Well here's a new theme for a "what car?" thread. My oldest takes his test in 6 weeks time, and all evidence suggests he'll pass. He's not going anywhere near my car, so needs his own. I have consciously decided that I'm not going to buy him a car - I feel he needs to learn the value of money, and this is his first real exposure to it, so I want it to be a learning experience / reality check for him.
He really liked the mk. 7.5 Golf I used to drive, and says he wants a Golf, but those are way out of his price range. A £5k Fiesta might be doable, but as I don't have much knowledge anout this end of the market I'm asking for advice on what is a good, cheap first car for a 19 year old, for a year or two?
Edit: He knows girls with VW Polos, so those are girls' cars.
As an aside, I think I have found an antidote to the "time flies when you're older" syndrome - a 4 year payment plan.
Last edited by hogthrob; 24th May 2023 at 23:54.
Crippling insurance on a Golf at his age and new driver, having done the first car thing twice in the past few years I've found the Peugeot 107 or C1 Citroen platform one of the cheapest. Cheap to run, cheap to maintain and about the cheapest to insure. Perfect first car
Seat Ibiza
Reliable is the keyword here so Honda Civic, Toyota Auris or pre-2013 Mazda 3.
He just needs to get driving experience and build NCB, not look cool or go racing.
I know you said he thinks Polos are girls cars, but a VW Up! or a Polo is a great first car.
100% agree with these choices. They are surprisingly reliable too.Originally Posted by Franky Four Fingers
My niece had a Honda Jazz which was non-stop problems; she now has a 107 and it's a faultless and excellent car, and about half the insurance of the Honda too.
Obvious first car choice...
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
This, all day, every day.
We picked one up for eldest daughter when she passed 8yrs ago as her first car, ran it for 3 yrs whilst really learning to drive then sold it for almost what we paid for it.
Did the same thing for 2nd born 3yrs ago, she's still blasting round in it whilst an uni, out of town. I've no doubt that'll keep good value when it goes.
My new wifes daughter has yet another for 3yrs now also and its rocketing along.
All of them, minimal consumables, minimal running cost/servicing and 30 quid tax for the first two I mention, zero for the last.
Have a word in his ear, maybe re-adjust his aim a little.
Have a gander at the Corsa low insurance and cheap to maintain. Both my daughters had Corsa’s for their first cars
A small side-step: I've written it before, but here it is again: VAG products come with the lowest possible amount of fluids inside. Engine oil, coolant fluid and brake fluid are no problem; I'm sure that a service in the past has solved that. But AC fluid and G'box fluid are mostly overlooked. Have it checked or read the paperwork if it's topped up/replaced.
My son has had a 1.2 Polo for nearly five years and it excellent. Safe for decent mileages (150 miles back to Uni), fairly cheap to run and loads of independent garages to service.
VW UP /SEAT Mii/ Skoda Citigo - all the same car essentially, slightly different specs, trims and prices.
In a similar vane to what others have said with the C1, 107/108. Same platform Toyota Aygo. If you can get a mk2 version and get it serviced at Toyota then you can have the peace of mind that Toyota will warranty the car upto 10 years old or 100,000 miles. Cheap as chips to run and even some nice modern tech such as touch screen DAB/Media player, reverse camera, parking sensors, Sat Nav on higher end models. Look pretty funky too IMO.
I bought a Fiesta at that age. Had 150k km fun with it. Reasonable priced and low cost on maintenance. Plus i thought it looked the coolest. Most suggestions mentioned above seemed to me a bit girlish especially for a 18yr old guy who likes a Golf.
Just going through this with my daughter, however the mother in-law had scared her out of a 3 door car saying it's not as safe.
She also likes bigger cars, she also needs a car when she goes to university to get to placement so we're thinking one car to last, currently at the top are a focus, captur, 308, or Eco Sport. Yes the insurance will be high but she's paying that and willing to pay more for a bigger car.
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My youngest daughter just passed her test and has a fiesta 1.25 bog standard spec and insurance, with a black box, £1700!!
Whilst sorting quotes I asked what it would cost if she had her sister's Fiat 500 1.2....... £1100.
So my advice, disregard any of his wishes in terms of golf's etc. Get something with the most asmatic engine you can find. The black box seems to be pretty much compulsory now so little chance of swerving them.
Good luck
Paul
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Fiestas are expensive to insure for a new driver, we went with a VW up for my son which was actually a brilliant little car. Mind you a year later he bought a scirocco and is now finding out about huge insurance quotes. A year later he wishes he’d kept the up!
