Spec my 17 yo son his first car.

nlel1975 said:
Yeah but can you get a decent one in his £3000 budget?
Click to expand...

You can but it will be a 70k ish miles one, not really an issue though. But they are less common than the other small hatches.

Another one is the Mitsubishi Colt. But good ones seem to be getting hard to find. They did a hot (warm) version of it too but they are gold dust.
 
Last edited:
You'll get a Kia Rio in that price range, it's a little like a new Polo size car and actually has room in it for transporting his mates etc. I don't know the insurance price by my friend got one for his 18 year old son and said it was relatively low compared to other stuff he was looking at.
Either that or a Chevrolet Lacetti estate would be fun at that age.
 
Last edited:
Ford Fiesta is a good option.

Just tell your son not to stick a massive shouty exhaust on it like a lot of young guys do.

Auto Trader UK - New and Used Cars For Sale

Find your next car with Auto Trader UK, the official #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars. Over 400,000 cars online. Simple, easy, quick!
www.autotrader.co.uk www.autotrader.co.uk
 
Last edited:
Nasher said:
You can but it will be a 70k ish miles one, not really an issue though. But they are less common than the other small hatches.
Click to expand...
Just checked Autotrader there's no MKIII Twingo for sale at the moment for less than £3000 only MKII. Plenty of those for less than £3000.
 
Last edited:
JonRGV250 said:
That’s fine, and I’m pleased you’re happy with your car.
Click to expand...
Don't own one anymore, I've got a MKIII Smart Fortwo now, that is based on the Renault Twingo MKIII. Transmission is much better as its a DCT. Still liked my MKII Smart Fortwo though while I had it.
 
Last edited:
nlel1975 said:
Just checked Autotrader there's no MKII Twingo for sale at the moment only MKI. Plenty of those for less than £3000. As you say less common.

EDIT: For £3000 or less I mean.
Click to expand...

You are probably looking at mk3s, which are the rear engine, bubble shaped one. Not sure the MK1 made it to the UK. The MK2 is the better looking one and based on the older Clio chassis, which is why it handles well.

iamdjdz said:
You'll get a Kia Rio in that price range, it's a little like a new Polo size car and actually has room in it for transporting his mates etc. I don't know the insurance price by my friend got one for his 18 year old son and said it was relatively low compared to other stuff he was looking at.
Either that or a Chevrolet Lacetti estate would be fun at that age.
Click to expand...

The old Rio isn't bad. But they love to rust in critical places, as I found out. I had a front subframe split on one at only 60k miles :/
 
Last edited:
Nasher said:
You are probably looking at mk3s, which are the rear engine, bubble shaped one. Not sure the MK1 made it to the UK. The MK2 is the better looking one and based on the older Clio chassis, which is why it handles well.
Click to expand...
Yeah I meant the MKIII. I looked on Parkers website and it only listed two Twingo models. Checked the Twingo wiki site and the MKIII was from 2014 onwards, which is what I looked at on Autotrader.

The Smart Fortwo and ForFour MKIII are based on the Twingo MKIII.
 
Last edited:
In the United Kingdom, the new Twingo won the "City Car of the Year" 2014, TopGear Magazine Awards, "City Car of the Year" in the UK Car of the Year Awards and "Best City Car" in the Daily Express 2014 Motoring Oscars, "Best City Car" at the 2015 British GQ Car Awards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Twingo

As the Smart Fortwo & Forfour MKIII are basically the Twingo MKIII then its a pretty decent City Car by all accounts. Out of budget for the OP but there's always the MKII as you say.
 
tom_e said:
"Best city car" is like winning the "best infectious disease" award, it could be worse but you still don't want one :cry:
Click to expand...
It’s not my opinion it was well received by the industry when it was launched, you just don’t like city cars. For a 17 year old a city car is best.
 
nlel1975 said:
I started with a 107, moved to a Smart Fortwo
Click to expand...
With the greatest respect, you started off with quite possibly one of the most cheaply built and awful to drive bag of bolts, then moved on to a slightly slightly less cheaply built but just as awful to drive bag of bolts.
So, do excuse me not taking your “what car to buy” advice seriously.
 
nlel1975 said:
you just don’t like city cars. For a 17 year old a city car is best.
Click to expand...
Correct, because for anything other than "city" driving they're generally hateful little things. Just because they're 17 doesn't mean they don't want to get out of town and not be rattled to death or crawling along.

For your they've been fine and we all get that but the top limit for you is 40 isn't it? There's a big difference to driving one of those things at 40, where even I'll admit they're generally absolutely fine and then wanting to spend any time in one on a motorway/A road doing 70ish.
 
Not sure if the insurance industry has changed now but didn't it used to be the case that the most popular cars for young people to get were also the most expensive to insure?
I'd probably be looking for something boring and reliable, and not cool at all. It's just a first car.
 
nlel1975 said:
It’s not my opinion it was well received by the industry when it was launched, you just don’t like city cars. For a 17 year old a city car is best.
Click to expand...

Some of the city cars are a lot more fun to drive than the latest German monstrosities. Especially the sub 1 ton ones. I found the Twingo fine at motorway speeds also.

I wouldn't include the 107/C1/Aygo in that though, they feel sloppy.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom