Newbie question: cost of spares

Ford and Nova - you'll need lots of spares.

VW and Micra, you'll need less spares, and IME the old Polos refuse to rust. GSF will give you an idea of VW parts prices. That said, the old VW Polo is a horrible thing, cramped and rubbish in a crash.

I'd question that - I've owned a few old fords&vauxhalls and never had any trouble, unlike some over-rated german marques...

Bodywork is another issue, the german/jap cars are usually better...

The Micra has so far needed not much in spares apart from service items - tyres (which are very inexpensive, even more so when my local scrappy has a written off Micra with decent tyres on), wing mirror to replace one that some scrote destroyed one evening (tenner from said scrappy), headlight to replace one broken in a minor bump (ditto) and a thermostat (about 8 quid plus VAT from a motor factor). It has the advantage of having a timing chain so no expensive belt to replace every few thousand miles or when you get worried about when it was last replaced, whichever comes first.