First car - Want to bless me with some advice/tips?

[Bazzlad]

Late driver, passed my test (first time) last Thursday.
Then I had to decide on a first car.

Now from observation I've seen a lot of people pass and buy cars - some of my mates bought bangers (sub £100) some bought old good cars (£500-£1000) and some bought new cars (£6000 + on finance).

The third option always seemed stupid to me, and one out of the two who went this route doesn't actually drive at the moment - he slipped on payments, his car got broken, and to cut a long story short, he travels on the poverty wagon.

The first option of a banger always appealed to me. I remember vivdly seeing my friends in old Escorts and Fiestas with their name spray painted on the bonnet. But I also recall my friend going to the auction 3 times - 1st time £50 Skoda Favorite - no tax, got crushed (he refused to pay the fine as it was more than the car), 2nd time £100 Vauxhall Astra - head gasket gone, ended up getting it fixed then he crashed the bloody thing! 3rd time £100 a Daewoo that lasted a week.

So it's option 2 for me - an old, but hopefully decent second hand car.
So the question is "what car"?

I know a VW engineer. He works on my family cars for free and charges only a bit of beer money and parts, so I leant to the VW side of things.

I didn't want to spend more than £800, ideally OTR (inc tax and deposit for insurance) I wanted cheap insurance - a small Polo was looming.

I play in a band - space is important, the Polo was leading the race to be my first car - but it had to be a mark 3 as the mark 2 would destroy what pride I have.

Then I spotted this:


A Golf 1.4 (1993) looks alright to me at a bargain £500.
It's done 100,000 miles, but my engineer friend said if it's in sound condition it'll do 180,000 easily.

Went and picked it up this morning, it's got these leather bucket racing seats in it which the seller said are worth as much as the car! (Which I saw as, it's been owned by a boy racer and probably thraped!)

So there's my story - I'm taking it to my friend for a full check on Saturday.

Any tips for the future?

[StevenF]

Looks like a decent car. VW's will go on forever really, but watched out if it's been thrashed everywhere! The price seems really good as well - What's the insurance like?

[Bazzlad]

750 fully comp - which for a 23 yr old with no experience sounds pretty good to me!

[kalniel]

Any tips for the future?

Don't crash it.

Looks like you've done well. With 100k+ cars you just get to know their quirks and drive around them - treat it gently and don't ever put yourself in a situation where you're relying on something being strong to save your bacon, ie don't leave it till the last minute to brake, don't rag it around corners and so on.

[0iD]

In my experience 2nd hand Nissans & Toyota's are good solid reliable runners, even at the sub 1k mark. Our old Corolla 1.6 GLi, 150k on the clock, m reg, solid as & reasonably nippy too. We had a mk2 Micra Boston too, drove that 175k before a lorry backed over it Loved that Micra, you could really throw it round corners

[joshwa]

Let it warm up before driving more enthusiastically That's the only tip I generally stick to.

[Guy]

Let it warm up before driving more enthusiastically That's the only tip I generally stick to.

On the other side of the enthusiastic drive, let it run for a few seconds before switching it off (more applied to turbo'd cars)

[joshwa]

Other things I do which are probably fairly obvious...

Check water,
Check oil,
Check tyre pressure,

Fairly regularly especially as it's new to you, I try and remember to do it every month roughly on my car.

Looks like you got a good deal

[Zak33]

Went and picked it up this morning, it's got these leather bucket racing seats in it which the seller said are worth as much as the car! (Which I saw as, it's been owned by a boy racer and probably thraped!)

A: those seats aint standard and need to be told to the insurance company who will possibly have a kitten over them

B: ALL cars have been thrashed, most quite soundly, even by old people who claim to never do it.

How do you thrash a car as an old person? By pulling away in 3rd, and by permanently crusing everywhere at under the speed limit (even 30mph) in 4th or 5th, stressing the engine.

Nowt wrong with thrashed...so longh as the oil was always changed.

Which....a decade on, is impossible to tell.

I personally despise that shape of Golf....BUT.....that don't make me right.

[Howard]

Yeah sell the seats, make a wad of cash, pop to a scrapyard and get some normal Glof seats. Or do it in the opposite order, that's probably the most sensible

I'd have suggested a Mondeo over that for more kit, value and space but it's nice to just have a car

[Bazzlad]

I was looking at Rovers too for a while, I know I could have gotten more car for my limited cash, but it's a Golf. And I like Golfs. And my engineer friend is a big hand!

*Update*

Proving how little I know about cars, I took it to my VW mad friend last night. It also has a racing steering wheel. :S

Bloody boy racers eh?

[Neo_VR]

I was looking at Rovers too for a while, I know I could have gotten more car for my limited cash, but it's a Golf. And I like Golfs. And my engineer friend is a big hand!

*Update*

Proving how little I know about cars, I took it to my VW mad friend last night. It also has a racing steering wheel. :S

Bloody boy racers eh?

beware adverts that say "one careful lady owner"

the fact that it looks pretty tidy makes me think that said potential boyracer who owned it actually looked after it...

as said above, get into the habit of checking oil/water/washer/tyre pressures every couple of weeks.
Get yourself a big coat or blanket to keep in the boot. i insist on this, even tho i drive a relatavely new car.

[shelley bda]

To add to what others have said change the cam belt if your not sure of when it was last done. I recently had the cam belt snap on my Clio and it wasn't pretty

Looks nice, hope you enjoy it

[Behemoth]

I had a 1.3 Mk2 Golf as my first car, and it was red too. I love Golfs (says he who drives a rep mobile) and would love to have another. Looks like a very smart car for the money too, enjoy it

[Bazzlad]

Just got it back from my friend at his garage -
Things wrong:
1) Bulges in the front brake lines.
Being replaced on Saturday 42 quid.
2) Ignition is a little wonky - occasionally you have to wiggle the key slightly - can get fixed for 60 quid, but he tells me not to bother unless it gets bad.
3) That's it.

Looks like I did get a half decent buy!

Thanks for the advice, I will be taking it on and keeping an eye on all the fluid levels and tyres often!

Cheers!

[Fox]

Doesnt look too bad for the money, that