# 17yr old son,which car?



## 1012wayne (Feb 16, 2012)

My lad is 17 in a couple of months time and he is on the lookout to buy his first car.He has a budget of around £2500 but obviously needs something with cheap insurance and cheap to run.

Just wondering what cars other members teenagers have bought for their first car.


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## VW Golf-Fan (Aug 3, 2010)

My first car was a 1.2 Corsa (52 plate.)

Mechanically it was ok but the coil springs kept snapping after several thousand miles.


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## Kimo (Jun 7, 2013)

Corsa c 1.3 cdti would be a great choice im

Ideal first car with a strong engine


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## Naddy37 (Oct 27, 2005)

Nissan Micra K11. Yes it's boring, but, rock solid realability, cheap to insure, cheap to run, parts are dirt cheap.

Go early than an '02' plate as Nissan changed the emissions around then and the mpg halved!!


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## m500dpp (Feb 17, 2006)

To be honest whatever is available at the right price:

Daughter 1 Rover 100 1.1 14000 miles and in showroom condition £1500

Daughter 2 VW Polo 1.4 CL 1996 35000 miles £100 (been standing 6 years so another £600 spent on new cambelt, water pump, battery, belts etc )

Both great cars. Next door got an 02 Clio with 45k £800

They are out there, just be patient. Oh and as you will have noticed I go for low mileage cars in contrast with many on here!!!!


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## Bigoggy (Sep 1, 2014)

I had a corsa 1.4 sxi (08) Loved that car. Treated it badly and it still didnt put a foot wrong. Ran up 65k miles in 3 years fun little cars


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## tom_sri (Sep 20, 2009)

is he into cars? if so something a bit older that can be made cool if not bothered about cars got plenty of city runners to chose from.

can pick up a Corsa D 1.4 for £2500 now


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## rf860 (Jul 24, 2011)

My first car was a vauxhall astra 'club' 1.7 cdti. It's a very solid and safe car and cheap as chips to run. Insurance wasn't too bad either.

If he wants something 'sporty' you can pick up a seat ibiza 1.4 100hp sport for about £2.5k now. That was my second car (wanted something with a bit more street cred lol) and it was a good, nippy wee car. Mine was a 'formula sport' which was the run out model so had a few extras that weren't normally fitted to the ibiza.


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

Mk2 clio 1.2, great little car 

More importantly it will come down to what is affordable insurance wise. I would pick 5 cars, get a number plate for each from eBay, then do an insurance quote on each one to see what it's like 

They can vary massively when your young, my first car cost me £1000 or so to insure, my mate got a 1 litre polo without seeing what insurance was first, it was over 2 grand 

It's not logical at all either, so don't presume anything or go off what anyone else has paid. Do your own quotes


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## Franzpan (Mar 2, 2009)

Something out of the ordinary rather than main stream. I'm convinced the less popular cars are easier to insure. I had a Volvo when I passed my test. 2.4 D5 and was paying the same as friends in 1.2 Fiestas where for insurance.


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## 1012wayne (Feb 16, 2012)

tom_sri said:


> is he into cars? if so something a bit older that can be made cool if not bothered about cars got plenty of city runners to chose from.
> 
> can pick up a Corsa D 1.4 for £2500 now


Yes he is into cars bigtime,even though he does'nt know what car to have yet he is already talking about what mods he wants to do,and what cleaning products he is going to buy.


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## m500dpp (Feb 17, 2006)

Moving OT but still relevant for the OP add more experienced drivers to your sons insurance and the price goes down, even if you have no intention of driving the car! We insured my daughter through Adrian Flux as a learner for £800 but we had to pay £1200 once she passed. Full comp was cheaper than third party (!). Also take care on job titles adding me as unemployed put the premium up, changing to retired put the premium down, its a question of playing with the variables on the comparison sites.

The black boxes dont always help either...........


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## Markg2013 (Jan 24, 2013)

Kimo73 said:


> Sorry I work for Vauxhall so I have absolutely no knowledge about Vauxhall parts what so ever
> 
> Oh and for the record I haven't had a warranty claim in the past 4 years on any genuine springs let alone corsa ones, so it was definitely your car at fault Imo


In 2006 I got the wife a 53plate 1.0 Corsa Active which broke 3 drivers side spring in the space of 2 years. Always the bottom coil and were replaced by Vauxhall free of charge due to known fault.

Easy to see why Vauxhall have turn awful over the last few years with people like you working for them.


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## Dannbodge (Sep 26, 2010)

All 3 corsa Cs that have been in my family have had springs break. One at 40k, one at 12k and the other at 25k.
All broke in the same place. One was prefacelift, one was in the gap between pre and post and the other was facelift. All different ages and driven differently.

