Suggestions for a first car

Anders0n · 18 Nov 2006 at 20:45

Stellios said:
Granda car?

Link 1

Link 2

I was thinking more along the lines of a hatchback.

I wouldn't be seen dead in either of them cars.

Edit: Worded it abit wrong. What I meant was could you get me some examples of these cars: Pug 106'/306, Fiesta, Punto.

I dont paying around 1500 for a decent car. As long as its easy on the insurance.

digitalwolf · 18 Nov 2006 at 20:46

A newer 214 (as in 3dr) would be ok, but they really look soo dated lol.

digitalwolf · 18 Nov 2006 at 20:53

Anders0n said:
I was thinking more along the lines of a hatchback.

I wouldn't be seen dead in either of them cars.

Haha, stick with the saxo. If you don't wonna stretch and pay the VTR insurance get a 1.4 Furio/Westcoast instead.

Arc · 18 Nov 2006 at 21:01

Anders0n said:
17th birthday's coming up soon so It's time to start looking for my first car.

Budget is around £1500, Preferably lower. Obviously needs to be cheap to insure aswell. Suggestions?

Was thinking maybe a Saxo vtr/vts, or am I living in dreamland?

Start off by learing and passing your test first. Then go for a couple of test drives to see what kind of cars you like. You may find the Saxo isnt to your taste. Anyway, what you need to know:

VTR - insurance group 7 - possible
VTS - insurance group 14 - not a chance

Beware though, the VTR can bite. It has no driver aids (e.g. ABS, traction control) and has that lovely lift off oversteer trait that leads many into hedges.

Defcon5 · 18 Nov 2006 at 21:10

Arc said:
VTR - insurance group 7 - possible
VTS - insurance group 14 - not a chance
.

Isnt the only difference an extra 8 valves?

Anders0n · 18 Nov 2006 at 21:23

Hows this ?

Stellios · 18 Nov 2006 at 21:37

Anders0n said:
Hows this ?

Should be alright for insurance, probably slightly over £1k.

Defcon5 said:
Isnt the only difference an extra 8 valves?

IIRC the VTS is about 3 seconds quicker to 60.

MG42Maniac · 18 Nov 2006 at 21:38

I can insure a year 2000 VTR with Quinn Direct for ~£1000 TPFT & i'm 19 with 0 NCB and I live in SO40. Thats the car I am looking to get aswell

Anders0n · 18 Nov 2006 at 21:41

Stellios said:
Should be alright for insurance, probably slightly over £1k.

Elephant just quoted me £2000 :eek:

Off to try Quinn Direct now...

Anders0n · 18 Nov 2006 at 22:24

Quinn Direct seem to quote me £1,385.03 for nearly every car I put in.

Including this.

Anyone know what size engine it has? Is it any good?

Rich1988 · 18 Nov 2006 at 23:02

Rover 214 wedge, 1040 for me to insure at 17

its not slow either

Anders0n · 19 Nov 2006 at 13:38

Rich1988 said:
Rover 214 wedge, 1040 for me to insure at 17 its not slow either

Is that the same car as in your sig? If so, that looks horrendous!

Been looking at this car quite a bit. Is it a decent car? Only round the corner from me.

Quinn direct have quoted me the usual £1385, but I still think thats quite high.

What other good insurance companies are there for new drivers? Tried endsleigh and they're just a joke.

Cars considering atm: Saxo / Saxo VTR, 106 & 306. Not liking the look of the punto and I'm not going anywhere near a corsa.

Sone · 19 Nov 2006 at 13:52

Anders0n said:
Is that the same car as in your sig? If so, that looks horrendous!

looks naff but there are loads in scrappys for parts and i think its one of the quickest 1.4's with about 100bhp. Also for there age they have quite a bit of kit. Metallic SEI's like AGW's old one can look quite nice, as long as chav spoilers arn't attached

Lonewolf · 19 Nov 2006 at 14:47

Had a Saxo for 3 years and now I have been driving a Fiesta 1.25 Zetec for 3 years too. TBH the Fiesta is better all round.

Fiesta review

Anders0n · 19 Nov 2006 at 14:49

Got another question...

With the saxos, 106s and the 306's there are loads of different models. Is there any particular ones that I should stay clear of? Like ones that have been known to play up and are generally crap?

sigma · 19 Nov 2006 at 15:03

My current daily driver is a 1998 Ford Fiesta Encore ( poverty spec ) with the 1.25 zetec lump, it's insurance friendly, parts are cheap as chips, tax is low, it returns fairly decent mpg

The trouble will be finding a nice example, although if you look hard enough i'm sure it shouldn't be too hard, we've had ours in the family since it was a yr old with 16k miles and it has served us well so far! (touch wood) Ideal first car or daily driver

Anders0n · 19 Nov 2006 at 16:01

Yeah just been looking at fiesta's. There definatly are some nice ones around, like this and this.

What are normal saxo's like? By that I mean not vtr or vts.

Arc · 19 Nov 2006 at 16:18

Normal Saxo's arent that bad. Unfortunetly they do suffer due the image problem but thats something you get with any Saxo now. The 1.4 Furio with the VTR/VTS body kit is probably the best bet for someone in your position.

Defcon5 said:
Isnt the only difference an extra 8 valves?

Nah, theres a few other differences, wheel sizes (15" wheels on the VTS, 14" on the VTR) plus the VTS has a close range gearbox and ABS.

The 1.6 8v in the VTR puts out 100bhp (90bhp for the earlier cars)
The 1.6 16v in the VTS puts out 120bhp.

0-60 times are low 9.0's for the VTR and high 7.0's for the VTS. Not much of a difference tbh. The longer geared VTR is a bit better on the motorway/NSL limits due to the longer gearing.

[TW]Fox · 19 Nov 2006 at 16:21

Anders0n said:
I was thinking more along the lines of a hatchback.

Both of those cars are hatchbacks.

Anders0n · 19 Nov 2006 at 18:01

Arc said:
Normal Saxo's arent that bad. Unfortunetly they do suffer due the image problem but thats something you get with any Saxo now. The 1.4 Furio with the VTR/VTS body kit is probably the best bet for someone in your position.

Whats the image problem?

I've been watching this car since yesterday. What does 'cat c insurance loss' mean?

Sorry for my n00b questions.

[TW]Fox said:
Both of those cars are hatchbacks.

So they are.

Perhaps I should have said "Hot hatch".