Spec my 17 yo son his first car.

nlel1975 · 3 Aug 2023 at 12:14

Diddums said:
Lol

Surely the acceleration time is most important when driving on a motorway. I was told no one cares when I mentioned my Smart Fortwo MII did 0-60 in 10.6 seconds. That’s actually pretty good when comparing with other similar type cars.

Anyone no one cares so forgive me for mentioning it again

Diddums · 3 Aug 2023 at 12:18

nlel1975 said:
Surely the acceleration time is most important when driving on a motorway.

Yes. Which is why lorries and vans have 3 second 0-60 times :cry:

It's ok though, we all know you've never driven a proper car on a proper motorway so whilst you're presenting your opinion as fact, it's demonstrably false and down to your lack of experience.

nlel1975 · 3 Aug 2023 at 12:19

Diddums said:
It's ok though, we all know you've never driven a proper car on a proper motorway so whilst you're presenting your opinion as fact, it's demonstrably false and down to your lack of experience.

That’s true no experience of motorway driving so my comments don’t count.

Diddums · 3 Aug 2023 at 12:20

nlel1975 said:
That’s true no experience of motorway driving so my comments don’t count.

Go rent a 5 series and drive on a motorway, then do the same in your Smart. You'll very soon see the difference.

JonRGV250 · 3 Aug 2023 at 12:21

nlel1975 said:
so my comments don’t count.

Correct, so please stop commenting.

Nasher · 3 Aug 2023 at 12:57

Diddums said:
Go rent a 5 series and drive on a motorway, then do the same in your Smart. You'll very soon see the difference.

But then a 5 series is a lumbering thing in the center of town and tight car parks.

nlel1975 · 3 Aug 2023 at 14:12

Nasher said:
But then a 5 series is a lumbering thing in the center of town and tight car parks.

While a 5 series would be nice I think the insurance for a 17 year old would kill it. Found this via Google for the cheapest cars to insure for a 17 year old.

https://heycar.co.uk/guides/cheapest-cars-to-insure-for-17-year-olds

The Aygo, Twingo and Smart Forfour are all on that list.

Diddums · 3 Aug 2023 at 16:41

nlel1975 said:
While a 5 series would be nice I think the insurance for a 17 year old would kill it.

Nobody suggested that a 17yo buy a 5 series though :confused:

nlel1975 · 3 Aug 2023 at 16:46

Diddums said:
Nobody suggested that a 17yo buy a 5 series though

I see just pointing out that a 5 series is much much better car than a Smart or Aygo, especially on motorways. I never doubted that for one minute.

Rroff · 3 Aug 2023 at 17:12

nlel1975 said:
While a 5 series would be nice I think the insurance for a 17 year old would kill it.

Insurance is really odd in that respect - for my brother as a new driver for instance it was cheaper to insure IIRC a 2.5L V6 Audi A4 than many small cars, and I don't think it was that much more than some other small cars. (Sure he actually nearly put it in the hedge a couple of times in the first few weeks but survived without incident). There is seemingly little rhyme or reason whether a 5 series for a 17 year old would be cheap or stupidly expensive to insure.

We've got an influx of younger people at work currently who are learning to drive/just passed and the range on insurance is hilarious (not in a good way) - with people being quoted anything from £125/year to into the thousands for the same car... something is very badly wrong with the car insurance industry.

nlel1975 · 3 Aug 2023 at 17:19

Rroff said:
We've got an influx of younger people at work currently who are learning to drive/just passed and the range on insurance is hilarious (not in a good way) - with people being quoted anything from £125/year to into the thousands for the same car... something is very badly wrong with the car insurance industry.

I thought it went by insurance groups, the Smart and Aygo are in the lowest groups 1-3 whereas a BMW 5 series is in something like group 35 therefore much more expensive to insure.

Deleted User 298457 · 3 Aug 2023 at 17:33

Rroff said:
something is very badly wrong with the car insurance industry.

If you follow the maths it does make a lot of sense. Most 17 y/os drive smaller cars. Most crashes are from inexperienced younger drivers. Ergo the risk rating for the underwrite for a 17y/o driving a smaller car is higher. It isn't "fair" but that is what the numbers say, and insurance is just a numbers game.

Rroff · 3 Aug 2023 at 17:42

Classic Blue Theme said:
If you follow the maths it does make a lot of sense. Most 17 y/os drive smaller cars. Most crashes are from inexperienced younger drivers. Ergo the risk rating for the underwrite for a 17y/o driving a smaller car is higher. It isn't "fair" but that is what the numbers say, and insurance is just a numbers game.

One of our managers at work recently passed their test in their mid 20s and is insuring a Fiat Panda at £125/year - which got some of the younger ones who are just learning to drive and/or just passed interested - baring in mind they are all in the same job (but not management) they've had a range of insurance quotes on a Panda from reasonable to LOL.

On the other hand I've always had quite reasonable quotes, often cheap, for my circumstances until I've got older where most people start to see them drop and mine hasn't changed

Armageus · 3 Aug 2023 at 17:50

nlel1975 said:
I thought it went by insurance groups, the Smart and Aygo are in the lowest groups 1-3 whereas a BMW 5 series is in something like group 35 therefore much more expensive to insure.

There's much more to insurance than just the group.
An Aygo might well be among the cheapest car to insure for a typical 30-50 year old with no claims and years of experience, but they might be commonly crashed by 17 year olds.

Also at this point in these cars' lives, any incident is likely going to write them off, especially with brands such as Smart (Mercedes) where parts are more expensive than say Ford or Vauxhall. Average repair costs and parts availability are a factor that does affect insurance (albeit to a lesser extent than the driver/location)

nlel1975 · 3 Aug 2023 at 17:50

Rroff said:
One of our managers at work recently passed their test in their mid 20s and is insuring a Fiat Panda at £125/year - which got some of the younger ones who are just learning to drive and/or just passed interested - baring in mind they are all in the same job (but not management) they've had a range of insurance quotes on a Panda from reasonable to LOL.

Just checked Parkers, Fiat Panda is in insurance group 1-8 so depending which model isn’t one of the cheapest cars to insure hence why it’s not included in the list I linked to above.

tom_e · 3 Aug 2023 at 17:52

There's so many things taken into account with insurance that any comparison between two people is basically irrelevant

nlel1975 · 3 Aug 2023 at 17:55

Armageus said:
There's much more to insurance than just the group.
An Aygo might well be among the cheapest car to insure for a typical 30-50 year old with no claims and years of experience, but they might be commonly crashed by 17 year olds.

When I was 26 I had a Peugeot 106 which would have been in one of the lowest insurance groups and I paid about £500 to insure it. I only had a provisional license. If I’d have been 17 I bet it would have been a lot more. This was back in 2001.

nlel1975 · 4 Aug 2023 at 15:26

I've got you some examples of the low insurance group cars listed here...

https://heycar.co.uk/guides/cheapest-cars-to-insure-for-17-year-olds

On Auto Trader for around the £3000 mark where possible.

Volkswagen UP! £2700