Passed my test now onto finding a car. help much wanted:)

Thanks :) my dad said to look around and we will get some quotes on saturday I quite like the idea of a newish clio from a dealership, as it would come with a warranty and it would be easy to pay for(not all in one big payment) and it being new I wouldnt be stupid with it and I had to leave it stock in order not to void the warranty. but now to get this search going
 
lpb-nissan-gt-r
I have been looking at cars on autotrader Really liking this at the moment what do you guys think?
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...ll/radius/30/page/1/postcode/cm12ah?logcode=p
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Well if you're going to have a Corsa of that shape, the SXI is the one you're going to want. Despite the fact that someone seems to have stolen the chrome trim off the front. Of course whether or not you'll actually like it once you've had a drive remains to be seen.

'Slightly tappety' is a bit of a worry, though. Particularly as it's not a Ford Ka where that issue as good as comes as standard.
 
There are a few in my area, I have pretty much ruled out the finacing a brand new car as it puts me under a bit too much pressure for a sixth former, I also had a bried look at fiesta's but Im not very keen on them if I am going to be honest.
 
A Corsa SXi is a really good choice, easy to drive, has resonably dynamic handling and feels like a much bigger car than it is. If you budget will allow you could try and go for a faclifted version with the new look bumpers and lights which came in 2003 but it would probably have a fair bit of mileage.

The gearbox is reasonable but very stiff like it came from the early 90's but its only a minor thing really. The suspension is firm but I presume thats a feature of the Sxi 'sporty' model, helps with the handling.
 
If you buy anything normal, you'll be burned so hard for insurance it's not even funny.

Try this.
 
Famine
If you buy anything normal, you'll be burned so hard for insurance it's not even funny.

Try this.
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For someone who gives sensible advice that was not very sensible:) and I agree insurance is actually so expensive it is stupid, I even considered legally becoming a girl so it would be cheaper, but that was a stupid idea.
 
lpb-nissan-gt-r
For someone who gives sensible advice that was not very sensible:)
Click to expand...

Are you kidding me?

FIAT X1/9s are fabulous cars. If it was going to rust its way to an early grave, it would have already done so and it's being used as a daily driver by the owner. Get that car and you will be almost literally drowning in flange.

It's also not powerful enough to kill you properly, lively enough to teach you some talent, you can get a bit grimy looking after it right and insurers will not know what to do with it. Find a specialist classic car insurer and you can be knee-deep in fanny for less than a quarter of what it costs your me-too, Barry-hatchback "peers".
 
Jondot
.

'Slightly tappety' is a bit of a worry, though. Particularly as it's not a Ford Ka where that issue as good as comes as standard.
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Apperently a common fault but as much as I have looked into it, it seems not to be dangerous, I think.:dunce:
Famine LOL!! but serously Im putting an ending to that, becuase if it broke I do not have the time or knowledge to fix it.:)
 
Learn. I'm learning 15 years late. Plus, unreliable 30 year old cars are dead 30 year old cars. If it's still working, it's a good 'un.

But, if you want something similarly interesting (for the ladies) of similar vintage (for the insurance) but with less of a reputation for failure, I have more.
 
lpb-nissan-gt-r
I don't even think I can get classic insurance at my age.
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I think it varies between insurers and the policies, there's a lad at my college who has a Morris Minor on classic insurance and he's only around our age.
 
You will struggle to get classic car insurance from a mainstream insurer - who generally ask for a minimum age of 25. There are specialist alternatives (which also often offer discounts for car club memberships).
 
Look at used car sites, add the budget that you have, try not to get cars that are expensive to service or insure.

Avoid the cheap and nastys like deawoo, get a car that has least milage, look to see if it has its logbooks, if it has been in a crash, if it has debts to be paid, anything newer than 1996 would be good as they will have OBD-II and you can pull the codes off(if you have the tool) and try to fix it your slef.


Learn how to service the car, not only will it save you money but time.

Spark plugs are the easiest thing to learn.
Oil Changes are easy but you must know what oil to use and what oil filter is needed as well as what to do with oil afterwards.
Brakes are tricky this is best done by mechanics.
Tire rotation, checking of fliuds(most important do it each fornight on an older car), checking of tire pressures, checking lightbulbs.

Try to insure it for 1 year as it will save you rather than monthly.

