First car price movement

When I learnt to drive I found the diesel in my instructors car much easier than the petrol in my fiesta to drive just because they're less finicky if you're not in the right gear and are much harder to stall.
 
Learning to drive in a petrol fiesta 56 and hate the fact that reverse doesn't engage properly :p Should pass my test in a few weeks but waiting list is 9 :( but then shall test drive tons
 
NoNameNoNumber said:
When I learnt to drive I found the diesel in my instructors car much easier than the petrol in my fiesta to drive just because they're less finicky if you're not in the right gear and are much harder to stall.
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But once you've learned how to not stall a petrol they're far better to drive. No point lumbering yourself with a horrible car for the sake of passing a couple of lessons earlier.
 
NoNameNoNumber said:
When I learnt to drive I found the diesel in my instructors car much easier than the petrol in my fiesta to drive just because they're less finicky if you're not in the right gear and are much harder to stall.
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Once you've passed your test you'll never really stall a car again.
 
I had the money when I was 17 to buy a much more expensive car than I did. Thankfully I saw some sense, got a 1.2 Punto, 2 years later I was able to get a 150bhp 'warm' hatch and 18 months after that my Boxster.

Had I spent all the money I had available on a new-ish car 1.2l car like I wanted then I'd probably still be driving that now and hating it.

Spend £2k on a 'my first car' car and enjoy the freedom for 18 months!
 
Peerzy said:
I had the money when I was 17 to buy a much more expensive car than I did. Thankfully I saw some sense, got a 1.2 Punto, 2 years later I was able to get a 150bhp 'warm' hatch and 18 months after that my Boxster.

Had I spent all the money I had available on a new-ish car 1.2l car like I wanted then I'd probably still be driving that now and hating it.

Spend £2k on a 'my first car' car and enjoy the freedom for 18 months!
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Yep, so spend as little on my first car and then go and get something nice that is worth the money more?
 
Hyburnate said:
Yep, so spend as little on my first car and then go and get something nice that is worth the money more?
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Basically yes.

Say for arguments sake I was 17 and had £10k to spend, I'd buy a £2k car and spend about £1k insuring it and enjoying it for 18 months / 2 years. Running costs will be tiny.

In that time I'll have saved up extra and I'll then have £15k to play with, I'll spend £8k on a warm hatch and save the rest, earning more and saving more. Running costs will be slightly more but still small.

Around the time I'm 21/22 I now have £20k+, am old enough to insure anything I want and have the ability to judge how best to spend my money.

Or I could have spent £10k straight away on something crud and 'new', in around 2 years time I'd have a car that's lots shed loads of money and I'd be much further away from owning the car I actually want.

Had I bought what I originally wanted at 17 or again at 19 (basically a very expensive 'new' cars) I wouldn't have been able to afford the Boxster at 21, nor what I consider my 'dream' car at 24.
 
The good thing about going "cheap" is that whilst you'll still love the car, the odd mistakes aren't going to make you worry too much.

I remember driving into a gatepost in one of my first cars - not quickly...I was just turning and just misjudged how far away it was. Marked the car but no big deal I just found a bumper from local scrappy and swapped them over.

Do the same sort of thing in a newer Polo with the R guff on it and you'll be buying a new bumper from vw then having it painted, the car is new so you'll probably worry about trying to swap it yourself etc

I did also hit a tree in my actual first car, was no fixing that!
 
i paid £1100 for my car. its means i can put speakers in and rag it without worrying too much. my mate has a 4 grand clio which his mummy and daddy bought him and he has to be careful when parking not to scratch alloys and is constantly cleaning it. the funny thing is that its not even any faster than my car in a straight line. :)
 
rodenal said:
The good thing about going "cheap" is that whilst you'll still love the car, the odd mistakes aren't going to make you worry too much.

I remember driving into a gatepost in one of my first cars - not quickly...I was just turning and just misjudged how far away it was. Marked the car but no big deal I just found a bumper from local scrappy and swapped them over.

