First car for DS

[teenagersandalittleone]

I am looking to buy DS 18 a car but do not know where to start. I know it needs to be small and under 1.1 litres. I don’t know if I should get automatic or manual, what brand of car - does anyone have any pointers

I'd go for nearly new as you want something safe and still under warranty.
If he had his lessons in a manual stick with that.

My suggestions is a VW polo. Excellent first car.

My first car was an (old) Suzuki Swift (automatic). Fabulous. Very reliable and cheap to run. I would highly recommend.

This was my dc first car 15 years ago she loved it,

Manual because she can then drive anything. Hyundai's are great value. The Aygo is popular but more expensive as is the Polo.

My budget is only about £5k so don’t think can afford new

There’s a good choice think something like fiesta size

as for the auto /manual debate
I’d go manual it’s good to have experience of manual everyone will pile on saying all cars going auto
but in my last 2 jobs you had to have manual license and EXPERIENCE of manual even though a big % of work vehicles were automatic

My first car was an old VW polo, it was built like a tank and so reliable, my mum had it after me, and got hit on a motorway by a lorry and spun into the crash reservation, police officer said if she'd been in a newer car she would've been much worse off, as it was she escaped with whiplash only.
I would get something old, simple and preferably Japanese or German

Other first car was a ford fiesta,

I agree with old being more reliable than new. I worked for a big brand car manufacturer once and I think the quality of the parts used and reliability has really gone downhill.

Look at the insurance costs of the different cars and think about going for a lower insurance group. My daughter had a peugeot 107 at 17, has done really well. Cheaper insurance and not expensive to repair or maintain.

We got DD a mini. It was about 10 years old and we got it for about 5k. It was fantastic. She's moved home again now and we share my car but the mini was perfect.

Volkswagen up / Seat Mii / Skoda Citigo (there’s a few models ideally the lower bhp for insurance)

aygo / 107 / c1

manuals are generally cheaper to insure than auto.

We are in the same situation. My dh - a car buff - has decided on a Corsa 1.4 but I think he hasn't looked at insurance yet ...

I should say, he hasn't decided on a Corsa because he likes Vauxhall's, he just thinks that a good buy.

VW fox? I’d go with manual.

My top tip is before buying anything type the details into go compare/comparison site of your choice to double check how much that specific car is to ensure.

We got DS a lovely little Skoda Citigo. It was a Category S, so cheaper and still safe. Cost around £3.4k, and insurance with a black box was around £700.

1.1 is nothing. Go for under 1.6, honda or toyota. 5 door is safer in the event of being rear ended. Yaris, auris, jazz, civic maybe. Skoda fabia also great.

VW are good but expensive to fix, same with audi. Petrol slightly easier to fix than diesel in most instances. More nippy too so ideal for first car.

Don't get a corsa, they have a bad reputation with young drivers for many reasons.

Lower mileage and old is better than higher mileage but newer car.

Get an auto, manuals are becoming outdated, autos easier to find and all cars will be auto soon. Also quicker and easier to learn in.

The newer VWs aren’t as reliable as the older ones.
I’d go something like an Aygo or Suzuki Swift

It is worth checking insurance for different cars he might want. Some cars that are very popular with young people end up with higher insurance costs. For us a Corsa was so expensive compared to a Polo or Seat Ibiza. Don't assume the need for a tiny engine either. DS2 found little difference between a 1.0 and 1.4

Get insurance quotes on a range of cars. I was shocked to see the obvious choices for first time drivers are often hugely high to insure. Jokingly we looked up my old car which I was about to trade in, would never have seen it as a sensible choice (athough very safe) and certainly not a usual car for a teen. It turned out to be cheaper than most. We ended up keeping it and all the kids had it for their first year of driving.

We got DS a Skoda fabia, about 11 years old but minimal mileage - I think previous owner used it for supermarket trips and nothing else. It is absolutely brilliant. Spacious, good to drive, comfortable - and not too fashionable so good price (very comfortably within your budget).

I got my son a Punto which he loved. This was a few years ago but it was an ideal first car.

Mine has a 2007 ford fiesta insured just 3rd party. So costs are reasonable for insurance. Our plan was once he had a year of driving behind him we might upgrade but the fiesta is still running fine (touch wood) and he's happy with it so we haven't changed it. He mainly drives to and from work, if he was regularly driving long distances we'd probably have bought something newer by now.

The insurance algorithms go on how many claims are made for someone of that age, in that area driving that type of car. For young people it normally works out cheaper to go for something that isn't the usual young people's car. So rather than a Ford Fiesta or a Seat Ibiza go for some sort or boring Skoda estate. Spend a lot of time playing around on insurance search engines, what people assume is a low insurance car isn't always the case. If he could have afforded one it would have been cheaper for my 17 year old to insure a brand new BMW than his 5 year old Seat Ibiza.