What Ist Car ?

I'm sure lots of people will reply with their own (negative) views on the Corsa, so I won't go there...

Really, you need to explain the sort of motoring that she'd be expecting to do... mileage, passengers, boot space, price?

One to possibly think about - the wife's Ford-Ka is a nice little motor. Ins. group 3 (for the Ka3; think ins group 2 for the others), reasonably nippy to drive (scares the hell out of me around the country lanes), and good fuel economy around town, good visibility from the driver's position, quirky looks (not so much now) - but reasonable styling.

Very much a ladies car (sorry, gents!), but it has impressed me in the past (like how we managed to transport a tub chair in it when we failed to get it in my Omega and a black-cab).

Just one option, amongst the many others that'll get presented here.

Stick to 1000 cc or less and dont go for toys on it, they fail. Small Fiats, Fiesta. Check over an older car thoroughly as she will not want the dire problems of a break down at thge wrong time.

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Just a runabout really - to sixth form 5 mile round trip visit friends

• shop locally etc. so really short runs I suppose. Needs to give friends lifts now & again so fair back seat useful . Don't want to spend too much as might need to sell in 2 years if she goes to Uni. Probably sometin 6 - 7 years old ? 800cc or so.

Cheers

Also very prone to rot on early models - sills, and chassis member over the back wheels, exhaust side - having recently welded my sister's p-reg.

Doubt you'll find much with an engine that small (apart from a few japanese microcars) - they've got bigger over the years. Think in terms of 1000-1300 - it doesn't make that much difference to insurance.

I won't make any recommendations as personally I can't stand small hatchbacks. I've just bought a classic Mini as a runabout - prices for those are rising now - and my daughter is begging to inherit this car next year when she gets her licence! A child with taste...

Don't go for anything anywhere near an engine that small. A 5-door 1.25 Mk4 Fiesta should do the trick, as would plenty of other things - bigger cars are better value, and phone around for insurance first, but they shouldn't be that much dearer to insure - all depends if she's comfortable enough driving something bigger (Mondeo size). Spend up to a grand or so and budget for losing all but 200-300 of it and that way you won't be disappointed, and anything else will be a bonus - never know if she'll write the thing off, or just put loads of little dents in it, and leave the thing with a knackered clutch for the next owner :-)

K11 shape Micras are supposed to be good - 5-door handy if ferrying mates around - a FSH'd one is a must, as the chain tensioners are oil pressure driven, so neglected servicing can mean premature chain failure, which you don't want. Corsas are supposed to be quite rugged according to Dervman, but they're basically s**te to drive, shit in many other respects, just not that good really. Early Clios are supposed to be fairly good to drive, and the 1.2 litre engines very economical. Saxos are a good used buy - I think - 1.1 engines are again very economical. Could go for an old 1.1 AX which will be cheaper still, and they don't tend to rust. Or a Pug 205. Or a Mk1 Mondeo if she's comfortable in a bigger car - 1.6 will be fine for her sort of driving and won't use significant amounts more fuel than a smaller car. Just make sure she knows how to treat a clutch and nothing major should go wrong with it (clutch jobs on them are a pain / expensive, depending on whether or not you're doing the job yourself).

Diesel could be worthwhile for short trips if it's a decent one (i.e. VAG

1.9TDI), but most small petrols are economical enough to not need worry too much about fuel costs.

Erm, that's all I can think of for now...

Not just the early ones - I parked up to a W plater in the PikeyMarket car-park the other day - both front wings, both sills where they join the B-pillar, boot lid *and* bonnet were all showing signs of rust.

I'd normally put rust on a W-plate car down to poor accident repairs, however, this rot was too widespread and symetrical for it to be anything other than shoddy build and paint.

Late Panda, MkII Uno, early Punto are all good, cheap to run and cheap to insure cars, even the early Punto still has quite a lot of girly cred., IYSWIM.

Other than that, I'd avoid Fiestas, that's as much a personal thing as anything else, Corsas tend to be bulletproof but are often abused.

For the ultimate in penny pinching, how about a Daewoo Matiz? - surprisingly good for a city car.

The message from "Hirsty's" contains these words:

Nonsense - it's character building!

The message from Chris Bolus contains these words:

I taught a girl once who had a Mini waiting for her. It was in bits in the barn behind her dad's collection of Bugattis and other nice toys. She reassembled it over the six weeks or so it took her to learn to drive. Made a nice job of it, too.

Corsa's are crap, but that's cos I can't fit into one comfortably.

Ka, Fiesta, Micra all cheap reliable and easy to drive.

The Clubby estate is in that condition... this one is T & T!

I'm glad other share my view... I'm small enough to get in one but my view is coloured by the fact that they all seem to be driven by idiots, either at the nutter end of the scale or at the "can't get it though a

10-foot wide gap" or "need 200 yards clear to pull out in the rush hour" end of the scale, IYSWIM!

older SEAT Ibiza, like the polo but made by seta who are part of vw group. how'll you insure her? Our lad will be on my ins as it'll be toooo exp to let him have his own yet. try looking at a few cars with her and then get a few quotes. mad ins prices WILL dictate what she can afford in terms of overall costs. look at ins excesses too. Some were £500....

Thanks for ALL your replies + input Insurance is another issue ..... got to look at best option. Want the cheapest group - how do I go about putting her on my insurance ? I have protected 73% NCB ........ Do you put her down as a named driver on your own car with just 3rd party cover . She won't be driving my estate which I use for work !

The message from Chris Bolus contains these words:

Hers had been sitting in the barn for ten years or so.

I remember the yard - it had the deepest well I'd ever seen in it - approaching 200'.

Had a T plate with rotting sills - the b pillar protrudes a little where it meets the sill, and stones chip the paint off. The lack of rust protection does the rest - My Ka rusted within 24 hours of the paint being damaged, whereas my bird's M reg 106 hasn't rotten at all. Something called rust protection that ford haven't heard of. Along with build quality (my Ka and my Aunt's Ka both rattled / rattle more inside than either of my 15 year old MK2 golfs which've done many more miles). Handle nicely though.

Polos seem pretty solid - my mum runs a MK2.5 / 3 (square headlamp job), mate runs a MK4. Neither take much care of the cars and both seem to resist being killed very well. The MK2/3s are cramped and tend not to have PAS, and interior quality of the MK4 plastics (door grab handles peeling on my mate's car) isn't great. I expect SEATS and Skodas based on the same platforms will stand up to abuse well.

Kas drive well, but the engine is terrible, as is build and rust proofing. Fiestas have a better engine with the 1.25, but most likely similar build. Anything before a MK4 Fiesta will rot like mad and have the terrible bag of nails engine.

Corsas are terrible. Puntos are also terrible - particularly models with electric power steering. Both cars have rock hard suspension AND don't handle well, which must be a pretty difficult combination for the chassis engineers to produce.

The Yaris has a very good rep but I think will be too new for you. Old honda civics might be a bit big but are also bulletproof.

She needs to be on her own insurance if she's driving her own car, as putting her on yours can a) cause insurance companies to not pay out in the event of a crash b) result in you being done for lying to the insurance co c) stop her building up NCB. I reckon your best bet is to ring and get quotes - I drove a Ka, which is Group 2 and very slow as my first car. People driving much faster and higher grouped AX GTs paid half of what I did. All the insurance group is based on is how expensive the car is to repair, so if lots of people driving group 2 cars tend to crash into BMWs, the premiums are still going to be biiig.