I am thinking about getting a car, advice wanted

This is a long way off yet but a car would be handy if my business was a sucess. The idea is to buy a cheap car and get my dad or mates to sit in with me while I practise instead of paying £20 an hour for this practise.

I will then have a few lessons when I feel I am ready for a test.

I have looked at the following quotes

Ford Fiesta 1.0 1992 (slow but durable and I have done a little bit of work on one o those engines years ago) £840.
Ford Fiesta 1.1 1994 Airbagged version £1100
Fiat Punto 1.1 55 SX £1100
Vauxhall Corsa 1.0 (The Suzuki engined one) but they cost too much to buy and I hate the gearboxes on them £930
Volvo 340 1.4 - £1000 - Yes I know this Volvo/DAFs are a joke but they safe and nobody will knick them.
SEAT Ibiza 1.0 litre 1994 - £1000

All third party fire and theft and all for a person with a provesional licence.

Idealy the insurance has to be less than £1000 a year. Driving my dads car is not an option. I am planning to spend no more than £500 for the car which will be about 6 months time.

 

What about a Micra. Reliable, bomb proof, and **** easy to drive.

 

The only thing that is putting me off is my grandma offered my grandads Micra to me last year but I wouldn't have felt right driving my grandads old car . His was a 1.3 Sport version though.

I will certainly get a quote for them. I assume all the MK2 Micra's have fuel injection? Edit £867 for a 1994 M 1.0 Nissan Micra LX.

Why is Directline half the price of a lot of other companies? Norwich wanted £2500 for a Firsta 1.1.

 

Could I suggest it might be an idea to have a few lesions FIRST then get your dad or mates to help you practice. These people are used to being with someone who has never driven on the road before. I take it your Dad and mates are not.

I am going to do it that way. My mum said there was no way in hell she was going to sit in a car with me driving until I had had at least two lessons with a professional!

My brother just got a Nissan 'March'. Apparently it is even more expensive to run a car in Japan than it is here! His supervisor wanted to take it around the car park but when he got in he had a bit of trouble with these weird things called 'gears' He was pretty embarrassed in front of the other employees! lol

 

I have had plenty of experience. In fact the last four months of driving I wasn't acheiving anything I was paying £20 an hour just to practise. I also got 35/35 in my theory test.

I should have made that clearer. I even had a test booked but way back in 2003 but family problems meant I had to cancel it, I never bothered to retake because I always assumed insurance would be too expensive. Now I am 23 I am finding insurance is much much cheaper than it used to be.

Are the Micra's easy to work on? I want somthing which I can service myself but also somthing which is fuel injected. I also want somthing with crumple zones, possibly airbags and side impact bars. An airbag is not crucial because I am tall and sit right back anyway.

My grandads Micra 1.3 SRI had 143,000 on the clock when he died. I think the engine was well on its way out though.

I am still dreaming anyway I need to earn some money first, but the prospect of owning a car will make me work very hard

 

I have not long bought a 97R Fiesta 1.3 Encore which has close to 100,000 miles on the clock, took it in for a service today and apart from needing a new battery (it was still on its original and the snow and ice killed it) it sailed through, I'd certainly advise having a look at one.

Also worth considering are Corsa's, Micra's and Clio's, although I read somewhere that the Micra is more expensive to service, have a look at the Honest John website as he tells you what to look out for

Andrew

 

wholly ****. i only pay £525 for my Lambo

 

20 quid a lesson is scandalous!! you can get them half that up here...

 

My mates got the Fiesta 1.3, I drove it some private land the other day and it had a surprising amount of power in it. His is 91k K reg and paid £250 for it. I am assuming yours is the newer version.

Those engines are solid, they are a bit crude and dated but that also means they are dream for DIYers.

I know four people with them Fiestas and all of them seem to be very very reliable. They are so simple so if there is nothing wrong when you buy it the chances of a fault developing is slim.

I got the insurance down to £820 in the end for a 1.1 Fiesta, that is with a provesional licence, that would go down to £400 once I have had my licence a couple of years.

Mr Cat that is just an educated guess, I was paying £16 ph in 2003 he was one of the average priced ones, he was still much cheaper than the likes of AA and BSM.

 

My first motor was a 1977 Fiesta 1.1. It was 10 years old by then, but with only 30K miles on the clock having been owned by a disabled dude who was a mate of my dad whoi didnt use it much. I loved it, it was a death trap, but quicker than you might imagine, regularly with four passengers in we'd drive all over the country without a hitch, through rain, snow, sunshine and wind. I was very sad to see it go.

When I got it its top speed was 73 mph. By the time it died I could get 109 mph. I drove it at all times like the Mini Van was driven in Mr Jolly Lives Next Door and it only let me down once in 6 years on the way to Liverpool. With the help of an RAC salesman at a service station we managed to get three cylinders firing and got back to Wolves ok.

 

Why was it a death trap due to the light weight body of the mk1? At least the MK3 has a very tough body which does provide some protection in a crash, its a lot better than the PSA AX/106. The MK4 Fiesta has really good safety but these cars are still out of my league.

