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Original poster

Best car for new teenage driver.

53 replies

mumtimestwo · 15/08/2023 08:42

I’ve been kindly given £5000 to buy a car for my DS who just passed their test by a relative. (They are insistent it’s for a car as they never had one. Money also has been set aside for uni hopefully next year)
Anyone got any recommendations. The money would also have to cover some insurers costs so I think am looking for a car around the 4k mark.
we live relatively rurally, although flat and I imagine he will go in a car sharing group with others to college so looking for one that will fit 4/5 tall boys and has a bit of power.

I had originally thought a fiesta but read here about the problems with a wet cam belt (every day you learn something new!)

his sister suggested a fiat 500- I think because she likes the look of it - but I don’t think that seats 5 although it seems you get a newer car for your money.

would it generally be better to prioritise lower mileage or newer car?

many thanks.

OP posts:
YoSof · 15/08/2023 08:45

Lower mileage is best.

Seats and VW are good sturdy cards, although the insurance would be incredibly high depending on engine size.

I’d look at something like a Seat Ibiza but small engine size, a 1.4 would be fine but anything bigger will cost thousands to insure.

CapEBarra · 15/08/2023 09:07

Take a VERY close look at potential insurance costs. We got my DD a Corsa and it’s a lovely, sturdy, little car that feels safe and is lovely to drive but the insurance (comprehensive but none of the frills) has just cost over £2k.

Cookerhood · 15/08/2023 09:10

I think you will have to budget more for insurance. For both my boys it was £1800 for the first year (1 litre car), a few years ago. They were talking about not letting new drivers carry passengers for a few months, did that ever happen?

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Driving & parking
Judashascomeintosomemoney · 15/08/2023 09:12

Skoda Fabia

Judashascomeintosomemoney · 15/08/2023 09:13

And black box insurance

Hoppinggreen · 15/08/2023 09:15

You could be looking at £2000 plus for insurance.
A lot of DDs friends have Aygos or similar

Judashascomeintosomemoney · 15/08/2023 09:31

A lot of DDs friends have Aygos or similar

Our DDs did too. But they wouldn’t sit five - that may have to be the compromise. They’re excellent cars and the insurance is better than anything bigger

Kinneddar · 15/08/2023 09:40

My niece has a Fiesta. Great wee car. Her insurance is well under £1000. She's 19

fartfacenotfatface · 15/08/2023 09:55

Would you consider a smaller car? Trying to find a car big enough to seat 5 men comfortably that is powerful enough for that load AND has reasonable insurance is not going to happen with that budget.
Can he not lift share with just one or two others (split the car sharing group into two)?

Original poster
mumtimestwo · 15/08/2023 10:04

Thanks for all your thoughts. I was going to add £1000 myself for insurance as that’s the cost roughly of the college bus. I was expecting to pay about £2k for insurance.
I will be a named driver as well on it as I will be using it the days he’s getting a lift in. It’s not the intention that he takes 4 other boys in every day. One has already passed and got a car. I think two others are imminently taking their test and I think that not always will everyone go in each day so maybe the requirement for 5 is unnecessary. Lots to think about

OP posts:
Rshard · 15/08/2023 10:07

My dd has a VW Up, great car and only cost £880 to insure as a 17 year old new driver. We added me as a named driver and she has a black box. Friends with corsas and fiestas paid much more, these are very popular with this age group.

PictureConsequences · 15/08/2023 10:12

A Polo is a good choice for insurance. My DD has one and a black box.

PictureConsequences · 15/08/2023 10:15

I think your son hasn't passed yet? In which case, you can get special insurance for him, you and anyone else and it is MUCH cheaper. It cost me, DH and DD £300 to be insured on her Polo for a year...! The moment they pass, it becomes invalid and they need "proper" insurance. I can't remember the name of the provider, but I'm sure you can Google.

NotAMug · 15/08/2023 11:19

We got DS a Kia Picanto. I suggested a Fiat 500 and he looked at me like I was an alien. I'm not sure it's a popular car for teenage boys!

Insurance for the picanto is in the lower bracket. You can do various searches on things like auto trader for the low insurance/low tax models which will give you a selection.

PutTheHatOn · 15/08/2023 11:37

When we were looking to get Ds a car last year it was £1700 insurance with a £500 excess on a £10k Polo. That was with me as a named driver on it. Insurance has gone up this year judging by the MN threads on people shocked at their new premiums.

Use AutoTrader to find cars, they have a really good filtering system and then run those car regs through an insurance comparison site. We used Compare The Market, I am sure it retained all our details and allowed us to keep changing the car reg and re-quoting.

VW, Seat, Skoda are all the same manufacturer and reliable well made cars. Kia and Toyota have 7 year warranties which is good, Hyundai has 5. The others still all have 3. Corsas are dire in terms of things going wrong according to places like Reddit.

The best advice I can give you is to pay the £200 for an independent mechanic through AA or RAC which will give a full report on the car and completely worth the money.

Original poster
mumtimestwo · 15/08/2023 16:54

Thanks for all your messages.
we won’t be getting the car until he passes but I wanted to get some ideas sorted. I will play around with auto trader and the insurance page. Thanks for that tip. I always hate sorting insurance. It always seems to be so many questions and so I guess I had been putting off getting some hypothetical quotes! We were only made the offer at the weekend so I wasn’t sure where to start.

OP posts:
CrispsnDips · 15/08/2023 16:59

My 18 year old - a Peugeot 206 - black box insurance
My 17 year old - a Vauxhall Corsa - still learning

whathappenedtosummer23 · 15/08/2023 17:10

I deliberately went for a 4 rather than 5 seater. I didn’t like the idea of so many of them piling in

QueenofLouisiana · 15/08/2023 17:15

Not a Fiat 500, DS and his mates would rather walk! (Seriously)

The teens we know have the following: VW golf, fiesta, micra, fabia. DS has just got a Kia Rio, as his uni is a 7 hour drive and will involve some big motorways. The ones mentioned all fit 4 boys- mainly around 6’- 6’3”.

We paid £1800 for insurance on a diesel micra.

DanceMumTaxi · 15/08/2023 17:19

Fiat 500s are driven by teenage girls round here. Definitely no boys.

Blankscreen · 15/08/2023 17:22

DSS has a Volkswagen UP.

It is the smallest hp version available. I think it's 55 HP and is 5j3 cheapest insurance group possible. There are only 4 seatbelt though.

With Aygos and Peugeot 106 (which is the same car) it is the 2013 and earlier models that Re the lowest insurance group and then you end up paying a premium for quite an old car with lots of miles.

It's a minefield.

We ended up paying £9.5k on a 4 year old up with 11500 miles.

Nephew (same age) has a 1.2l Clio and his insurance is £2700😱

fussygalore77 · 15/08/2023 17:26

We have a Peugeot 207, 1k insurance with a blackbox for our new teenage driver,. Its 5 door good size for 5. A lot their friends have fiat 500, augu thing or ford KA. All quiet small tbh.
We wanted something decent size..