any - First car for daughter, what to buy? | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Sun 19 Oct 2014 20:15

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - lucklesspedestrian

I realise this has probably been done to death but bear with me.

Eldest daughter lives in Edinburgh, soon to be 25, fed up with buses and trams wants to sit her test and get her first car (I did give her lessons and pay for about 10 professionally about 3 years ago so not starting totally from scratch). I will be paying for most of it and actually hunting around to find the thing.

Main commute (90% of use) will be mixture of city traffic and the 50/70mph bypass (12 mile round trip so no diesel). Budget will be about £3.5K tops. Obviously a low insurance rating will be handy and I want her to be as safe as possible both in terms of EuroNCAP and simply not being left stranded at the side of the road.

Having read this forum and occassionally contributed over the years I am aware the Toyota Yaris stands out as the sensible buy. (would the 1.0 be okay for the odd dual carrigeway jaunt...it's got 68bhp allegedly which back when I was a lad was a decent amount of power....???)

Any other options I might consider?

Thought about the Grande Punto (1.2) , lot of car for the money, decent engine, looks nice, good safety rating but it's a Fiat??

Similarly Renault Clio (1.2) (2006 on) quite a grown up wee car, good safety, pain in the backside to change a lightbulb and it's a Renault......(maybe a Twingo?)

Corsa (2006 on) 1.2.....they can't be that bad can they??

Fiesta (2002 on ) seems like a good car, I know HJ likes them (esp 1.25 zetec) but the crash test data looks poorish.

Similarly the Aygo/C1/107 all look a bit flimsy relatively speaking.

So, any thoughts would be immensely helpful, any options I've not considered, any options I've unfairly discounted??

Thanks in advance

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Sun 19 Oct 2014 21:23

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - Happy Blue!

Allegedly a slightly larger car can be more cost effective for the novice driver in term of overall running costs but I have not seen any statistics to bear this out.

Modern small cars are incredibly good and proficient in a multitude of ways so any of the cars mentioned plus the Fiat Panda will be ideal for your daughter's commute. I would be very happy driving anything like Citroen C1 for a mix of urban and by-pass roads as they are very nippy and very economical. Also surprisingly sophisticated in terms of comfort and road noise for the weight and size.

Fiats appear to have better reliability these days. The Fiat 500 Dualogic on our fleet has been fine for the 12 months or so we have had it.

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Sun 19 Oct 2014 21:34

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - elekie&a/c doctor

Nothing wrong with any of these.The Fiat and Renault can be a a bit quirky on the electrics and the electric power steering on the Punto can be very problematic.Good points with the Fiesta and Corsa are parts are plentiful and reasonably priced,both new and s/hand.

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Sun 19 Oct 2014 22:10

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - brettmick

A small, petrol engined Japanese car with a full service history is the only sensible choice IMHO. I have a 2 year old Diesel Yaris and it's great, my dad had the mk1 1.0 Auto and it served him for 9 years without a fault. Take your time and find a good one and it will go forever.

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Sun 19 Oct 2014 23:18

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - gordonbennet

Personally i'd get an older but well looked after Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic of 04/05 vintage.

My daughter's a little older than yours and she's now on her second Civic of that age, though a 2.0S (one of the best hatches ever made its probably out of insurance scope for a first car with the 2 litre engine but you never know), both of which have proved to be totally dependable with her high mileages..first one replaced @ 140odd k miles, replacement now coming up to 113k miles and runs as good as new, apart from a clutch on this one and service/friction materials nothing has failed, she has every intention of replacing with another in due course but the next one owner FSH jobbie will take some finding.

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Mon 20 Oct 2014 00:08

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - Andrew-T

You would be very unlucky to get a dud copy of any one of these, as modern cars have been 'developed' as nauseam. Most important points are reliability, simplicity, cheap maintenance and insurance cost, and (often forgotten) comfortable seats, which maybe you cannot decide for your daughter.

It's probably more essential to pick a decent example than to worry about which company makes the best car.

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Mon 20 Oct 2014 11:19

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - Manatee

Boy has had a 1.2 Panda for 9 years. No trouble except for some starting problems caused by him washing the key, and a dead battery.

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Mon 20 Oct 2014 20:39

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - lucklesspedestrian

fair point, especially at this price bracket

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Mon 20 Oct 2014 12:25

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - Alanovich

Mazda 2

Ford Focus 1.4 petrol

Those would be my choices.

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Mon 20 Oct 2014 13:52

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - Armitage Shanks {p}

My two garnd-daughters (21 and 22) have been pleased with their somewhat cheaper Ka Mk1s.

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Mon 20 Oct 2014 21:35

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - daveyjp

Something similar to what I saw advertised a couple of weeks ago.

Ten years old, just 21,000 miles and a snip at £600. Never attractive, never popular, but great as a first time car.

A Suzuki Wagon R.

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Mon 20 Oct 2014 21:51

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - Avant

Another vote for the Yaris: my elder daughter had four in a row, all trouble-free. I'd go for the 1.3: not too much accleration for a novice drive, but nippy enough to get out of trouble.

If you can't find a suitable one, then a Fiesta would do very well.

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Tue 21 Oct 2014 21:17

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - jamie745

I'd say the most sensible choice would be a mk1 Ford Focus. There's little need to scale down to a Fiests as the practical differences in running costs are pretty arguable really. The 1.6 petrol was one very lively engine, I don't know what Ford did to it but that one went like a little rocket.

Focus is so easy to drive as well.

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Wed 22 Oct 2014 11:21

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - skidpan

The 1.6 petrol was one very lively engine

It may be in a Fiesta but it is not in a Focus. Tried one, it seemed OK in town and at speeds below 50 mph. Above that you are waiting ages for any further acceleration. Also tried a 1.8 and was slightly more impressed, nearly bought it. But settled on a 1.6 TDCi, way better and also way more economical.

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Wed 22 Oct 2014 11:40

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - madf

If it's a first car, lively is what is not required.

Reliable, easy to park, and smallish for car parks are key.. as are low running costs incl insurance..

As a family with two Yarii (Yarises?) , son's has done 50k miles in 4 years, is 11 and has 140k on clock. Best car he has had to date - and the toughest (2001 1.0 CDX)

Japanese cars on the whole last well under abuse...at least the petrol ones do...

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Wed 22 Oct 2014 13:48

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - HandCart

I'd also say Yaris, but If you’re particularly concerned about safety, then, for the same (or less) outlay, buying an older car can get you something a bit bigger, with more crumple space. The money saved on purchase price can go towards the slightly higher insurance and fuel costs.

Provided you get something with popular-sized tyres, maintenance costs would be the same as for a smaller car.

Plus she wouldn’t have to get as bothered about the inevitable scrapes and dings it’s likely to pick up in the hands of a novice driver as she might with something newer and shinier.

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Wed 22 Oct 2014 13:54

any - First car for daughter, what to buy? - alan1302

There's little need to scale down to a Fiests as the practical differences in running costs are pretty arguable really.

Unless you prefer a smaller car of course. I've never wanted a Focus sized car.

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