That's not coincidence or the car at fault.


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

206 1.4 would make a great car. But as mentioned above look at some bigger cars, my saab 9-5 2.3 turbo costs £140 to insure third party fire and theft with no noclaims which are used on the main car, the 206 I had before was £300 and a 1.6 polo was £350, all under the same terms. I had a brief spell with a V40 1.8 and that was cheaper than the polo too.


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

Oh and the garage I use for general work every time I go In they have at least 2 corsa's in.


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## kev999 (Feb 16, 2007)

1012wayne said:


> My lad is 17 in a couple of months time and he is on the lookout to buy his first car.He has a budget of around £2500 but obviously needs something with cheap insurance and cheap to run.
> 
> Just wondering what cars other members teenagers have bought for their first car.


I bought my son a VW Polo 1.2 09 plate, very cheap to run and insure and 2 years later hes still got it and only just now thinking of trading up.


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## J306TD (May 19, 2008)

What car does he want / like?


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## packard (Jun 8, 2009)

I would suggest you may be pushed to a specific make/model by insurance premiums


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

Id have a look at the Fiesta mk6, very nice to drive, gave no trouble. We had a 1.4 Zetec which is better if your doing motorways but the 1.25 may not be the quickest but it is smooth and will all come down to insurance and economy and they dont seem to suffer the rot in the back wheel arches like my mk5 did. Ive had 2 clios, a Mk2 Ph2 1.2 which was brilliant and a mk3 1.2 Turbo, both were very good with the only problem being a oxygen sensor on the first one, the latter is a much larger car which is something to bear in mind for a new driver, the suspension is much softer than the fiesta and made for comfort.

ive also driven what was my cousin Corsa C 1.3 CDTI (was automatic) but very nice little car to drive and sips diesel. We've also had a Mk2 Punto which was a big surprise, very nice to drive also, the 1.2 8v is a non-interference engine so if cambelt goes doesnt destroy the engine. Insurance seems to be the killer for the young driver so id do a good few quotes but this is what id pick if i was 17 now, something similar to this.....

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...tcode/pr30us/usedcars/price-to/2500?logcode=p


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Wow £2500 for a first car, lucky lad. My first 4 cars were only a few quid more than that. In total.
I reckon something mundane, and under the insurance radar would do.
Maybe a Hundai Amica or similar?


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## possul (Nov 14, 2008)

My first daily car was a rover 200. It cost £65 with 12 months ticket. Only ever chnaged discs and pads on it.
My second was another rover 200 which cost £50, + HG.
As my insurance was over a £1000 for both I stuck with them and tbh they were the less hassle than the sack a crap im driving atm.
Choose the car based on insurance price, not how much he wants one. Get a year ncb and upgrade Yearly if he wants and offset the insurance drop with a more expensive car if he wishes
As much as tou might laigh at the rover, it got me started, was proper bangernomics. I didnt give a **** what anyone thought either


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## Andyg_TSi (Sep 6, 2013)

^^^^
My 1st car was an Austin/Rover Montego 1.6L back on 1992. From memory my 1st year insurance was in the £500 region.

Back on topic.....id advise the OP's lad to go on an advanced driving course such as the Institute of Advanced Motorists.
Insurers offer discounts to young drivers if they've passed it.

I'd also go for a Fiesta 1.25 Zetec had 2 of these on the past a S plate & a Y plate. Cracking little motor.

Also can you not get a multicar policy if the OP has more than 1 car in the household currently.....Each car/driver still earns their own NCB......It could work out cheaper than a stand alone policy for the lad.......just a suggestion.....might be worth the enquiry anyway.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Nothing wrong with looking at all the usual contenders. Fiestas, Corsas, Polos and all the usual stuff. 

I'd be buying on condition as a car for £2500 will be quite a few years old.

Something like a Toyota Aygo or Citroen C1 is about as cheap as motoring can get.

Surprised to see so many Minis down at this price now. I've a feeling they will be expensive to insure, but that would score highly on street cred.


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## Alzak (Aug 31, 2010)

How about seat arosa or vw lupo ?

Not always small engined cars are the cheapest you have to take risk factor into account for car as well.


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## WHIZZER (Oct 25, 2005)

Citroen C1 /Renault Twingo /Vauxhall Corsa


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## percymon (Jun 27, 2007)

If your son has any vision of altering the appearance fo the car then buy something that already has 'necessary' items. 

IF he has visions of adding big alloys and suspension mods to a base model car then forget it, the insurance will be higher than buying the equivalent factory 'sport' model.

Seat Ibiza may be in budget - might be able to find a 1.4 with Sport (but not overly sporty) spec.