My first car was a polar white Honda Accord 1987 Si which was automatic, sure it wasn't fast and it had its share of issues but i loved my accord.
When i first put third party was AUD$700 per year, after 3 years it went down to AUD$350 just due to careful driving and not making any claims(try not to claim as you will get a no claim discount which will help you in your next car)
 
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Bit of update Im deffinatly being given a grand towards purchase and Grandarents have said the will pay for half the insurance so thats good
Dad said to look at
VW Polos
Im least keen on these to be honest as they look fairly old IMO.
Vauxhall Corsa
1.0 litre seem they a bit small Any one want to give me a rough idea on insurance on an sxi? becuase that seems to sound quite expensive.
Peugoets 206
I learnt to drive in a 207 so Im quite keen and these dont look that bad if I am going to be honest(with colour coded bumpers)
Ford fiesta
mark 4 facelift They seem pretty dull IMO nd they are a 1.25

I like the idea of Fiat Punto (facelifted model not the 60) but insurance is hit and miss
or a Renualt Clio but It would have to be the facelifted model, but I do not believe the are within my price range.

My favorite so far is the corsa sxi as i like the look and they look fairly 'cool' and relatively new.
 
I cannot advise you strongly enough against buying a "modern" hatchback. Try an insurance quote to see one of the most compelling reasons why.

If you can get a quote at under £3k for a 1.0 Corsa, I'll be surprised.
 
Famine
I cannot advise you strongly enough against buying a "modern" hatchback. Try an insurance quote to see one of the most compelling reasons why.
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Similarly, I cannot advise you strongly enough against buying a 1 litre Vauxhall Corsa.

Hired a new shape one a month ago so I could get to Manchester and back, and I can honestly say that it was the worst car I've ever driven. Ever. And that makes it bottom of a list which includes a Berlingo, a Picasso and even a Famine-hated Clio. It was rubbish to sit in, it had a rubbish gearbox, it had rubbish steering, it had rubbish brakes, it was rubbish in traffic, it was rubbish on hills, it was biblically awful on a dual carriageway. Given the choice again, I'd take the bus.

If you're going to have a 1 litre car, it has to be the size of an Aygo. It just does. Granted I don't like 3 cylinder engines much anyway, but it does at least suit the likes of the C1. The Corsa, though? Absolutely not. If you're going to put yourself through the ordeal of having to drive a car so Eeyore-ish, at least make sure it'll be able to climb over a speed bump without getting in a state of panic.
 
yeah true, I forgot to mention I am not allowed to finance as I do not live with my dad and apparently I have if I am going to finance through him. so I have a £1000 and possibly £100-£300 depending on how long it takes to find the right car.
 
Pug 106 👍

And if you could insure it, a 106 Rallye would be awesome.
 
Stotty
Just buy whatever you can insure for the lowest amount of money.
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Well...

You can find something cheap to buy and insure...but will you be spending tons of money throwing parts at it when it breaks? over. and over. and over.

Reliable. that's a good thing, too.
 
astrosdude91
It's your first car, so it doesn't have to be anything exciting. I would suggest something cheap like an old Fiesta or Panda.
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A first car for a new driver is always exciting though.

Be it a certified VW Beetle or some jalopy from the used car lot.
 
lpb-nissan-gt-r
yeah true, I forgot to mention I am not allowed to finance as I do not live with my dad and apparently I have if I am going to finance through him. so I have a £1000 and possibly £100-£300 depending on how long it takes to find the right car.
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Let me relate to you a story.

I learned to drive in a 1993 Mk3 VW Golf 1.4CL - I took three tests and I can't remember a thing about the third one. I passed my driving test in September 1995 (oddly, two weeks before my 18th birthday - my licence is valid from the date of my 18th birthday :lol: ). I didn't really drive for a couple of months, apart from my dad's 1993 Ford Mondeo 2.0 Ghia.

I bought, for £2,995, a 1990 Mk3 Ford Fiesta 1.0 Popular. In burgundy. With a 4-speed gearbox. It cost me £660 a year in insurance, 3PFT. In 1995.

