Looking to buy a car soonish.

just_grass

just_grass

just_grass

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Joined
15 Dec 2003
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975
Location
Bedford/Derby, UK
I currently have been handed down a Focus Estate 1.6 2001 (Y-reg). its going to cost too much for me to run - (£2000ish for insurance)

I passed my driving test 6th April 2005 (one years experience) - Been on my dads insurance so NO NCB.

I want to branch out and get my own car of my choosing. - I expect I can sell this car atm for £2500 - its done 76k and has a fair bit of cosmetic work to be done - But still runs very well.

I would like to keep to as tight a budget as possible as i'm 18 and going to Uni next year. I will be using it to get to uni (Derby from Milton Keynes area), so some motorway journeys, but mainly as a run-around tho.

Ive been looking at a Rover 214 for about £1000 with insurance about £1200ish.

Or a vague possibility of a 1.6 Hyundai Coupe (non SE) if i can really stretch my funds but that would be maximum (car £1800-£2000, insurance £1650ish)

Any other possibilities?
Comments?

Thanks.
Alex
 
£1000 for a rover 214? dam :o

i was going to suggest the usual suspects (mondeo/focus) but you already have the focus.

why is your insurance so high? cant really think of too much else that would be cheaper to insure, that is of course if you wanted to downgrade to something like a 1.5D citroen AX or something.

id just keep the focus estate for now imo.

the problem you have, is your looking at changing your car for the sake of paying the extra £800 on insurance (example: rover ins: £1200 and focus insurance = £2000) so thats £800 difference.

Your probably going to lose that by changing cars, and your going to end up with a worse car in the end in the way of a rover 214.
 
Don't "really stretch" your funds to buy and insure a car. When working things out to a "stretched" scenario, your brain conveniently forgets lots of little things. Things like tax (almost £200 a year now it's gone up), tyres (£60 a corner on the bigger coupe), petrol (bigger/faster cars use more of it, and it's £1 a litre now), general maintainence (servicing/parts will be more expensive).

My advice would be to not stretch the finances at all. Buy something standard, slow and reliable. An older Fiesta, Corolla, Micra etc. Try to get a car for £500 with a years MOT and tax. You'll find that running something as bargain basement as that still stretches student finances as all the little car related costs start to creep in that you would have written out in your mind when buying a faster car.

Besides, nobody's going to want to break into a dodgy student mobile shed of a car, so you can leave it around the student digs with impunity, and you can use the year's NCB you get after the first year to afford something better with the £500 you saved on insurance.
 
just_grass said:
Or a vague possibility of a 1.6 Hyundai Coupe (non SE) if i can really stretch my funds but that would be maximum (car £1800-£2000, insurance £1650ish)
Click to expand...

Tbh, i wouldn't bother with that sort of Coupe. The 1.6s are slow, the economy isn't any better than a 2 litre and the non-leather interior is hideous and the running costs are fairly high. I managed to get a 2 litre SE for £2500, but had to spend about £500 getting it up to scratch.
 
I looked at coupe's, there loads to run ect..... In the end, in a similar situation to yours- Just passed test, going to uni in a couple of months, no money to spend on repairs, need cheap fuel costs and 2K for car and insurance.

I went for a Peugeot 306 1.9 Diesel turbo (3 door, the xsi looking one, not some rubbish 5 door or estate) its a 1997 P reg quite old I know, and has 97K on the clock. Its cheap on insurance being insurance group 5, and is very cheap fuel being diesel, should get 50 mpg. And although its not that fast, its good performance for the cost and insurance group. I paid £1500 for mine but you should be able to get one for £1300 now tbh, I paid a bit over odds as I was in a hurry, and knew the car I wanted ie, the 3 door with sports seats and that.

heres a pic of what my car looks like in that coulor, but not my actual car as I don’t have any pictures-

media1146403324.jpg
 
very interesting replies.

I dont think i will be stretching my funds, but it was a possibility. thanks.

i thought my insurance was about right! - 18atm, birthday in sept, passed april '05.

Now for a smaller car then :rolleyes:...

i would prefer a 2/3 door version of something or other. that little peugeot looks okay... never really thought much of them tho...

so i need something low on insurance mainly. thats the biggest running cost i can't manage with atm. the tax and MOT i can deal with (and have to because they aren't going to derastically change with a different car!)

so, any suggestions on this note?

