'My First Shitter' - what car?

[Ghosty]

In the not too distant future I might actually be able to afford to run a car!

 

I've been muttering about BXs for a bit, but I might be getting a little bit ahead of myself. 

 

205s have been suggested, with any engine, and that seems like a good call.

 

Any other ideas of good starter shitters to look out for?

[jonathan_dyane]

Nissan Sunny

[trigger]

A guy at work has just picked himself a C reg Nissan Cherry for £500 as a first little cheapy to take to shows, it looks really tidy too, they are nice cars to drive to be honest.

[Cleon-Fonte]

Unfortunately the really cheap stuff to insure (126s, 2CVs, Beetles etc) are now scene taxed beyond reasonableness, but I'd recommend:

 

Peugeot 306, in XUD or 1.4 TU flavours. The TU gets a bad rep, but I've known plenty survive a daily diet of neglect and abuse. XUD is more ecnomical and generally relaxed and refined as well as being the best option for simplicity and ease of maintenance. All 306s ride well whilst being terrier-like on back roads, and so long as the rear compliance bushes are in good order they should carry on forever. Ironically the cheapest XUD version to insure is the top-of-the-range D-Turbo, but avoid later HDis as these carry heftier insurance premiums.

 

Junkman will no doubt be along in a second to tell you not to buy one as they look hideous, but I disagree.

 

Daihatsu Sirion/Cuore are also good choices. The mechanical bits are generally bombproof and simple to fix if your fingers are the size of needles. Bargainous insurance and 50mpg help to lessen the financial outlay. The downsides are the rampant rot (make sure to lather the underside in rustproofing ASAP) and the fact that parts are not exactly cheap, but then they're rarely required.

 

Dare I say K-series Metro/100? Cheap as chips to buy and insurance is cheap because giffers. Again rot is a problem but they're otherwise rugged and a bit more technically interesting than most of their competitors. Also available with a Peugeot TUD engine for maximum stinginess.

[dugong]

Yue Loong Feeling 2000 Turbo 'Wretched Disappointment' limited edition on finance.

[KruJoe]

205's seem to be disproportionately expensive for new drivers to insure. I partially blame wor Will for that.

 

May I suggest a "classic" Panda of some description? They were in group 1 to insure back in the day, and (unless you fancy a 4x4,) not yet scene-taxed to buggery.

[dugong]

Nissan Leaf with 'Clarkson statistics' app.

[Ghosty]

Unfortunately the really cheap stuff to insure (126s, 2CVs, Beetles etc) are now scene taxed beyond reasonableness, but I'd recommend:

 

Peugeot 306, in XUD or 1.4 TU flavours. The TU gets a bad rep, but I've known plenty survive a daily diet of neglect and abuse. XUD is more ecnomical and generally relaxed and refined as well as being the best option for simplicity and ease of maintenance. All 306s ride well whilst being terrier-like on back roads, and so long as the rear compliance bushes are in good order they should carry on forever. Ironically the cheapest XUD version to insure is the top-of-the-range D-Turbo, but avoid later HDis as these carry heftier insurance premiums.

 

Junkman will no doubt be along in a second to tell you not to buy one as they look hideous, but I disagree.

 

Daihatsu Sirion/Cuore are also good choices. The mechanical bits are generally bombproof and simple to fix if your fingers are the size of needles. Bargainous insurance and 50mpg help to lessen the financial outlay. The downsides are the rampant rot (make sure to lather the underside in rustproofing ASAP) and the fact that parts are not exactly cheap, but then they're rarely required.

 

Dare I say K-series Metro/100? Cheap as chips to buy and insurance is cheap because giffers. Again rot is a problem but they're otherwise rugged and a bit more technically interesting than most of their competitors. Also available with a Peugeot TUD engine for maximum stinginess.

 

Metros, now there's a thought. I could go for that. I know for bonus lunacy you can fit pretty much any 4-cylinder K into Metros too...

Those and 306s firmly on the list. 

 

Won't Junkman refute anything that's not automatic and petrol?

[vulgalour]

Get quotes on cars you'd like to own first and compare to cars you feel you have to own.  Some larger saloons can be surprisingly competitive, especially compared to little hatchbacks.  Saloons are generally undesireable if they're not high end prestige nonsense so that tends to keep purchase price down too.

 

Having said that, Nissan Micras tend to be a good bet for a first car.

[Ghosty]

Okay, here's some initial research using Go Compare and eBay:

 

Rover Metros appear to be £600-1300. Insurance £1600, so it's a no: there are cheaper cars for the same price insurance.

 

Low spec diesel 306 costs as much to insure as a top of the range BX - £1900.

 

205 Style 1.1 petrol - £1600. (lowest yet). £1700 for a GRD, £1900 for an STDT.

 

Things with FIRE engines: I think an old style Panda might be hard to come by.

Unos appear to be £500+ so bad value for money (again £1600 quotes).

Mk1 Puntos were giving me telematics quotes - nope, not having that.

 

Seems I need to be looking out for a 205 - no objection there.

[Cleon-Fonte]

Cheap Volvo estate?

 

It worked for Clarkson*...

 

 

 

*Apparently

[Ghosty]

Nope. All above £2300 apart from 740SE 2 litre saloon - and that's not a cheap car.

[Ghosty]

Seems anything with a 1.0/1.1 is around £1600 (Seat Arosa, Corsas obvious choices etc).

 

205 is still favourable due to lack of telematics, and it being interesting.

[Laseraligningfoofooflanges]

e39 in v8 flavour was £1300 a year for me at 19 520i and 528i's are cheap atm i mean real cheap..  id avoid MG ZR's, Rovers and the like nice as they are some reason insurers dont like them.