Now, I won't hear a bad word said about the Mk3 Fiesta. It's a good car and, without a word of insincerity, I would buy a Mk3 XR2i tomorrow if I could and didn't already have five cars. However, the net result of having a 1.0, 4-speed hatchback was that I had a car that was slower than I thought I was - a car I overdrove. I was lucky that it was a Fiesta and not a Corsa, because I didn't die through overdriving it. Many of my peers also had hatchbacks and spent the weekends being plucked out of hedges and A&E by their parents - mind you, I also had a rule that I keep to this day of not putting foot on pedal the same waking day as I've put alcohol in mouth.

Whereas when he was a twentysomething my dad would put his head under the bonnet and fix his car when it didn't work again, I took mine to a garage. Through my first Fiesta - which was only 5 years old when I bought it - to my second, a 1995 Fiesta 1.1i Sapphire - which was only 3 years old when I bought it - and my third, a 1994 Fiesta 1.3i LX - which was only 6 years old when I bought it - motoring cost me £200 a month on top of insurance, tax and gas, simply through garages. I learned nothing about how cars worked, though I did learn about lift-off oversteer, that warranties are almost utterly worthless and that Mk3 Fiestas will cost you £200 every time they go to the main stdealer, regardless of what is actually wrong with them.

The list includes a borked cat, a sheared front engine mount, a seized steering rack (that's not fun), a blown shock (replace in pairs - though this one ended up free due to a catastrophic parts-based error), a banjoed clutch and several alternators. Now, bear in mind that not a one of these cars was comparatively older than an 06/56 plate car is today... Though I will add that manufacturers have done much to improve reliability between 1990 and 2010, you're still looking at cars that were within an original manufacturer warranty period costing £200 a month to fix (back when £200 was worth £350 of today's money). The myth that newer = more reliable is just that. A myth.


So what I got for buying a nearly-new hatchback was no knowledge about vehicle maintenance, no better reliability, no improvement of ability (I've had five loss of control incidents, all in the three Fiestas - getting the Baron completely sideways is always absolutely deliberate because two tonnes of BMW estate is hilarious and controllable like you wouldn't believe) and, somehow, no points. Everything else I've had since has been better in every department (except points - still haven't got any of those. Yet) no matter what it was. One of the primary reasons I'm doing the utter stupidity I'm doing with Marvin is to improve my knowledge of vehicle maintenance fifteen years after I should have learned it in the first damn place. I miss my second Mk3 Fiesta, but I gained nothing from it.

What I would do, were I able to go back in time and have a word with my 18 year old self, is not buy the Fiesta. I'd take my nearly-3 grand and spend half of it (half!) on buying my next-door neighbour's orange, mint-condition 1975 BMW 1600 (Alzheimer's kicked in and it disappeared shortly after). And the remainder on some basic tools.


I can't go back in time and have a word with my 18 year old self. But I can have a word with your 18 year old self.

Do not buy a nearly-new, modern hatchback. You'll learn nothing about how cars work. You'll learn nothing about driving. You won't get a guarantee of reliability and any warranty you get will be wholly worthless - "wear and tear" parts are excluded. You'll think yourself faster than it can go, overdrive it and crash (no particular offence intended to your driving ability, but 99% of new drivers your age will have a driver-fault crash in the first 3 years, entirely through overconfidence and overdriving). Don't wait until you're my age to find this out.

Your relatives will probably implore you otherwise. Newer is always better to most people - you'll get a nice, shiny new car that looks smart. But remember, these are people who will, in 20 years time, be buying the utter dross that old people buy (Daihatsu Tallskinnydogwagon, Kia Blandmobile) brand new for £10k because it has an 11 plate, rather than a TVR Griffith 500 for the same money... Your mates will all have nice, shiny new cars that look smart too. And of course they won't be anywhere near fast enough for them, so they'll adorn them with stick-on tat, stupid Wolfrace wheels and LED lights on any flat surface - and you will photograph these cars and e-mail them to me, for Barryboys, rather than tying yourself up in Barry Escalation of trying to get the biggest wheels, biggest spoiler, loudest stereo or most irrelevant badges.


What you need is something so far outside the box that insurers will be absolutely blind to it. Something that's tricky and scares you into not pushing your luck. Something you can tinker with of a weekend. Something you can fit one passenger - a girl - into, alongside you, who helps with the weight balance rather than overloading the rear axle with three knobheads who egg you on. Something that makes your mates' C2CorFies07satas look like pattern-stamped, bland, two-box shopping wagons which could be from any manufacturer - and which, should you choose to (which won't be often), leave them in a cloud of their own front-wheel smoke at a TLGP. What you need is a car your dad wanted when he was your age, for the look in his eyes every time he sees you in it...

