Best car for £4-5k?

[Aaron]

I'm not really a car person and I've lived in London all my life, so I've never really seen the need for a car. I'm 22 and I'm just starting to learn to drive (which probably means that some of you must think I'm mad ).

I'm looking to buy a car and I've got a maximum budget of £5,000, which should really include my first year's insurance and possibly a nice stereo to go in the car. Insurance is obviously an issue so I'm not looking for anything with a large engine. Don't really want a big car. A 3-door hatchback would be fine. Ideally, I want to be looking at a second-hand car that is less than 5 years old.

Any suggestions guys?

[malfunction]

Hmm... Well if you want as new as possible you'll have to go for something small-ish. Ford Ka or Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa, etc. Should be able to get one of those still in warranty (1 years anyway).

[TomWilko]

Ford KA all the way. Its my 1st car and i love them to bits, don't let any1 telly you they are naff because they're not FULLSTOP

[Vimeous]

Aaron because it's your first car I suggest you look at THIS thread. The same rules apply because your insurance will still be pretty high. The big difference is that you should be able to get a newer version of any of the cars suggested, probably within that 5yr old boundary you've suggested.

The Ka is a good car and with 4k (1k for insurance and sterio) a nice one above poverty spec. should be attainable.

(N.B. Remember many of the cars mentioned may need convertion kits to fit standard sized sterios.)

[Aaron]

Cheers for the advice guys, I'll look into it.

[DR]

Eunos Roaster

[Vimeous]

David surely the insurance would crucify him?
Mind you pay for just a month or two and make the most of it
Of course you'd have to garage it the rest of the year but hey those 2 months would be worth it!

[Aaron]

OK, I've had a look on elephant.co.uk for some rough insurance quotes. As I've only got a provisional license, I've had to name another person on the insurance too (the cheapest person I could think of - my mum!).

For 12 months fully comp and £250 excess:

1.1 Peugot 206 - £1200
1.2 Fiat Punto - £1200
1.3 Ford Ka - £1135

TPFT is around £150 less.

I'm learning towards the Punto as it's quite a bit cheaper than a 206 and I'm 6'4" so I doubt I could comfortably fit in a Ka.

[Tumble]

I've tried elephant in the past. They seem to delight in charging anyone under 80 over a grand so they can go on nice sunny holidays off the commission. I'm a firm believer in ringing around the little insurance firms - all of them. None of them are honest, insurers rarely are, but at least you can haggle with the gits.

[Rave]

I've tried elephant in the past. They seem to delight in charging anyone under 80 over a grand so they can go on nice sunny holidays off the commission.

Yeah? For me they were £100 cheaper than any other company, and I rang lots. Always ring round, is the moral, I guess.

Rich :¬)

[Stoo]

try CIS, they seem to be geared to 1st time drivers, they were by far and away the cheapest for me..

(All Fully Comp on a 1.25i Fiesta Zetec with £250 excess)
CIS = £580
directline = £1200
Norwich Union = £1100
Budget = £950

that's a heck of a saving (and I've only just got my license in the last couple of weeks)

Worth a shot

[Tumble]

well they wanted nearly £800 out of me for 3rd party only on my old Daihatsu 4x4 (armour plated, and no bodywork to speak of) and that only had a 1600cc engine in it. I've been driving for 5 years as of today, and they still wanted that amount. Takes the mick really, cos now I've got a Land Rover, with a 2.5 blummin litre turbo charged engine, and I'm paying almost half that for comrehensive. It's nuts, and I don't pretend to understand for I fear I never will, although I'm tempted to believe that if I ever do find out what it all means, it'll cause sucha huge paradox that my head will explode, shortly before the universe ceases to be......

[Stoo]

tumble, was that CIS that wanted silly money?

I just stuck a 98 discovery tdi in and it came up with £1200 lol

[Tumble]

naa that was Elephant, Tesco & Directline. Norwich Union & Liverpool-Victoria weren't far behind. I'm with a tiny 3 man operation in Hull atm. Oly heard about it cos me mate's dad owns the place... suits me sir.... ooh!

[Vimeous]

Insurance

Endsleigh have always been very good for young drivers and they actively search for students and offer them preferential rates.
Axa direct have done me very well over the last few years although I'm not sure how they'd react to a first time driver. Visit www.axamotor.co.uk and try a few different cars in their online system.

Whatever car you insure do your best not to pay more than £800 per year.
Your mum, if she has a clean licence and no accidents, should actually drop your premium £50.

I'm also 6'4". You'll be surprised what you fit in (try the Ka) BUT:
1. No sunroof = 1" more headroom
2. 106/Saxo have a miniscule pedal box. Over size 10's and you'll probably be hitting more than one pedal at a time.

[Stoo]

hahaha Endsleigh were useless for me, they wanted over £1k for the fiesta above lol,

Seriously, CIS for the first-timer is *way* ahead of everyone else I looked at, and I looked at a lot..