First car buying time is very close. Any suggestions/advice appreciated

Dad has now got involved and is making the point that the Vauxhall will cost less to fix than the VW... I'm countering with the point that the VW will go wrong less than the Vauxhall... :p

I think the Fiesta would be a good compromise between the two poles. I'll play the Fiesta card in a minute :D
 
Tell him the Fiesta will cost less than them both by quite a margin when it comes to maintaining.

Better NCAP rating than them both incase you do decide to crash. Surely dad wants you in the safest car of the lot :)

Also looks loads better than the other 2.
 
acme15 said:
What are the Yaris' like for motorway driving? I suspect that i'll drive on motorways a bit more that your average young'un because I do like taking myself to LAN's when I can, and they all seem to be in the middle of the country, meanwhile i'm down in Sussex.
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I did 60 miles daily on a Mk1 1.3 Yaris on the M27 , tad noisier than say your Golf / Civic , but has enough grunt to overtake if you plan slightly ahead.

Also the Yaris is more roomier if you have people in the back seats than compared to the Fiesta or earlier Polos. If you dont have ppl in the back and need more boot space you can slide the back forward for more boot space.

Dont bother with the 1.0l just get the 1.3l or 1.33l or even the 1.4l D-4D version , however the D-4D are not cheap as they are holding their value well.

Yup my vote would be a Yaris obviously , but the nothing wrong with the Fiesta though , i used to have a Mk5 Zetec S . Also the new Fiesta ST has made me look at Fords again.
 
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Rybo89 said:
Tell him the Fiesta will cost less than them both by quite a margin when it comes to maintaining.

Better NCAP rating than them both incase you do decide to crash. Surely dad wants you in the safest car of the lot :)

Also looks loads better than the other 2.
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Still looking for a good one near(ish) to my postcode. I think I will have to grab some of the optional-extra alloys on eBay. :p (only adds £30 or so onto the £2400 *shrug*)

Whether or not it looks loads better is a matter of opinion. I personally don't like how they look that much. The ones with Zetec trim and alloys dont look too bad, but I can't afford one of those.
 
Tell your dad you want the Lupo or Polo then. He'll just have to face up to it and come to the realisation that his son is a closet boy :p

In all seriousness, it is your first car. What ever you get, it will be amazing to you. We have all been there. All cars except the Corsa in this thread are a good choice for a first car. :)
 
Incoming question from the old man:

"Why do you think Corsa's are bad cars? A friend of mine from work has one and he hasn't had any problems with it, and i've had two Astra's in the past, and neither of them were any trouble either."

He is asking in a curious way rather than an aggressive way may I add. :p
 
See post #2 ;)

Most other small cars are better, BUT in the grand scheme of things, the Corsa is a fine first car. I wouldn't ever recommend someone buys one over a Fiesta, Yaris, Polo, Tuk Tuk, whatever, (except maybe a 107/c1, I'm with you, they're hateful nasty little cars) with their own money, but if you're being given one for free then that's a fine compromise IMHO. Graciously accept the free vehicle, save your money, and buy something nice 1-3 years down the line when you have some experience under your belt :)

Even now, at 26, if I found myself in dire straits and needed someone to bail me out with a free car, I'd take whatever I could get.
 
Could you elaborate on "it's not particularly reliable" and "it leaks" at all? :)

All reviews I can find of the Corsa C go something along the lines of "Meh. It's alright" :rolleyes:
 
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Going to look at a car tomorrow, its a 52 reg VW Polo 1.2 S (3 cyl 65 BHP ed.) :)
Taking a family friend who has been a mechanic/engineer for over 40 years with me just in-case. :D
 
I'll throw a +1 in for a fiesta.

I got one for my first car, had it for a good few years now and I've had no major problems at all. Cheap to run, cheap to look after and its quite nippy compared to the Polo. Can't recommend it enough really.

Interesting comments about the Corsa, though... does that apply to just the old model or the newer shapes too?
 
After seeing that Polo, I can't express how much I desperately want one. :p

But it was mutton dressed as lamb, so i'm still car-less.
 
Yaris, they are pretty bomb proof. Only weak point is the drop links are made of cheese. Hard replacement kit is 50 quid and 20 mins for a mechanic to fit.

It will be set for life.

We've had ours for nearly 4 years. It's the 1l version, lacks power with more than 2 people in the car. Does 50mpg on long journeys. Our average is 48 mpg using it as a daily car.

Cheap to run, cheap to insure. Much nicer than a corsa
 
bledd. said:
Yaris, they are pretty bomb proof. Only weak point is the drop links are made of cheese. Hard replacement kit is 50 quid and 20 mins for a mechanic to fit.

It will be set for life.

We've had ours for nearly 4 years. It's the 1l version, lacks power with more than 2 people in the car. Does 50mpg on long journeys. Our average is 48 mpg using it as a daily car.

Cheap to run, cheap to insure. Much nicer than a corsa
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How long does the drop links lasts and are they a service replacement parts? Just wondering if I should have mine change as the car is now 5 years old now.
 
Raymond Lin said:
How long does the drop links lasts and are they a service replacement parts? Just wondering if I should have mine change as the car is now 5 years old now.
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They'll last as long as the piece of string you could tie them together with ;)

You don't replace them until they wear out and start clonking. It's usually a cheap and trivial job.
 
If I was looking at paying £1500 for a first car, i'd definitely be going for a 1.25 zetec Fiesta. Cheap to run, reliable and decent to drive. Avoid Corsa's at all cost, appalling cars :o
 
bledd. said:
Yaris, they are pretty bomb proof. Only weak point is the drop links are made of cheese. Hard replacement kit is 50 quid and 20 mins for a mechanic to fit.

It will be set for life.

We've had ours for nearly 4 years. It's the 1l version, lacks power with more than 2 people in the car. Does 50mpg on long journeys. Our average is 48 mpg using it as a daily car.

Cheap to run, cheap to insure. Much nicer than a corsa
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+1 for the Yaris, the one Howard was referring to was actually my wifes! She had it from 5 years old (2001 plate) until last year when it was written off by some knobber at a junction. The only fault we had was as above - the drop links! Was a cheap fix, I think our local garage did them for £70 all in.

That said I was surprised by the insurance cost, it was fairly cheap for my Mrs as her first car at 20 years old, but when I tried to add myself as a 21 year old the insurance was not comparable for a little hatchback - and I was driving a Lexus IS200 at the time (and that was cheaper to insure)! If you can get the insurance cheap they are great cars, very easy to drive, 1.3 has decent poke, and plenty of room for any crap you'd want to carry! Oh - one note however, they seemed to ship the earlier ones with either a sunroof or AC, no idea why anyone would pick the sunroof over the AC :( Unfortunately ours was one of those unfortunate ones!
 
Going to be honest since everyone has been hyping it up since the start of the thread, everything about the Yaris, from the extreror styling, to the trim, to the driving position, to the silly digital non-centred dials (who's idea was that?!) both confuses and disgusts me and just looking at one makes me question whether or not I want to drive at all. :p

*prepares for the flames*
 
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