First Car

[Zippyx]

Hi

As a bit of context, we live in a good area for insurance. DS has done 'young driver' 3-4 times (1 hour lesson each time) and has driven about 4 hours on private roads around our farm. DH and I have both gone through basic parking manoeuvres with him, which he has grasped with relative ease. DS is therefore pretty confident as a driver; DH and I are equally confident in him, given the rate of progress he's made in a relatively small time. Obviously as we are not professional ADIs, he will have at least 10-15 hours of lessons as a minimum.

Now it's time to buy a car, we are looking to spend around £6,500. Firstly, is this reasonable?

Secondly, the car we are looking at is a BMW 1 Series 2011 with about 60k miles on the clock. Insurance would be about £1,500 so not too bad at all. WIBU to buy it for him?

Thanks!

We have only considered cars in group 1 insurance and bought a 4 year old Skoda Citigo for less than £4K. I don’t know anyone stupid enough to buy a BMW for a 17 year old.

Don't do it!! My brother got my nephew a premium car for his first vehicle. It wasn't a BMW - I think it was a brand new Alfa Romeo?

In any case, this was what happened not very long after.

DN was lucky to escape with "only" a broken pelvis and bruises. He lost control on a bend on a country lane, in the rain, and collided with a tree. He had another teen in the car with him (thankfully unhurt) and was probably showing him what his flashy car was capable of...

Does your brother not like his son, @MyDisposableUsername?

Buying a shitbox like an Alfa suggests so.

Get him a small engine, low horsepower car. The stats for young male drivers are horrific.

www.brake.org.uk/news/15-facts-a-resources/facts/488-young-drivers-the-hard-facts

To quote the above website

Young people quickly pick up the physical skills of driving and, as a result, feel they have mastered it and are often over-confident about their driving ability. However, while the practical skills of driving can be mastered quickly, some (less obvious) skills such as hazard perception require more experience

Appreciate all advice.

General consensus is BMW = powerful. 114 bhp is far from powerful, especially when considering the size of the car. Most 'first cars' have around 85 - 100bhp, like the Honda Jazz he suggested.

Insurance quote is as a driver - NOT as a provisional license holder.

Typical teenage 'flashing about' isn't really DS' style and never has been. He suggested getting a Honda Jazz. BMW was our idea because we liked the car and wanted to treat him. He's the 'boring,' nerdy type into car safety, sticking within speed limits, driving 'by the book', etc. (not a bad thing - especially at that age!) so I'm not too concerned about him bashing it about and the rest of it really although I can see why this is a concern for the majority of 17 year olds.

Based on advice, however, beginning to think it's not such a good idea. Shame, really. We all quite liked the car and I think it would've been nice for him to have one.

"I think it would've been nice for him to have one."

He will have years ahead of him in which he can buy a BMW if he so chooses.

I am surprised you managed to get an advance insurance quote for when he will pass his test. When my DD was learning to drive, it was impossible to get an accurate quote from anywhere despite knowing what car we were going to buy. Until the day she passed, we had no real idea how much the insurance was going to be.

On the basis that BMWs are costly to repair, I’d suggest a VW Polo or there is some type of Seat and a particular Ford that seem to be popular with boys these days but I can’t remember what exact models. I’m sure he’ll be able to tell you.

Rear wheel drive cars are trickier to handle and a bit of inexperience in taking a corner could be catastrophic.

So much less stable in slippery conditions too.

OMG if he’s happy with a Honda Jazz then get him one of those and be done with it. Don’t try and persuade him based on your taste. As long as the car is safe and he likes it, everybody’s happy.
He sounds very sensible. Even more sensible than me

And if you get bored of him, I’ll swap you.

I wouldn't get an old entry level crappy 1 series.

You need something with a low BHP and engine size to keep the insurance low. A ford Fiesta or Nissa Micra or something.

That's a lot of money to spend on a first car. I wouldn't go above 2k.

Don't be so ridiculous. For insurance to be that low on a 1 series it will be a crappy entry level model (not to mention it's 8 years old). My eldest begged for a Mercedes a class, and we could have afforded one but instead got him a (brand new) seat Ibiza. Still "cool" but not powerful, has all the extras he'd need and is a more appropriate size (and as I have discovered a lot cheaper to repair!!)

