19 yr old wants a car, I'm in the £2>3k area and want insurance as small as possible. I'm thinking Nisan Micra about 2008. Anyone have any feedback on them or a better idea? @finm ? Cheers
Honda Jazz - usually pre owned by elderly therefore looked after and properly serviced , quite often low miles as well, not raced or rallied, little jewel of an engine - I picked up a 55 plate with 30k miles for £2300 from a dealer for my daughter
a mechanic is probably the last person you want to ask. mostly because we tend to see a lot of the bad examples. perssonaly i would recomenda fiat panda 1300jtd, alfa mito 1300jtd. a 3dr 1600 petrol grand vitara. all uber reliable.
Black box fitted is a must for younglings to get insurance these days. Have put 3 sets of mum&dads on to these peeps. Saved them a shed load of dosh. https://www.ingenie.com/ Good experience by the 3 younglings that now use them. Premiums drop a lot after a year if they haven't been practicing GTA or Forza
Agree with both earlier choices. Honda Jazz - good choice. Both my son's used Mrs GH old Jazz as their first car. Both of them thrashed the thing around Europe with tier mates and camping gear. They put 80k hard miles on it and we sold it on at 14 years old and 140k miles - thing was still running as sweet as a nut. Loads of space and good kit level. Becoming quite "culty" with the yooof as the tuners are starting to slam them etc. MX5 is also a good choice. My eldest son ran one of these after the Jazz when he was 20. Cheap car, surprisingly cheap insurance (only room for a passenger?), cheap to run and a total hoot to drive (his was the 1.8 VVTi Sport with lsd and billies). He learned a lot about car control. He's now moved on to a Civic Type R. Youngest son is now running a Skoda Fabia 1.9 TDI sport - again, cheap to run, cheap to insure, well built, in sport spec it has lowered suspension/spoiler, VRs internal trim etc......and is sooooo cheap to tune to 140bhp plus. Std tune is 105bhp and a heap of torque. The thing only weighs around 1000kg so is pretty nifty for a basic car . I'd also second an early Micra - K11 models are bomb proof.
Recently bought daughter a VW Up! Relatively cheap insurance, research led to buying a lower spec model without alloy wheels as that was another group higher. Stands to reason as they're likely to get damaged and aren't cheap to replace. Tried to steer her towards a Skoda CityGo as it's essentially the same car but seeing as it was her money (my mum left her just enough in her will for this) I let her insistence for the more expensive VW bagde stick. Great little starter car, cheap to run and drives well for what it is.
We had the Citigo for 2 years... great car... Dont bother with paying the extra for the higher power version... it makes no difference to drive except above 4500 rpm..
My son who is 20 started off with a Clio and now has a 1.6 Honda His insurance to start with and black box well over a 1.000 with his dad as a named driver It’s now around £800 and that’s including an accident claim
My daughter wanted a mini for her first car but it’s too expensive she is looking at a clio or similar
I recently bought a tiny 4x4 for £600 while I choose a more long term vehicle. It's proving to be loads of fun too and even thinking of getting another to replace it. Guarantee you've never heard of it: Daihatsu Terios. It's a proper little 4x4, lockable central diff powered by a 1.3 vvti toyota engine from the Yaris. 5 door with side opening tailgate (beats the Jimmy for practicality doors wise) It's very narrow which suits the lanes around here, doddle to park, raised driving position with great visibility and group 12 insurance. Fold flat rear section which I've had a washing machine in with room to spare. Had a few fun runs on some green lanes and it's been great. Gets me 30 miles to work and back when not using the bike.
We also found that by using Admiral's multi-car policy we could reduce the premiums significantly. They were very helpful in working out the best combinations of main/secondary drivers etc to get the lowest premium. As a result, we've stuck with them for the last 6 or 7 years (they also remain the most competitive - in our experience anyway)
My daughter bought a 1.6 Qashqai for 5 grand a few years ago and had to pay 2 grand for insurance in her first year (she refused a black box?) It's certainly not bomb proof as each MOT needs a load of work - I think Nissan reliability is not as it should be. Honda or Toyota for a reliable car but can't really comment on premiums
