Yes. Have you looked at the depreciation? I wouldn't buy new but as a used car it can be a bargain.
Are you sure? It may be loosing tons of value but a "bargain"? The very cheapest on Autotrader is still £10,000 and is 13 years old! The running costs of keeping something like that on the road will be absoultely extrorniate completley negating the fact that it was once a £60-70,000 car. The ultimate reason they are so cheap, is that if you could afford to properly run one of these, you could afford to buy one considerably newer. They will only appeal to people who don't really understand what they are buying, and have to bodge them or sell them on the first time any serious problem occurs. To really put it into perspective, even a set of tires for such a car will run close to £1000. Utter madness for a new driver, living in london, who is looking at Mazda 2's and Fabias........
To answer the OP's question, I'd echo what others are saying in terms of going slightly bigger and perhaps consider a Civic? Something like this would be a lovely model. Tons of toys, reasonable running costs, and a nice place to be with tons of space even on long journeys.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201709199446724
How often do you have people in the back? It's just that 3 doors are generally cheaper, and the amount of space between the 3 and 5 doors is exactly the same, being the same car and all, just a 3 door means it's a two step process to get in the back, so if you hardly have anyone in the back, who cares
I'm not completely married to the idea of a 5 door as long as it'd be a 3 door that doesn't require too much contorting to get into the back, as I'd be doing stuff like picking my parents up to take them to dinner etc and they're both over 60. I'd imagine that probably won't be an issue on a slightly larger car. A few hundred quid difference isn't an issue in the grand scheme of things though.
Re Civics, dat rear visibility though? Or do all you owners have the rear camera installed?
If I lived in London I'd get something cheap that you don't really care about too much. It WILL get damaged at some point.
Yeah, I agree. My Civic had parking sensors which worked well, and the bar across the rear window was brilliant for blocking out the headlights of cars behind.The EX-GT I linked has rear parking sensors so the visibility issue isn't too much of a problem as they make up for some of it. It's certainly no worse than my own Skoda Octavia with no sensors. When driving I honestly don't find the rear bar a problem at all, it's also at the perfect height to prevent the dazzling you get from things like Range Rovers / Ford Transits headlights when they are sat behind you as it lines up pretty much perfectly with their light beam.
When you apply for insurance they do ask you how long you have held your license I imagine when you enter 2 months it automatically inflates the price a few times over. They then ask you about age and NCB, etc.
As a first car and having just passed you would be best going cheap. Like <£10K for sure. An old civic, polo or focus will suffice with a 1.6 engine max. Or you could just not drive at all for a couple of years. Wait for the amount of years you have held a license to increase. Even without any NCB the fact you have held a license for 3 years will make a difference to premiums especially when combined with your age.
If you really need a car then go cheap on the first one for the first 2 years. After that you can get something decent with a nice engine.
How often do you have people in the back? It's just that 3 doors are generally cheaper, and the amount of space between the 3 and 5 doors is exactly the same, being the same car and all, just a 3 door means it's a two step process to get in the back, so if you hardly have anyone in the back, who cares
Did my first Pass Plus today, 2/6 modules done (Town Driving and Dual Carriageways so nothing haven’t done already, although I did get the chance to stay on some carriageways for longer than when I was learning and do some overtaking!), much more importantly, his car - a DS3 - was being serviced as someone had gone into the back of him while he was stationary at some lights, so he’d been given a dual control Fiesta in the interim.
First different car I’ve driven. I can totally see what people mean when they say they’re fun to drive - handling was way nicer, gear selection easier and the clutch was more forgiving... the braking I did not like though, at all. Seemed super sharp! Like nothing, nothing, wham harsh braking. Interesting experience though. Motorways next week...
Oh and forgot to mention. When you think you know what kind of car to get, look for the owners club website / forums. Often there'll be a buyer's guide stickied somewhere. These are invaluable for knowing what to look out for when you go and actually view the cars. "Ah it's a minor clunk, they all do that sir", but the owners forum says "that's a rare clunk, but if it's got it, a 4-figure bill looms", you'll save yourself a fortune.
Yeah I've read about the 3 v.s. 5 door thing in regards to tight spaces! Slightly bigger is fine in the Ford's case as the Focus looks a bit nicer on the inside than the Fiesta. I know the amount of cheap looking plastic shouldn't be high on the priority list for a first car but...
Thanks!
My dad suffers from glaucoma and although the optician he uses is 100% sure he's fit to drive still, it's gotten slightly worse lately so to be a good boy he's informed the DVLA and just done an eye test with a DVLA affiliated optician who sends the results off to them and they make the ultimate decision on whether he can still hold his license. He'd be royally ****'ed if they took it away from him, but if they did he has a late 2000's high spec Fabia that I would apparently have first dibs on (assuming insurance wasn't £££), so I'm sort of waiting to here what happens there before oogling at any more Civics on Autotrader (starting to develop an attachment...). Only thing is that it's an auto - well, not a proper one but an automatic for all intents and purposes - and I was planning on sticking to manual for a while a least seeing as I've only just learnt.
Did my first Pass Plus today, 2/6 modules done (Town Driving and Dual Carriageways so nothing haven’t done already, although I did get the chance to stay on some carriageways for longer than when I was learning and do some overtaking!), much more importantly, his car - a DS3 - was being serviced as someone had gone into the back of him while he was stationary at some lights, so he’d been given a dual control Fiesta in the interim.
First different car I’ve driven. I can totally see what people mean when they say they’re fun to drive - handling was way nicer, gear selection easier and the clutch was more forgiving... the braking I did not like though, at all. Seemed super sharp! Like nothing, nothing, wham harsh braking. Interesting experience though. Motorways next week...