The 1.3 engine would push the insurance up to £1000 as well. I really want a 1.25 Zetec but they are expensive to insure and expensive to buy.

As for Vauxhall Corsa B (UK MK1 Corsa)I have never got on with their gearboxes, I like to be a little heavy handed with the gearstick as it feels like I am placing in gear, with the Corsa this meant it would often go into the wrong gear, this a problem I have never had with FIATs, Fords and Renults.

I loved the Renult Clio I drove on my last lessons, it was only a 1.2 but had plenty of zap and had a lovely gearbox which communicate to me. With the corsa you would change gear, 1 seconds later the engine would react (maybe a slow clutch?) but with the Clio and Punto its instant.

 

Well no headrests, no crumple zones, no air bags, no door bars, basically no intrinsic rigidity, no design consideration for the survival of driver or passengers whatsoever. It has the road crash protection of a setee.

 

My mates MK3 has head rests at least, I wonder if all MK3s had crumple zones? I would like to think so. The car certainly feels very solid.

Idealy if I bought the MK3 I would want to get one with airbags, side impact bars etc you can a 1.1 1995 for around £400.

 

I've kind of become more aware of vehicle safety recently. I'd certainly put that top of my priorities if I were you. The main issue is as other vehicles on the road become more rigid, existing vehicles become more vulnerable.

I was shocked to witness film (I think it was on Top Gear?) of a new Renault Espace being collided with an M Reg (I think) one at 30 mph in each direction. They collided drivers corner to drivers corner as you might if you overtook on a bend and hit an oncoming car.

The old one was demolished and the driver would have been very seriously injured or even killed. The new one crumpled in the right place - the air bags didnt even go off!!!

I'm happy to say my wife drives a new Espace but I pity anyone she might hit.

 

Those old MPVs were death traps though, I remember Top Gear doing an article on 4*4s and MPVs about 10 years ago and they said if you want to survive in accident stick to an normal car. Things have improved an awful lot though now.

I would have thought as I am a tall driver ABS, side impact bars and decent crumple zones were more important for me. If the seat is right far back the passanger often never has any contact with the airbag.

 

the entry Citroen Ax 1.0s were group 2 incidentally and the Fiat Cinquecentos start at group 1- even the Sporting is just group 3 iirc. One thing you NEED to do is do pass plus. When i started driving i had a quote from Norwich Union direct (when i was 20) for £1100 in a (then 10yr old) Fiesta 1.1. After pass plus? £550! Thank you very much! The discount also rolled over to the 2nd and 3rd years, as it basically adds a cumulative year of driving experience. All pass plus is , is 6 extra lessons with a proper pass plus certified instructor. So whilst those lessons may cost you 6x£20 its saving you £500-600 on insurance.

 

I need to look into that further, in Manchester it dosn't seem to make any difference, my mate has Pass Plus but is still paying a fortune. Also I the quotes I have been getting are between £800-£1100 third party and the car dosn't seem to make much differnece. I got a quote for a £1100 for a 1.6 16V Mondeo. Of course these are much harder to steal than a Firsta which is why there is little difference.

I think the Cinq or AX are a bit too small. A Fiesta or Punto is as small I can manage really.

I still want a smaller car though because they are cheaper to tax and much easier to drive round the city.

Directline seems to be very manc friendly, probably because its based in Manchester, Norwich Union wanted £2000 for a basic Fiesta .

Tesco was in the middle at £1300.

Direct line £900.

My big problem is the M in my post code, its very high risk.

 

got a colleahue selling a 'P' reg ford fiesta - 6 months mot and 1 months tax - for 500 notes...not sure of the engine size tho...surely it must be better than the trolley I have...it doesn't seem to like the 500 miles a week I'm doing now...

what do ya reckon?

 

Is it a MK3 or MK4? I.e does it have an oval grill? If so that adds a good £200 value.

If its a MK3 then it probably has to be the 1.1 Classic as the 1.3 unit was modified and renamed Endura for the KA, this was also used in the MK4 Fiesta.

The 1.1 cat engines were quite slow because they suffered from the process, the engine was never designed to be use with a cat convertor.

If you are not bothered about speed then they are decent cars for the money. Rust seems to be biggest problem as well as rear window electricals not working.

These Fiestas seem to eat front discs as well, not a major problem but still extra expense.

Those engines will easily do 100,000 though. My mates is a 1.1 (we thought it was a 1.3 but recently discovered it wasn't). The engine is sweet as a nut but the gearbox is suffering a bit now, it can some times take a couple of tries to get into first.

The other key thing with these Fiestas is they need to be basic spec, LX is ok but anything above that and you will have lots of failed electrics and the altnerators seem more prone to failure.

I know loads of people who have had these cars at some point of their lives and none of them were any trouble.

 

Hi AM - it's this kind - http://cars.uk.freeads.net/1996_P_reg_FORD_FIESTA-186252.htm

tho, it's not this actual car in the ad...haven't a clue about it's condition or anything as the ad on the notice board is very vague..!