dobbslc
Forum Supporter
- Messages
- 12,886
- Location
- Hertfordshire UK
Noooooo!
- Thread starter dobbslc
- Start date
Memmeddu
Member
- Messages
- 5,251
- Location
- Italia Sardegna
I'd love to advise a Fiat Punto ,but I don't know how many there are over there and if parts are available .
They have all kinds of problems but they simply don't bother and keep going.
I've destroyed the differential on mine and kept going till home,then to the mechanic
I've Burnt the head gasket , and kept going , with water in the cylinders , leaking every kind of fluid.
Had ignition problems , kept running on a single cylinder no problems .
Here in Italy we love the early Panda , it's just a tank that's another option
They have all kinds of problems but they simply don't bother and keep going.
I've destroyed the differential on mine and kept going till home,then to the mechanic
I've Burnt the head gasket , and kept going , with water in the cylinders , leaking every kind of fluid.
Had ignition problems , kept running on a single cylinder no problems .
Here in Italy we love the early Panda , it's just a tank that's another option
Gritineye
Member
- Messages
- 2,101
Peugeot 107, bought ours cash brand new in 2010 and just had the first fault icon light up today, emission fault, ignoring that till next MOT.
Had a couple of minor knock insurance claims but not spent anything on it doing my own maintenance apart from tyres, oils, filters and coolant. Despite minimal attention it's still neat and shiny.
It's a wizzy little thing which I would have been very happy to have had as a yoof, as my first car was a sit up and beg Ford pop which predictably ended upside down in a ditch!
Had a couple of minor knock insurance claims but not spent anything on it doing my own maintenance apart from tyres, oils, filters and coolant. Despite minimal attention it's still neat and shiny.
It's a wizzy little thing which I would have been very happy to have had as a yoof, as my first car was a sit up and beg Ford pop which predictably ended upside down in a ditch!
slim_boy_fat
Member
- Messages
- 29,532
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
Ditto, I paid £45 for it but managed to keep it right way up, unlike you (came close a couple of times though).
Can't recall about insurance, that was all too far in the past. Reg# was JES 511.A difficult choice for any youngster these days, I'd certainly not want to be starting out again.....
@dobbslc 
Good luck to your lad setting out on one of life's major milestones - he'll never forget his first car!
- Messages
- 22,960
- Location
- Birmingham
My first car was a Renault 10, with the engine and box at the back and cable gear shift, selecting gears could be "interesting" and you had to be friendly with the front seat passenger as the stick ended up in the middle of their seat when selecting reverse it was the only car I made a profit on, bought for £90 and sold for £110
it was the only car I made a profit on, bought for £90 and sold for £110 
This ^ . A lot of suggestions for small, low powered cars, presumably cheap tax and insurance. But, when your offspring has passed his test and is out with 3 mates, screwing the nuts off and showing off his car handling skills is exactly the time he finds out that the fine handling minicar with just him on board has turned into a shopping trolley.
Quite frankly, small cars are unsafe when loaded up. I could list you casualties, some the ultimate, but I won't.
Get a car that is slightly larger, which will be safe four up. My daughter had a Rover 214, as did my son. They both survived the 2 year danger period. (I had a classic mini - chassis twist, bad brakes, noise, it had all this - but safe it was not).
Bobupndown
What could possibly go wrong?
- Messages
- 1,902
- Location
- Northern Ireland
No?
Have you experience of them?
Not the last word in refinement but they do fantastic mpg. Thousands of them about and there seems to be loads with very high mileage making me think they mustn't be that bad? Corsa's in general are very popular with young drivers.
His older brother now has a 1.2 tsi petrol Polo which is a nice car but diesel Polos without galactic mileages are significantly more expensive that the Corsa Cdti.
I actually really like the Fiat 500s but apparently they are "too girly" for teenage boys.
Crazy the prices for 1st time cars as well now. We bought a 2014 Up in 2018 with 42000 miles on it. 5 years later and the same age (2014) cars with many more miles are still similar prices at 9 years old.
Plenty of time to research though birthday not til next spring.
My first "car" was a red 1959 Messerschmitt KR200 bubble car - the "convertible" version rather than the plastic dome-top. Bought as a wreck after a front-end crash for £25 from a nurse who had broken both legs in the crash. Dad beat out the damaged nosecone and I straightened the bent chassis frame with a car jack. Third-party-only insurance cost me £17-10-0 ( i.e. £17.50 ) - a huge amount compared to my 24 Shillings ( £1.20 ) a week earnings as a part-time school lab assistant. I sold the 'Schmitt for £60 and bought a green-and-white Triumph Herald. The three-wheeler would be worth £20 - £30k today...
Last edited:
hunter27
Pete
- Messages
- 897
- Location
- Lancashire UK
My kids still have me on about their first car we bought them. We bought it to build up their NCB, it was a purple K11 Nissan Micra He even mentioned it in a speech he made a couple of weeks ago as best man at his mates wedding 
It served them well.
He even mentioned it in a speech he made a couple of weeks ago as best man at his mates wedding It served them well.
CompoSimmonite
Member
- Messages
- 5,901
- Location
- Werrington, Staffordshire Moorlands.
Consider a Panda (or Ford Ka) as they are both based on the same floorplan as the 500 but insurance MIGHT be cheaper
CompoSimmonite
Member
- Messages
- 5,901
- Location
- Werrington, Staffordshire Moorlands.
I sold my BMW Isetta for £125
RonMig
Member
- Messages
- 451
- Location
- UK M1 J16
Our lad's 1st car had a tracker-insurance policy to keep the cost below £1500 (13 years ago) with mileage limit of 6,000; we thought this would be plenty as we thought he'd favour his motorbike...
Wrong! he did over 13,000 miles the first year, we kept having to add mileage so ended up costing us over double
Wrong! he did over 13,000 miles the first year, we kept having to add mileage so ended up costing us over double
You know what makes a sensible car seem desirable to a 17yr old . . . paying for it yourself. Or some part of it.
I'd suggest that with the best will in the world, a new driver with a smart, panels aligned, no dents, no scratches, no dinged wheels, no tyres with eggs on their 17th birthday, by their 18th, it will have most of them. Do all the banger driving in a banger, then upgrade later.
I'd suggest that with the best will in the world, a new driver with a smart, panels aligned, no dents, no scratches, no dinged wheels, no tyres with eggs on their 17th birthday, by their 18th, it will have most of them. Do all the banger driving in a banger, then upgrade later.
Memmeddu
Member
- Messages
- 5,251
- Location
- Italia Sardegna
That's a coffin turbo and supercharged small car , I'd love to have one