Early R53 Mini - surprisingly good on insurance (presumably reapir costs are quite good). We went from a 54 plate Fiat Panda 1.2 to a 08 plate high specc'd R56 1.6 Cooper (at 6 times the market value) and the insurance went down !


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## lewylinto (Feb 21, 2013)

I know its not really would a young lad would want to drive as it's not really what I wanted when I got mine but a 107, c1 or aygo is a brill first car! I've had mine 3 years now and have done all sorts to it and is currently being accepted for some of the biggest car shows of the year!

The amount of times I hear I never thought one of these could be cool but yours is or something along those lines.

£20 a year road tax, cheap insurance, cheap to run 500 miles to a full tank which is 35L. Can also be made surprisingly nippy, despise what people think. I have never had to change anything on mine apart from pads and wheel bearings because its silly low with wide wheels and silly camber. They are so easy to work on because everything is simple and a good little platform to work on if he is into cars and anything like me.

I would say don't over look these. :thumb:


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## Alex_225 (Feb 7, 2008)

Any of the more typical little hatches would be a good bet. I had a MKI Clio 1.2 as my first car and a MKII Clio 1.2 as my second, both great little cars and only issues I ever had was normal wear and tear. 

Any car with a small-ish engine (1.2 or smaller) or even a diesel would probably be best on insurance as well. 

Case of striking the balance of sensible and something the lad is going to love. Ok, so he's lucky he's getting a car but at the same time there's nothing better than the feeling of getting your first car (apart from maybe copping a feel for the first time!) so you want to pick something 'cool'.


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## jay_bmw (Jan 28, 2010)

1.0 Lupo


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## pez (Jun 7, 2014)

Franzpan said:


> Something out of the ordinary rather than main stream. I'm convinced the less popular cars are easier to insure. I had a Volvo when I passed my test. 2.4 D5 and was paying the same as friends in 1.2 Fiestas where for insurance.


This is very true as both me and my brother drive unconventional cars for are age he drivers a Vauxhall vectra vxr which costs him £900 in insurance at the age of 21 and I've got a Toyota celica gt-four costing around the same on classis car insurance at the age of 20. Where's the cost of insurance for an Astra vxr was about £3000 for us both, so I would go for something like ether a classic car or something that you won't see on a MacDonald's car park late on a Friday night


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## J306TD (May 19, 2008)

pez said:


> This is very true as both me and my brother drive unconventional cars for are age he drivers a Vauxhall vectra vxr which costs him £900 in insurance at the age of 21 and I've got a Toyota celica gt-four costing around the same on classis car insurance at the age of 20. Where's the cost of insurance for an Astra vxr was about £3000 for us both, so I would go for something like ether a classic car or something that you won't see on a MacDonald's car park late on a Friday night


I agree. I passed my test in 2007 and drove a '96 306 3dr TD. Yer it wasn't as new as what my mates were driving but was alot cheaper to buy £400 and insurance was £1k for a 17 year old. Compared to £1200+


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## Alex_225 (Feb 7, 2008)

jay_bmw said:


> 1.0 Lupo


As surprising as it sounds the Lupos are frustatingly fragile cars. Out of the ten cars I've owned my Lupo was the least reliable, the other nine cars were French. :doublesho

Also because they have quite a following they're surprisingly expensive. That said they retain their value well, I lost £200 over the two years I owned it (although I spent money making it better).


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## 1012wayne (Feb 16, 2012)

Just spent an hour on the compare site getting some quotes on insurance,
We searched ebay for different cars putting reg plate in for quotes.
Fiesta 1.2
Clio 1.2
Corsa 1.3 cdti
Citroen c2 1.1
Citroen c1 1.0
Seat ibiza 1.4 sport
Even an audi a2 1.4 tfsi sport

They all averaged around the £1500 mark,but that was with the black box fitted,which he is not keen on.


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

Yeah I would really avoid the black box. You will get adjustable premiums, any excuse and the insurance will go through the roof, they are very strict 

Wasn't much more without it ?


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## jackssc (Oct 14, 2014)

Micra!


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## Bigoggy (Sep 1, 2014)

Sometimes the safer the car is the insurance goes down. Cars with drl lights = safer. Parking sensors = safer. I told my insurance i had those and it whent down a few quid. Even told them i had fog lights and my car was white and even that helped. Put yourself as a named driver on his insurance which will help. And if he crashes it wont harm your no claims.

I got an insignia because the insurance was £350 cheaper a year than the corsa i had.


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

Again I shall go for the Toyota Corolla, handles really well for what it is and find them trouble free, just got to keep eye on oil level

Not sure what they are like on insurance for youngsters though


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