what car for a 17 year old ?

[Fuchs915]

My middle one last year bought a 72 Beetle, 1k to insure when he had just passed and was 19. No problem getting insurance and worked on the basis that 1k is about the going rate to get started. Then he decided he wanted to eat at Uni so it's now my next project. I'd go for a VW Up as a newish car or an older Polo/Lupo.

Kevin

[Nine One One]

Most classic car Insurance Companies now have a minimum age of 25 years old, for a classic car insurance policy, to prevent youngsters getting in on that market.

My merc was insured through admiral I think or privilege - never ever used a specialist insurer or had a classic policy on one of my daily cars, and to be honest none of those guys could ever get close to the price of the "highstreet" insurers.. Might be worth looking into, especially if you can find something "cool" for a 17yr old (I have no idea what that is anymore) that's a bit older/bigger and considered low (insurance) risk

The 25 years was the age of the driver, not the age of the car, should have made it a bit clearer

[shoestring7]

Mine took a different approach and I helped him find and buy a nice low mileage '89 VW Golf - the one with the rip-roaring (55bhp) 1.6l diesel. He pays well under a grand for the insurance (he's the declared main driver before anyone mentions it) with a policy in his mother's name. A year later and its still looking very nice with slightly bigger steel wheels, new rubber and 16v suspension, although there is an additional garage-entry scrape on the front arch to add to the collection already there. He's about to head off to university, but I think the car will stay wrapped up in the garage at home.



>C

[smallspeed]

Most classic car Insurance Companies now have a minimum age of 25 years old, for a classic car insurance policy, to prevent youngsters getting in on that market.

My merc was insured through admiral I think or privilege - never ever used a specialist insurer or had a classic policy on one of my daily cars, and to be honest none of those guys could ever get close to the price of the "highstreet" insurers.. Might be worth looking into, especially if you can find something "cool" for a 17yr old (I have no idea what that is anymore) that's a bit older/bigger and considered low (insurance) risk

The 25 years was the age of the driver, not the age of the car, should have made it a bit clearer

No, I got what you meant.. My point was I was 20 years old, driving a w115 220 Merc e class, but didn't insure it as a classic, just "a car" through a highstreet insurer. 22yrs old driving a 280ce w123. At 24 I had a 2.3 190 cosworth. All of those were parked on the road outside my house, 12k miles a year, insured through a bell group type insurer, etc. Etc..

I couldn't get classic insurance because I was under 25 years old (like you mentioned) BUT even when I could (30yrs old i had a 230ce w123....noticing a pattern here?!) it was cheaper through one of those guys, just being insured as "a car", rather than on a classic policy.. That car cost me less than 80 quid a year fully comp with European cover and windscreen cover

I guess the last laugh is oh me though - I never claimed so they got £80 for nothing (I hate insurance - gambling AGAINST yourself just feels so wrong )

[Simon Rudge]

My 2 had Ka's and Micras, both pretty bullet proof.

Simple to maintain, sensible performance and economy, not too silly for them yo be seen in.

No 1 now nicks my 911 at any opportunity, proved herself to be sensible in low value car, happy to let her loose in it.

Regards

[Tosh]

Oooh, smallspeed, I've big love/wants for a 123CE.
My brother has one and loves wafting about in it. He can't do 80 in second gear and go through 100 easily in 3rd as I can in my AMG but I very rarely do or can. But wafting seems more up my street as I get older...

A friend just plumped for a 10 yo mini for her daughter, but I have neighbours with IQs and Ups and both rave about them

[rhd racer]

just looked at the iq's and didn't realise they were that cheap ... but my neice was originally talking about wanting a 4 door car so her friends could get in & out easilly which I'm going to assume means she's not going to want something the size of an iq. Id persuaded her the other day a 2 door would be fine but it does look like she wants rear seats

She will carry passengers as for the next 2 years she will be driving 60 miles / day to 6th form & back.

At the moment I like the idea of a mini, but don't know if they are reliable , cheap to run or cheap to insure.

other options seem to be :

Seat Mii or Ibiza
Kia .... whatever smal car they produce ( this is my dads suggestion )
Mini One
VW up
vw polo
VW NEW beetle
ford fiesta ( high insurance ? )

Mrs E had a Mini Cooper petrol gen 1 (52 plate) and ran it for 40k miles / 4 years until we had kids. Only issue was a maste cylinder problem which BMW could not easily fix, and begrudgingly kept replacing parts at their expense until they did! Think this was a one-off. Run flat tyres are a pain in the AR53, but otherwise was a great car.

So much so after a sabbatical in a Golf we are now beyond pushchairs and she has another - a Gen 2 Cooper D. Now 3 years and 40k miles in, nothing but routine servicing.

Both great cars, and they are where her heart is hence her current ride (the car, not me!!). Safe and cool, lots on the second hand market as Ben said.

Cool at any age,

Cheers
Wayne

[smallspeed]

Oooh, smallspeed, I've big love/wants for a 123CE.
My brother has one and loves wafting about in it. He can't do 80 in second gear and go through 100 easily in 3rd as I can in my AMG but I very rarely do or can. But wafting seems more up my street as I get older...

A friend just plumped for a 10 yo mini for her daughter, but I have neighbours with IQs and Ups and both rave about them

Killer cars the w123s - I've had a bunch.. 230e, 280ce, 230ce, 280te and another 230ce.. Don't think I paid more than 2k for any of them - they've gone up a touch now though
Did look at a 450slc once - the only cooler Merc coupe in my opinion - unfortunately every one I saw was rotten as a pear, so it never happened.. ..presumably out of reach now

[Steve Warson]

Late model non-turbo 2010 Clio 4-door 1.2 16V would be just within your stated budget with a scratch and a ding, have 5-star Euro Ncap with all the airbags and ESP in the new body. And be simple enough to not have keyless gremlins to go wrong.

Best,

Steve

[dogbower]

As mentioned Audi A2, getting a bit old now but you should find a good one for your budget.
Good forum, 5 door, seat 5 adults, reasonable boot, good build quality, ours hardly ever dipped below 50mpg, and could give 60 if driven sensibly. Light and so surprisingly fun on b roads.
Was sad to see ours go.
Stuart.

[Ian 2.2S]

Not quite 17 now! Has ended up taking 3 years, but in that time he has been able to 'make his mistakes' with mum's old Corsa C

[smallspeed]

cracking

[sladey]

Sounds amazing too

[hot66]

That does look cool

[Ian 2.2S]

Yeah, thanks guys, really chuffed with what he has achieved with a little bit of spannering (and financial) assistance from his old man
He got it MOT'd on Wednesday and went to local pub classic car meet that night. Took it into city centre last night and came back a bit traumatised with the amount of attention it drew from random strangers jumping out into the road to ask him about it