Alex (Thanks for your replies so far!)

edit:
@James_N

I dont want to keep the focus really, as yes, i see your point, and it is a good car, its too big for one and the insurance is a joke.
 
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just_grass said:
so, any suggestions on this note?
Click to expand...

Yes, keep the Focus.

Seriously, you think insurance is a joke? The Focus is a Group 5 car - it is not going to be noticeably more expensive to insure than any of the alternative buys in this thread such as the Peugeot 306. If your best quote is £2000 then one of the following statements will be true:

a) Your best quote on 306's will be £2000 as well
b) You've not shopped around enough and you'll be able to sort it for much less than £2000.

I'm going to place my bets on the latter.

Insurance aside, a 1.6 litre Focus is NOT an expensive car to run. It's reasonably economical - it's not the worlds most economical car but the fuel economy is such that anyone doing under 15k miles a year which you almost certainly are is not going to see significant savings from something with a smaller engine. Crucially, the Focus is also a tough, reliable car which, in the event of a problem, is cheap to fix. The same cannot be said quite as confidently about Peugeot 306's or any of the alternative cars you could consider.

If you want to change the Focus becuase you dislike then sure - go ahead. But if you are doing it becuase you think it's going to cost you less think again becuase it won't.
 
Confused.com is a complete and utter waste of time for anyone under 25, don't bother with it.

Run a quote through with Elephant.co.uk, and include both your parents as addtional drivers. This gives good quotes - and don't forget to try Norwich Union as well.
 
[TW]Fox said:
Confused.com is a complete and utter waste of time for anyone under 25, don't bother with it.

Run a quote through with Elephant.co.uk, and include both your parents as addtional drivers. This gives good quotes - and don't forget to try Norwich Union as well.
Click to expand...

I've primarily been using it as a comparison to each other. - just put the focus to endsleigh (best quote with confused) - come back with £1216.38 - WOW big difference!......

can i ask why i put both my parents as additional drivers? - i thought NU were only much good to younger drivers when they had the larger discount for people with PassPlus? - will give 'em ago anyway.

Alex
 
just_grass said:
so, any suggestions on this note?
Click to expand...

Spamalot said:
I looked at coupe's, there loads to run ect..... In the end, in a similar situation to yours- Just passed test, going to uni in a couple of months, no money to spend on repairs, need cheap fuel costs and 2K for car and insurance.

I went for a Peugeot 306 1.9 Diesel turbo (3 door, the xsi looking one, not some rubbish 5 door or estate) its a 1997 P reg quite old I know, and has 97K on the clock. Its cheap on insurance being insurance group 5, and is very cheap fuel being diesel, should get 50 mpg. And although its not that fast, its good performance for the cost and insurance group. I paid £1500 for mine but you should be able to get one for £1300 now tbh, I paid a bit over odds as I was in a hurry, and knew the car I wanted ie, the 3 door with sports seats and that.

heres a pic of what my car looks like in that coulor, but not my actual car as I don’t have any pictures-

media1146403324.jpg
Click to expand...

That took 15 mins to write (baddly) and add picture, lol. Any views?
 
Spamalot said:
That took 15 mins to write (baddly) and add picture, lol. Any views?
Click to expand...

Fundamentally decent cars but the awesome reliability of the engine is sadly let down by the fact the rest of the car falls apart around it, and the bills age as the car does. Mate has spent near £2500 fixing bits of his 94 DTurbo in the 18 months he's had it. It's always having something done.
 
[TW]Fox said:
Fundamentally decent cars but the awesome reliability of the engine is sadly let down by the fact the rest of the car falls apart around it, and the bills age as the car does. Mate has spent near £2500 fixing bits of his 94 DTurbo in the 18 months he's had it. It's always having something done.
Click to expand...

Two tyres and a bit of tube and an oil change in 12 months, not bad hay? And no I'm not the exeption.

Despite what you say I know a few people that have had problems with the mondeo's, but on the whole there are good runner, as you always tell people. Never buy a badden but then that goes for all cars.
 
just_grass said:
reduces it? i thought any other drivers would increse the premium...

okie will bear that in mind. is this only with elephant? or all insurers?
Click to expand...

The thinking is thus: if they're insured to drive the car, they'll probably be driving it sometimes. Since they're undoubtably better drivers than you, this reduces the chances of the car being involved in an accident and thus the premium is reduced.

All insurers do this (at least, I've never heard of one that doesn't).
 
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