I would also avoid corsas fiesta clios all the usual suspects you need to go left field man.

 

Saying that w124 300e-24 was £2650 for me at 18   that was TPFT too boot. Carbed scirroco's and golf driver mk2's came out cheap on quotes but OMGSCENETAX seems to of killed those options.

 

Id be tempted to avoid run of the mill shite and as boring as it is just run fuck loads of quotes.. How about volvo 440's or suzuki swifts? baleno's Saab ng900 perhaps? PBK's golf cl? lad at the old job had mundano at 20 and that was cheap insurance i think.

There will be something you wanna insure at a decent price its just you need to get sleuthing!

[Jon]

Insurance is the killer and at this stage, so rather than a particular model of car, concentrate on what you can afford that's in good nick and is insurable. Therefore, preparatory leg work needs to be countless online quotes of varying models. Since it's free (and IMO very enjoyable when you find a 'cheat car' that's affordable to insure), think of anything and everything possible and get online quotes. At the age of 25, I was finding that a 1.8 Mercedes 190 was more to insure than a 2.6 model - probably something to do with there being fewer of the more expensive models about, more caring owners, etc . Therefore, a 1.6 auto 205 could be cheaper to insure than a 1.1. Who knows? Only one way of finding out.

 

Would a classic policy be any good for you? Don't know about restrictions etc. but from memory, some let you accrue NCD. Don't take my word though, as I've not had a UK insurance policy for 6 years now. Make's me cringe at what some people pay, though; my first policy at 17 for a 1.1 AX was £661 and I thought that was pretty mad! 

[Ghosty]

Yep, I'm doing pretty much that at the moment. 

Quick check says 1.6 auto is on a par with the 1.1 manual for cost, 1.8Ds command a premium though.

Trying to find a car that beats the system but no luck yet. 

I'm considering the classic policy route, but at my age (almost 21) a lot of them could be difficult. It'd be a long time on the phone too. I'd need people with specific experience to help me out maybe.

I got a £500 quote for a Triumph 2000 out of Gocompare once. unfortunately it was with Adrian Flux.

 

£661 at 17? Times change... I was getting quotes upwards of £3000 then (had my licence since November '13).

[captain_70s]

The "classic insurance is cheap for young'uns" loophole vanished around 2011/12ish just as I was gearing up to buy an old car.

 

I got my first car when I was 21, 2008 Toyota Yaris 1.0, insurance was £1200 or so I think? Then the next year it was £850 and I bought my Dolomite 1300 which was another £1300 a year and Flux Direct were the only classic place that'd touch me!

[Richard]

6N Polo 1.9D in Storm Grey.

[Cavcraft]

 

I belive the down-with-the-kids expressions is BOOM!

 

 

 

 

[billyboy406v6]

Avoid Vauxhalls as the are crap, get a Mercedes as they never go wrong and have a star on the bonnet !

[garethj]

Difficult to recommend a specific old car.  Something that came top of the JD Power survey for reliability but has been thrashed over the last 15 years will now be a moneypit but something mediocre but cared for will probably give you 30,000 miles of trouble free motoring.

 

It's surprising how many cars have low miles on an ebay search, my Suzuki had 62,000 on it at 15 years old and there are a few like that around. 

[RoadworkUK]

You, sir, are in desperate need of a Triumph Acclaim.

 

As mechanically reliable as a sundial, fun to drive, they don't even rust quite as badly as a Honda of the same age. Classic insurance shouldn't be too hard - youth issues aside.

 

 

German reg'd left hooker! Phwoaar!

[Six-cylinder]

A Citroen Visa will give the same driving experience and costs as a 205, but a lot less glamour!

 

In 1987 I sold a new Visa 17D to a driving instructor in Aylesbury.

[doobietoo]

No one mentioned the Yaris yet? 1.0 vvt are a hoot to drive, MrsD has one ... nothing under 3,000 revs then off it goes, handles ok too...

[purplebargeken]

JohnK's/my former Toledo is a good car. It will obv be ok on classic insurance and is tax exempt as a bonus.

 

Mk3 Golf - cheap as feck to buy. Mine cost 99 quid, albeit a mobile dog kennel. Parts are plentiful and not expensive. Nice to work on and pretty well put together. 

 

Although I hate to mention it again, the 'I' word will be the most expensive outlay.

[bramz7]

Rovers tend to be cheap to insure, the quotes I got for R8s were reasonable without being insane. Also they're at the bottom end of their value spectrum as it stands, and there's a few nice ones left.

 

I'm not surprised by the 306 being mad on insurance, I can't imagine how many have been stuffed by first time drivers.

[trigger]

2nd vote for the Acclaim here, buying one would also mean that all the local clunge will want to bounce up and down on your love truncheon, that's a well known fact.

[alf892]

a good old Corsa B........

 

I found the older 8v 1.2 was much cheaper to insure. Child play to look after and cheap for bits.

 

Not fast............but (usually) quicker than a push bike.

[Honey Badger]

Honda Logo, I've only ever seen them driven by pensioners and they are as desirable as genital warts. For extra misery buy the CVT auto.

 

Rare and unloved, sounds like top autoshite material to me.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honda-Logo-/152202152328?hash=item236ff48988:g:afcAAOSwuzRXejuq

 

[garbaldy]

Avoid Vauxhalls as the are crap, get a Mercedes as they never go wrong and have a star on the bonnet !

Hahahha haha I'm pretty sure a Vauxhall would have been more reliable than my Merc,

 

I shall be watching this with interest as daughter has just turned 17 so I'm about to go through the same rigmarole with insurance.

 

Did someone not say you have to clear cookies in between quotes as it takes it your being dodgy if you keep changing things.