Flipping heck if he wants a Honda Jazz it’s job done! They are actually very practical, good for 6 foot Christmas Trees and electric guitars.

DS might well end up with one next year , or a Fiesta or Yaris. No way on earth will I be treating for a first car - it’s a rite of passage to have something a little less than perfect.

He's the 'boring,' nerdy type into car safety, sticking within speed limits, driving 'by the book', etc

How do you know?!

Has he even driven on a public road yet? Is he 17?

Buy him whatever car he/you want to buy. You don't need Mumsnet to validate your choices.

Regardless of the make of the car and the age of the driver, I wouldn’t buy anything with that high mileage as it could easily become a money pit. You have a decent budget; get him something newer and with less mileage. I had a new Polo at 17 which was a great first car.

Bought my first car last year as I passed my test. I chose the newest one I could afford with low mileage and so far it's serving me well although I understand your son probably wouldn't want to drive a smart car. I love my wee car to bits and he will too no matter what he ends up driving because it's his first car.

why on earth would you spend that much money on a first car which will inevitably get banged on kerbs, scratched by bushes or worse? I've just bought DD1 a Citroen C1 for 2.2k, which was more than we wanted to spend but circumstances dictated; DD2's is a C2 which was only £750, but we have spent a little bit on it (came from a friend). C1 is £20 road tax a year!!

Whereabouts do you live, that a 17 year old can get that price for insurance on a BMW? I live in bedfordshire and was quoted the thick end of 1200 quid to insure my DDs 13-year old Ford Ka!!

he will have at least 10-15 hours of lessons as a minimum.

Op honestly I think you need to be more realistic on this too. The average is 65-70 hours of lessons and practice. Even if he could pass after 10-15 that's not at all sensible. He needs to experience as many situations as possible to be safe on the roads - for him and others

Ridiculous, buy a shitty car to start with if you must bank roll him. Invest in the lessons and if there's much more out of your 6k left after lessons, car and insurance when he has passed and been driving a while you could upgrade him if you feel kindly.

As PPs have said, BMWs are rear wheel drive and so much different to handle than front wheel drive cars. They are also a liability in icy conditions, quote often getting stuck and really difficult to handle.
Have you thought about a golf/ polo which has the technology to stop him going into the back of another car? Brings down insurance costs and also a nice added safety feature

We bought DD2 a VW polo. She loves it with a passion. DD1 had a Clio. It was a nice enough car but the Polo is much better.

As others have said, the insurance will sky rocket once he has passed his test. You can possibly reduce it by getting a "black box" but be careful as there are often restrictions which aren't really compatible with rural life. (I am making that assumption as you mentioned a farm.) When we looked into it for our eldest DD we found that a lot excluded single track roads and unmade roads and driving after 10pm, which given we live somewhere with lots of single track roads and no public transport was too restrictive. We wanted her to be able to get herself home from friends etc and not many 18 year olds want to be home by 10 at weekends!
Personally I would go for something smaller and cheaper. We got DD a Fiat punto first which was ok for local driving at home, but when she left for university and was driving long distances we got her a Mazda 2. Still quite small of course but better reliability than the Fiat. It has been a very good buy.
If you have £6.5k to spend you could get a nearly new smaller car which would probably be better on fuel economy, maintenance etc as well as insurance. Personally I would never spend that much on a first car even if I could afford it, but if I was going to, it wouldn't be on a BMW.
On the subject of university, if your son is planning to go away, do bear in mind the impact that will have on the insurance particularly if moving to a high insurance risk area. A learner, living at home in a rural area is a very different insurance risk to a newly qualified student potentially keeping their car on the road in a less than salubrious area of a major city. Plus your other outgoings will go up if he becomes a student and you won't be around to deal with breakdowns etc. What you can afford now might look very different in 18 months time.

How the other half live.
My first car when I was 19 (7 years ago) was a 1999 nissan micra, purple 😍, that cost £400. I worked my bum off stacking shelves in Tesco to pay for it. I also had moved out as I didn't have a great relationship with parents and had bills to pay!
He will mostly likely have a few bumps and grazes, not running people over, but more parking too close to a wall. I really don't think you need to pay for the BMW name for a first car.
And I mean this nicely, most people will see a very young man driving a BMW and assume hes a bit of a cock with rich parents.
Judgemental, yeah.