Ideal First Cars

[Arron]

Looking for my first car. Any model, any make as long as it's affordable and decent.
Price range from £250-1000
7+ years old
Just pitch some ideas :)
Hopefully it gives other people ideas.
Thanks in advance.

[myke]

There are plenty of cars to choose from!
You have your mainstream ones such as
Citroen Saxos
Peugeot 306 or whatever they are
Nissan Micra

Anything with a small engine really!

[danzooo]

you'll be lucky to get anything newer than an 03 for your price range. but basically your looking at all the usual; citroen saxo, peugeot 106, peugeot 206, renault clio, fiat punto, ford fiesta, ford ka, vauxhall corsa, toyota yaris etc.

personally i'd go for the clio but thats just because i own one lol

[Apple]

Check out the old renault twingo's, great little car and might be in your price range.

Edit: Just checked and they start at the top end of your price range (1K+), I think you should go for a clio or pug 206.

[tdi]

Check out the old renault twingo's, great little car and might be in your price range.

Edit: Just checked and they start at the top end of your price range (1K+), I think you should go for a clio or pug 206.

they didn't make the mk1 twingo's in the uk, so you'd have to get one imported so with the price of the car, import fee's, changing the reg documents and getting the car registered in the uk, you won't get one for under £1000, especially as insurance would be increased too with the car being an import.

[Apple]

they didn't make the mk1 twingo's in the uk, so you'd have to get one imported so with the price of the car, import fee's, changing the reg documents and getting the car registered in the uk, you won't get one for under £1000, especially as insurance would be increased too with the car being an import.

I wondered why they were so expensive for what they are! I just thought I'd check autotrader to make sure and they started at 1K+, without all the importing fees then I'm guessing they'd be worth about £500+.

[GommeInc]

they didn't make the mk1 twingo's in the uk, so you'd have to get one imported so with the price of the car, import fee's, changing the reg documents and getting the car registered in the uk, you won't get one for under £1000, especially as insurance would be increased too with the car being an import.
It also depends if he's lucky enough to find a mk1 Twingo that was imported years ago, converted for driving on the right side of the road and fit for use in the UK :P I seem to see a few of them around here, but they might be recent imports converted for UK roads with the release of the current Twingo a few years ago :/

It's annoying not knowing what to suggest. Since the scrappage scheme finding any of these cars takes alot of effort, and some aren't as cheap as they should be, seeing as used car dealers can't get them anymore as they're meant to be scrapped, so they can't get their hands on them :/

[Shockwave.2CC]

What i'd get for my first car is a 'Fiat Punto' you can probs get one for about £900-£1000 (or maybe cheaper) so a good little car to start of with

[Meanies]

PUG PUG PUG
206, or 106 if you can't afford a 206 :)

[Alexx..]

Ford Ka, Ford Fiesta?

[danzooo]

Ford Ka, Ford Fiesta?


To be honest, i'd declaire the fiesta out the picture: the mk4 is actually a group 6 in insurance because of it's poor safety record. The mk5s are hugely desirable and therefore cost an arm and a leg to buy (cheapest one i found that i wanted was in the region of £2.5k) plus you don't really want anything older.

Ka's are pretty decent little cars though

[Excellent2]

As said, you would be looking at possibly an 01-03 reg. You could pick up a mark 2 fiesta hatch for cheap I would think.

[Ajthedragon]

If you want to push the price a bit, an ideal car would be a Smart ForFour or a VW Polo. You could get an older polo for under a grand easily. :)

[Arron]

i just want a car which will get a pretty cheap insurance quote. i understand that i may be paying £1600 + on insurance.

[Alexx..]

Ford Ka's have cheap insurance well ish, the cheapest I got was £1,040, but that was just like the basic (legal to drive and breakdown cover)

[Arron]

KA's aren't my type.

[Apple]

KA's aren't my type.
Well with your budget you don't really have much choice. If you go up another 1k to £2,000 you could buy one of these:

http://pictures2.autotrader.co.uk/imgser-uk/servlet/media?id=1435305865

1.4 petrol or diesel (your choice) and insurance group 5 which is better than a ford fiesta. Plus it's an Audi, and quite a nice looking one at that!

[Arron]

hmm

group 5
group 6?

confused :(

[Apple]

hmm

group 5
group 6?

confused :(
Insurance groups are how insurance companies price up the cost of insurance for a car. So it is going to be cheaper to insure a car on insurance group 5 than it would be for a car on group 6. So obviously on a high performance car or really unsafe car the insurance group is going to be higher thus making it more expensive for you to get insured.

[Arron]

Ok so a cars such as a Yaris, Peugeot 106, Saxo, would be in which group?

[Apple]

Ok so a cars such as a Yaris, Peugeot 106, Saxo, would be in which group?

Depends on the size of the engine. A 1.4L saxo would be group 5 and a 1.0L saxo would be group 3.

[tdi]

please note that the insurance groups have now changed, and they're now 1-50 rather than 1-20.

[syko2006]

How about checking out some car auctions? :) Never know, it could be worth a try. :]

[Apple]

How about checking out some car auctions? :) Never know, it could be worth a try. :]

You never really know as a lot of people get rid of their old scrappers in auctions because there are things wrong with them.

[Arron]

I know a place where I could go for that, there's a good one down the east lancs.

[Meanies]

Ok so a cars such as a Yaris, Peugeot 106, Saxo, would be in which group?

a 206 is group 3 (A)

[kasi]

if you want a car in the £250-1000 price range you're looking for trouble
you'll most likely end up spending more money to fix it than it's actually worth
honestly in my opinion civics are the best starter cars. amazing on gas, great to drive and they look really nice, even the super old ones
i have a civic but it's my 3rd car and its newer, it's my second civic that i've had & i love it

[iDices]

Lol old cars is the only thing that were in the country i was Born in Cuba.. they were all antiques

[Apple]

if you want a car in the £250-1000 price range you're looking for trouble
you'll most likely end up spending more money to fix it than it's actually worth
honestly in my opinion civics are the best starter cars. amazing on gas, great to drive and they look really nice, even the super old ones
i have a civic but it's my 3rd car and its newer, it's my second civic that i've had & i love it

What size engine is it? I am guessing a 2.0L with you being from Canada. Over here for your first car you can only really have up to a 1.4, it can't really be a high performance 1.4 either. You can maybe stretch to 1.6 but most insurance companies will not insure you at all, some will but will cost thousands (3 or 4 thousand maybe?). Crap system I know, you can have things like Range Rovers in the US if you have the cash for the car, over here you are not going to get insured no matter how much you are willing to pay, a load of crap I know.

[danzooo]

Insurance groups depend on the engine size + model of the car you own.

But they can vary on some very specific things, for example, with a Clio with the 1.2 engine I have in mine, it's a group 2 for the "Expression" or "Authentique" model, whereas for the one I own, the "Dynamique" is a group 3 because it's a higher model in the range (comes with alloys, front fogs, sports seats etc).