Panda Panda Panda!
We've had an '04 for 10 years and it's brilliant. It's been very reliable, it's comfortable and fun to drive, agile and nippy but not too quick. I drive it briskly on a country roads 10 mile commute and it's currently returning 47mpg. Bits are cheap, they are simple to maintain and you could buy a nice one for £1500. Search out an Eleganza, they don't go for much more and you'll get a better stereo, aircon and the all important alloys!
e.g. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...02305167444121
though you could probably find one a bit lower on mileage than that, ours has done just less than 80k.
Last edited by Jeremy67; 25th May 2023 at 10:35.
It’s ok but would your 17 yo self want to drive it?
Why would you even give a teenager a choice? Unless they're paying for it, they should get the most reliable and cheapest to insure car dad can find, and be grateful. Or have I got parenting wrong?
My first car was an ancient mini van in 'racing green' and I loved it. When my idiot mate put diesel in it by mistake, a new engine, including fitting, cost him £120. Those were the days – late 1980s
Thanks for the suggestions so far. I should add that he's 6'3", so would the small cars like Up! be big enough?
Nephew is only a smidgen shorter and he was happy in a corsa - otherwise sunroof and flying goggles…
I’m 6’2” my daughter has an up and loads of room in that
🤔 maybe
My son and I are both 6’2’’, he’s skinny and I’m stocky - he could drive the car comfortably with me sat behind him, and could have worn a hat with headroom to spare! I was really impressed with his Up, decent sized boot and a proper spare wheel under the boot floor too!
Toyota Aygo's, brilliant small car. Got one for my Grandson,
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I'm 6ft and even with the seat at it's highest position there is 4" between my head and the roof in the Panda.
And my 17 year old self was happy just to be mobile and independent and would drive anything, especially if someone else was paying for it (i.e. what Onelasttime said). And anyyway, the last thing he really wants is something that impresses his mates. Have you seen the stats for serious accideents for newly qualified late teens / early twenties males. They are pretty bad and get much worse when you look just those with groups of youngsters in a car. Seriously consider limiting him to zero or one passengers for the first year.
Not a fan of the really small cars for your kids driving as their first car as I wouldn't like their chances in a crash should they have one.
On another note I'd be wary of the telematics insurance policy if you are going to be driving it.
I plugged it into my daughters car when she got it and took the car up to the M&S for groceries.
I was informed by email the following day the insurance was to be cancelled due to exceeding speed limit.
Then lost a bit of money having to cancel the insurance.
I make sure I don't drive her car anymore.
6'5" here. My first car was a used VW Polo. Which was perfect. Reliable, plenty of leg room, easy to sell on.
Hear hear. I had a similar incident many years ago with my daughter and her Pug 107. She wanted a lift out with the girls but insisted I drive them in her own car so I did. I drove like the guy in Driving Miss Daisy all the way there and all the way back not once exceeding the speed limit, no hard acceleration and no hard braking.
Cynical I may be occasionally so a couple of days later, I asked her to login to the app which she did and it basically scored me terribly for that on night.
She never had it cancelled but suffice to say I called total bullsh!t on it.
On the subject of Black boxes/telematics - I genuinely can't imagine how you'd have to drive to get a decent score on those apps. My younger daughter passed her test last November and has a Yaris. She regularly gets high 80s or low 90s on her app (Hasting Direct). I drove her car once for a local trip and as above "like I was driving Miss Daisy", only managed to score 60 something!
I've avoided French marques for decades due to poor past experience - I don't see much improvement. Bought my eldest a VW Up 3 years ago, faultless and reliable motoring (my 1st car was a Polo) - it also feels a much safer place to be than a similar-sized Citreon or Peugeot. You will make up your own mind of course.
If Fiestas (which are a brilliant little car) are expensive, then I'd go Polo, we have both in the family.
The whole "girls car" bit is nonsense, most would struggle to tell a golf and polo apart of parked next to each other and as others have said, there has to be an element of being grateful for whatever is given!
My brother is 6ft 4" and drove a smart car for years, any of the cars suggested will be fine, I'm 6ft 2" and regularly borrow the Fiat 500 and Fiesta, The fiesta front seat goes back further but nothing in it in reality. As per someones else earlier comment, unless he's paying for it he should feel very lucky that he's got a car at all. You already know this, but your first car doesn't need to be brand new or top of the range, the reality is that it will pick up some bumps and scrapes.
If he wants anything fancy he can treat himself when he buys his next car with his own money...... that was all said in my broadest North West accent ;-) I remember the days when you were lucky if you had a pair of shoes, kids these days don't know they're born!
