Newbie driver, 2 DCs - what to buy?

[LaTrucha]

Dh and I have one DD and are expecting DC2 in June. DH is taking his driving test in May and assuming he passes, we'd like a car ASAP.

We know nothing about cars, but thought we'd get a banger to start with. We've had a bit of a look and thought we'd set aside enough for said banger, but it seems we haven;t so I won't tell you how much we were thinking of .

So, what should we buy?

I've heard Renault Megane and Ford focus (poss estate) might be good for our purposes.

bump

No idea on what to suggest for old cars... but keep the following in mind:

Boot Space - can you fit the buggy in?

Doors - 4 door makes it much easier to get children out of the back seats but do check child locks.

Economy - Consider what your usual driving pattern may be, do you need a powerful car? An estate may have a larger engine size typically than a hatchback. Engine size may also make a difference to insurance costs.

New drivers insurance can be high, thus a car in a low insurance group will help.

Looking at CarPages the Renault Magane appears to be a slightly lower insurance group than the Ford Focus. It will however depend on the model.

That looks liek a very useful webpage, and good ideas. Thanks.

Hello LaT
When I was looking for my last car (with a budget up to £2000, I also thought about the Focus and Megane. Both good options - Focus especially. However, I ended up going for a Vauxhall Astra. They tend to go more cheaply as there are heaps of them about. For the same age and mileage we could get an Astra much more cheaply. Mine was an R-Reg with 60,000 on the clock (bought 2 years ago). I, personally wouldn't buy a car with a higher mileage than 75,000 even if the garage/vendor was singing its praises. If you go for a private sale car, e.g. through autotrader, it definitely pays to get a friend who knows a bit about cars to give it a good check and test drive (or you can pay to have an AA inspection but this costs around £130)

Astras, although a tad boring, are generally very reliable, have 4 doors and a reasonable amount of boot space, although now we'll have 2 children I think it might be a good idea to get a second hand roof box for holidays.

Hope this helps!

Thanks MadameFrecklr. We were thinking of around that mileage too. Did you buy it privately or through a garage?

It'll be local driving mainly. We do live in a hilly area!

If you thought about VWs go and have a look at Skodas. We have a Fabia and it is a Polo underneath and thus a very good reliable car.
All have 4 doors, most of the newer ones have aircon.

I got my Astra through a private sale - it was obvious that the vendor had really looked after it. I bought it for £1600. - Another one I looked at with same reg and slightly higher mileage from a garage was selling for £2000. You can definitely get great deals through private vendors but it's more the luck of the drawer. If you, or a friend, know a bit about cars and are a good judge of character then private deals can be fantastic.

DP said today that he'd never buy a Vauxhall as everyone he knoes who has bought one new or 2nd hand have had probs, inc 2 people he works with who bought new ones last year.

If the car is to be used as more as a runabout, Fiat Puntos are nice as are Fiestas and Peugeot 306s. If you want something you can go on hols with, Escort, Megane, Hyundai Accent, Honda Civic/Accord or a Rover 25. Slighter bigger and roomier for the kids, a Renault Scenic, but do make sure it's had a new cambelt if mileage is over 75k. We are on our 2nd Scenic and you can get them for around £1000-£1500.

Whatever you do, make sure you HPI check any potential car. Glad I did on one DP was going to go and look at as it had been written off twice .

This is a good site recommended by my dad who has bought many a 2nd hand car.

Thanks for your replies.

This is encouraging. Lots of the same things are coming up a lot.

BexieID - sorry, what is a HPI?

It's a special check you can make that liases with the police/dvla/insurance to see if a car has been stolen/insurance write-off. More info here.

Thanks.