Do the same sort of thing in a newer Polo with the R guff on it and you'll be buying a new bumper from vw then having it painted, the car is new so you'll probably worry about trying to swap it yourself etc

I did also hit a tree in my actual first car, was no fixing that!
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I'm stumped, as to how you did that:p
 
Hyburnate said:
Learning to drive in a petrol fiesta 56 and hate the fact that reverse doesn't engage properly :p Should pass my test in a few weeks but waiting list is 9 :( but then shall test drive tons
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Is that the one where you go to the far right right and then down to engage reverse.

Yeah sometimes it doesn't engage properly, I drive a 2003 Fiesta, it also has this problem.

Way to solve it is to pop it into 1st or 3rd and then reverse.
 
flibbage0 said:
Is that the one where you go to the far right right and then down to engage reverse.

Yeah sometimes it doesn't engage properly, I drive a 2003 Fiesta, it also has this problem.

Way to solve it is to pop it into 1st or 3rd and then reverse.
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Yep, I was doing a 3 point turn today and you can always tell when I'm starting to wonder where my bite is then realise I'm not in gear.

Been looking at the prices and it's quoting 2k for insuring a Focus.
 
Hyburnate said:
Yep, I was doing a 3 point turn today and you can always tell when I'm starting to wonder where my bite is then realise I'm not in gear.

Been looking at the prices and it's quoting 2k for insuring a Focus.
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If you're 17/18 then that sounds about right.

Make sure you take the cheapest quote and actually go on the website for that insurer or even call them, will usually be a bit cheaper than what the comparison websites tell you.
 
I got a 61 reg Corsa SXI 1.3 Diesel (89BHP) 5 Dr as my first car.

I've almost been driving for a year and have yet to have an accident. I'm a pretty "boring" young driver though, doing the speed limit everywhere and not going to the local shopping park and doing doughnuts. I'll likely get some hate but the Corsa has been great to drive, it has a decent amount of power for a 1240/1250cc diesel engine and a lot more pull than the 1.2 or 1.4 petrol engines. If you know you can trust yourself not to drive like an idiot and also not fall into pressure with friends then you should be fine. However I've not even been driving a year yet and it's getting a little low on power.

I do about 700/900 miles a week in my Corsa and also carry a fair amount of passengers and it's held up perfectly fine. Only issues I've had so far was an issue with the clutch and the cruise control but that was fixed in about 2 hours by the dealership.
 
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Sorry to semi hijack the thread and best of luck to OP but am 28, learning to drive and have £10k to spend, difference being if I only spend £2-3k then the rest of the money is gone. Not saved for another day. Would you still recommend a cheap first car? Insurance is all sub 1k at 28 and for example BMW 1 series 120i is roughly £750 so much more reasonable. I hate hatchbacks but going into driving was set on it as hatches are first cars as they are cheap to insure but at 28 they're similarly priced to a BMW 3 series. So it would be nice to own a car I actually like and am thinking of spending the full whack to get that I actually like?
 
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Antony101 said:
I got a 61 reg Corsa SXI 1.3 Diesel (89BHP) 5 Dr as my first car.

I've almost been driving for a year and have yet to have an accident. I'm a pretty "boring" young driver though, doing the speed limit everywhere and not going to the local shopping park and doing doughnuts. I'll likely get some hate but the Corsa has been great to drive, it has a decent amount of power for a 1240/1250cc diesel engine and a lot more pull than the 1.2 or 1.4 petrol engines. If you know you can trust yourself not to drive like an idiot and also not fall into pressure with friends then you should be fine. However I've not even been driving a year yet and it's getting a little low on power.

I do about 700/900 miles a week in my Corsa and also carry a fair amount of passengers and it's held up perfectly fine. Only issues I've had so far was an issue with the clutch and the cruise control but that was fixed in about 2 hours by the dealership.
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You're doing 36-47k miles a year in a 1.2 diesel Corsa? :eek:
 
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