let me know. I'm leaning towards the Colt at the moment as they seem well within budget and also quite rare. It's nice to have something a bit different.

I'm against Clios and Corsas for obvious reasons. I've drove a Clio 04 plate and it's quite possible the worst car I've ever driven. Wheel the size of a tractor and zero feel through the wheel.
 
My girlfriend was in the same situation and budget, got a 53 plate Mk6 Fiesta 1.4 Zetec, and it's been great :cool:
 
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A mk1 1.6 Focus maybe be boring but they're ok to drive, comfortable and have an adequate level of power. The biggest plus point though is that as they're so common £2.5k can actually buy a good clean 1/2 owner example with full history.
 
Buchanan0204 said:
That's a good point. However, it's nice to be a bit different and not have a common everyday car that everyone else has.
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Unless you build a kit car, or go down some other route similar to this, there's always going to be someone else with the same car. Sorry to be pedantic, but that's the fact of life.

For a first car, on a limited budget, get whatever is best for the money, not what's common or not.
 
Have you priced up insurance for the VTS and TSport? I would imagine the premium is going to be pretty hefty for a new driver.

The Fiesta and Focus are common for good reason, both are excellent cars with their sector with decent engines, good handling and low running costs.

The Swift is also a good car, but you are correct that your budget would only get you the dregs of the market, with mostly Cat C/D repaired cars.
 
for a first car you cant go wrong with the fiesta.

had one for a few years never cost us a penny in repairs.
cheap insurance.
cheap running costs.

for £2.5k you could get a decent reg.
 
To show you what that budget will get you in Mk6 Fiesta terms:

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FSH, 1 previous owner.
 
OK!

I surrender. A fiesta it is. That one above looks absolutely cracking for the money. FSH is definitely a must I think.

Where's the best place to be looking? AT, PH?

P.S. What's a Fiesta black edition? Google turns up little.
 
If you want a suzuki swift, I have an 05 one for 3k, it's much better than any of the other cars in your list too.
 
Buchanan0204 said:
I surrender. A fiesta it is. That one above looks absolutely cracking for the money. FSH is definitely a must I think.

Where's the best place to be looking? AT, PH?
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They do seem to be a good choice at around this money :) We found that one on AT, but it did take a few weeks and a couple of visits to some rubbish ones. This was the third car we went to see/test drive.

Buchanan0204 said:
Is there much of a difference between the 1.25 and 1.4?
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Hardly anything in terms of power/performance, the 1.4 is marginally more powerful and uses a drop more fuel.

However the 1.4 is more common since it was in the Mk6s from the beginning of production, whereas the 1.25 was added a couple of years into production.

Edit: Have a read through my original thread, lots of very helpful advice from forum members: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18400223
 
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Buchanan0204 said:
That's a good point. However, it's nice to be a bit different and not have a common everyday car that everyone else has.
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When you are spending a lot of money on some sort of sports car, perhaps. When you are spending not a lot of money on an everyday hatchback, absolutely not. Cars that don't sell much tend not to sell for one of a few main reasons:

a) They are very expensive to buy or run
b) They have limited practicality
c) They are fairly crap

The first two obviously dont apply to a mass market supermini which sadly leaves the third one as the main reason why you'll find 'less common' cars in the £2.5k bracket.

The Fiesta is popular for a reason.
 
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