I'd suggest you have a look through the Classic Car section of eBay or the For Sale section of Retrorides for something you like the look of that comes in under £1,500 (remember with eBay - the current price is not what it'll end at, most of the time) as a bit of guidance. Get a list together and PM me - I'll have a chat with some of my much-better-than-me-with-classics friends and we'll come up with a selection of snog/marry/avoids for you. Incidentally, the X1/9 earlier already met with approval... Alternatively, I'll be down your way next month and, grooming aside, I don't mind helping you in person.
 
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I see your point famine but I still would rather a hatchback thats relatively new and your idea of fixing the problems myself sounds all well and good but I do not have time at all to do that as I am either at school, doing homework or working and the odd social event, also I better add the only classic cars I like are of american decent becuase too me they are cool. I can think of three cool european classic car and thats an Alfa GTV or an old Escort mexico, and maybe a old E30 type Bmw, but this is just my personal opinion.

EDIT:This is my Dads money I will be spending so it has to be sensible, since he is selling his labretta/vespa scooter for me.
 
If it's survived from 19umptyump to the present day, it won't have any problems... Only the good ones survive.

E30 is an interesting idea, but they're heavily scene-taxed and insurers do know about them (unless you get a Touring). Go a generation earlier, however - E21 3-series - and you have most of the same car and most of the same body. E21 316 (£900 BIN), E21 316 (£995 bid)

You won't find a Mk1 Escort of any flavour in your budget, never mind a Mexico. Cortina, on the other hand (and check the spec list out - that's another plus to classics. You can have heavily modified classics and still have cheap insurance).

Or you could fox everyone completely (for a laugh, try an insurance quote for this vs. a Corsa SXi...).


I wouldn't be recommending anything to you now that I wouldn't recommend to my 18 year old self, 15 years ago. I was also a full-time student, right through until I was 23... It's all sensible - and your dad will be jealous beyond telling. None of these are resto-jobs or need work - you can buy them, get in them and drive them.
 
No famine Im really not feeling a classic car
A) my dad would never say yes (unless it was a hot-rod)
B)he had a cortina in which he crashed
C) I prefer a hatchback
D) they look fairly old and horrible
E)people would call me a gypo for not having a reasonable car(newish hatchback)
F)if something goes wrong on a newish car parts are not as hard to find but if something goes wrong on an oldish car parts are hard to find.
Thanks for the advice but I am going to have to say no on the classic car idea.
 
lpb-nissan-gt-r
No famine Im really not feeling a classic car
A) my dad would never say yes (unless it was a hot-rod)
B)he had a cortina in which he crashed
C) I prefer a hatchback
D) they look fairly old and horrible
E)people would call me a gypo for not having a reasonable car(newish hatchback)
F)if something goes wrong on a newish car parts are not as hard to find but if something goes wrong on an oldish car parts are hard to find.
Thanks for the advice but I am going to have to say no on the classic car idea.
Click to expand...

The Jag (bad example) would make your dad's eyes fall out. The E21s too - he will have lusted for one when he was your age (assuming he's not my age) as they were caned on racetracks the length and breadth of Europe.

People would call you names? Seriously? That's a reason not to get the best car you can get for your money - when they're going to call you names anyway (that's what those sort of people do - they don't need an excuse)? Besides, the names wouldn't reach you through all the dust between the back of your 100hp, 800kg RWD car and the gaudy, self-painted interior of their 50hp, 1,100kg Barry scrabblewagon. An older car may not have magpie-attraction, but caning them mercilessly attracts its own cachet. Have the courage to be different.

As for finding parts... you try finding parts for an MX-3. If you can't find parts for an E21 3-series, you must be looking under a rock, in the dark with your eyes closed. And then there's upgrades :D No stick-on, Ripspeed crap, no winding down a torsion beam (ick) for you.


If you prefer the looks of a hatchback, there's not a lot I can help you with. You're going to end up with something shiny but utterly terrible, underpowered and get a dry one from the insurers for the privilege of it - rather than something cool and quick, with free capital each month to spend on the honeys. But if that's what you want...
 

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