First cars!

[MaloneMeadow]

DD has recently passed her driving test so we are now on the look out for her first car. A Mini has always been her dream but I am cautious as they have a reputation of being unreliable. Anyone got any experience of them? I should add that it’s her own money she’s spending, so she has a budget of around £10k. I will be paying her first year of insurance. Any suggestion of other good first cars much appreciated

Failing that.. a Toyota. Very highly regarded on Which. I'm

Sorry.. ignore 'I'm '

Let her get the mini. It’ll be her pride and joy and she’s done well to save £10k.

Our oldest is 17 next year and we'll be going for something with the best crash safety rating, even if it's not particularly cool!

I wish we were too posh to own a Fiat! If we were I wouldn’t be sitting here on MN worrying over car reliability and insurance prices. Thanks for your delightful (and unhelpful) assumption. For the record Fiats are far from known for their quality or reliability, hence why I wouldn’t want her to have one in the first place, other people’s opinions and stigma aside.

If you have a look at group one cars to insure you will see what's a good buy regarding insurance.
There is a mini in group one (or maybe group two) I think it might be the mini one.
I'd just get the mini. It's a nice car and what all the girls want.

@FijiSea not sure where you've got that from buts it's not true. Other garages will fix them.

I was teasing sorry OP

@troppibambini6 experience.
Id agree with others on the thread , the C1 / Aygo /Peugeot models which are basically the same car are cheap to insure and repair

@MaloneMeadow yes to the fiat500 thing. Dd wouldnt entertain one even though I said they were nice.

@FijiSea think you've been unlucky there then the independent mechanic local to us has fixed dds mini no issues at all.

@FijiSea you're 100% right they are.

My first car was a fiat 127 - it made that grumpy struggling fiat noise on cold mornings and had a manual choke! I sold it to a dealer who phoned me to tell me the fuel pump went two weeks later. It was 7.

Fond memories but I wouldn’t have another one.

Sounds awful but at least where we are the teens have made a stigma of Fiats being a ‘dumb blonde’ car! DD used to want one but nowadays that’s put her off

You need something in the lowest possible insurance group. Check quotes for every registration before you consider buying it, just because it has a small engine size it could cost a fortune to insure if it’s special edition etc.

This.

Re minis - the three people who have owned them that I know of have said never again as they are so expensive when you need repairs.

Your dd needs to take a mature attitude to this. She really is much more limited in her options just having an automatic licence. Unfortunately there is no guarantee any more that her insurance will be cheaper after a year or two of driving so while saving such a good amount is admirable, she needs to consider the running costs of the car and how much she’ll be able to insure to tax and insure it going forwards. I would imagine that her ability to save will be less once she’s paying for fuel, breakdown cover, tax, service, MOT, repairs etc.

"Fiat500" is used as an insult about uneducated basic white girls on Twitter.

Can I ask how you think she’s being immature in this?

She should spend the money upgrading and learning manual

Probably a waste of time and money tbh, some manufacturers have stopped producing manual cars already.

my first was/is an Jazz auto hybrid. Cheap tax, insurance and great size inside. It’s nippy, and I love it.
its also holding its resale value well, and they are known for being reliable, esp the 2nd generations

I said above that she did automatic for good reason. She had major spinal surgery recently and has chronic pain so driving is difficult enough as it is. Why are you saying that my daughter is immature for this?

Well that’s complete nonsense for a start but for reliability then something Japanese is the answer. Maybe a Jazz/Micra/Yaris/Auris, all of which are likely to give good service.

Is it a rover mini or a bmw mini? I've had both rover mini was a death trap but I loved it. BMW mini I loved it and was very reliable my dh has had his John cooper works for 10 years and still going strong was 7 years old when he bought it so not brand new