Hahaha, good luck with it all.
Paul
Several people seem to be saying “he should gratefully accept what he’s given”; but I thought the OP made it clear that his son will be paying for his own car.
From what I can see times have changed and insurance cost for new (especially young male) drivers seems to be the key driver. Whatever he ends up with I’m sure it will be better in just about every respect than the clapped out Minis, Heralds and Escorts our generation enjoyed as first cars!
Been through this twice with my 2 boys and there are some outdated views/knowledge on here. Insurance is the biggest issue and it makes very little sense and seems to have nothing to do with engine size/power/performance and way more to how many are driven and so crashed by young drivers. Just had a look at some of the quotes, so 8000 miles, comprehensive, 250 voluntary excess, son as primary driver with me and my wife added as named drivers, 17 years old and just passed test. All the cars were 05-08 ish and the polo/corsa/fiesta were lowest power ones and these were all black box.
Polo - £1350
Corsa - £1620
Fiesta - £1490
Focus - £1350
C1/Aygo type - £765
Alfa Mito - £805
Honda Civic - £775 - This was not the 1.4 base but the 1.8 138 bhp well specced 2007 plate Civic.
The Civic was a no brainer, bigger, better equipped, handy for the dump run, reliable, also helped as first son really liked the shape and look.
Second son hated the look so contributed half to a 2010 Mito, which has some tatty paintwork (laquer peel and someone tried to polish another spot really badly) but again been pretty reliable
Zero mention of who is paying for insurance though!
My 1st car was a mini clubman estate and I am 6ft 6". I did have to fit a small steering wheel so I could get my knees in though!
Maybe I am old but 1st cars used to be cheap and cheerful, you could afford a few mistakes and it wouldn't be a major problem. It seems normal to spend loads or get a PCP.
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Last edited by noidea; 25th May 2023 at 17:39.
Good point. I'd missed that fundamental nugget of information in the OP.
Screw it then, recommend him a Civic Type R.
Mazda 3 sport. Relatable, well specced, fun to drive and look good. Also practical with big boot and room for mates.
Have run a few insurance quotes. £1500 - £2000 for golf/fiesta/focus/civic, and the Up! was a bit over £1000. Food for thought there ...
What does he need the car for?
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$h@ggin' Wagon innit bruv ? 😳
Toyota IQ and an Aston Martin bonnet badge…
Auto trader lets you search by insurance group - some others not mentioned yet are Kia, Hyundai and MG. You can get a pretty recent MG3 with 100bhp, lots of kit (dab radio, cruise control, parking sensors, all the air bags etc) and a racing stripe (!) for less than 5k. Insurance group 04E.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...02304136245942
I’m not suggesting it’s a good idea, but I was surprised at what you get for the money.
Another vote for the Up here.
I was surprised how much cheaper the Up was when my son passed his test (under 2 years ago) - and he got insurance without a black box too. Fiestas were by far the most expensive then, followed by the Corsa. I’m told insurance co’s look at how many are involved in accidents and adjust accordingly which might explain some high insurance quotes for quote humdrum cars! He avoided a black box like the plague, locally to us (rural Norfolk) there are a few 30mph roads running parallel with 60mph roads and his friends got fed up explaining to the insurance co that they were doing 50 in a 60 not in a 30 when the telematics proved somewhat inaccurate!
This, this and this. My first car was a 1975 British Leyland Mini 998cc too, £300 to buy and £345 to insure 3rd party f&t only. 84mph top speed with a fair tailwind and 0-60 if you had a clear half mile. The biggest grin of any car.Why would you even give a teenager a choice? Unless they're paying for it, they should get the most reliable and cheapest to insure car dad can find, and be grateful. Or have I got parenting wrong?
My first car was an ancient mini van in 'racing green' and I loved it. When my idiot mate put diesel in it by mistake, a new engine, including fitting, cost him £120. Those were the days – late 1980s
My neice has had a Fiesta for five years, and it was five years old when she got it. No issues whatsoever.
My twin nephews who were seventeen last year got a Fiesta and a Yaris. Both have had no issues.
And lots of friends kids have Corsas.
I would always go for cheap to run, insure, maintain and safe for a first car. It's hard to see much argument against either a Fiesta or a Corsa. And get the insurance company speed tracker fitted of course. Makes a substantial difference to the premium and makes them a safer driver.
So clever my foot fell off.
I’ve known one or two people who have Hyundai i10s and they’ve proven to be very reliable and cheap to run so could be a contender.
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