Your first car

[DiscoStu]

An F-Reg Ford Fiesta Popular. An absolute rust bucket, but to me it was freedom

 

[Peter Mugridge]

One of these, same colour but the 4 door version. Still got it actually - easy to drive, reliable and does over 50mpg.

 

[table38]

Ford Escort Mk.1. The stereo was worth more than the car.

It failed an MOT spectacularly; the fitter asked if I'd brought it in on a trailer as the sub-frame was mostly detached from the rest of the car. From the look on his face I felt it best not to say I'd just driven down the M62 at about 70 in it.

 

[Eng274]

In a lot of cases, insurance is higher on older cars for younger drivers.

For a while I thought I understood the whole insurance rigmarole (how foolish of me), but evidently not.. which is why a P reg 2.3 high-output turbo Saab 9000 would cost me £1100 TPFT, where a 51-plate cheap, nasty, b*gger all frills Honda Accord 1.8 would cost me £1350 on the same policy! I know which I'd rather buy, even if it does end up killing me.

I'm not driving at the minute, hopefully I can save up for a car over the next few months.. four year old A4 or a 2001-3 Mitsubishi Galant Classic (group 12 insurance but still has VR4 bodykit!) would do me nicely.

 

[90019]

For a while I thought I understood the whole insurance rigmarole (how foolish of me), but evidently not.. which is why a P reg 2.3 high-output turbo Saab 9000 would cost me £1100 TPFT, where a 51-plate cheap, nasty, b*gger all frills Honda Accord 1.8 would cost me £1350 on the same policy! I know which I'd rather buy, even if it does end up killing me.

Brands seem to make quite a difference to insurance as well.
For example, I compared insurance on a Mk1 Focus, and a Mk4 Golf, both 1.4 poverty spec cars, pretty much the same stuff on both of them, but the Focus would cost about £250 more for me to insure.
Insurance groups don't seem to mean much either, I've looked at cars in group 7 that have been cheaper to insure than cars in group 3.

Because of my age, and because I've only had my licence 2 years, I'm struggling to find anything of a decent size with a diesel engine that I can insure for under £1000.
Added to that is that diesels are holding their value better now, so I'm basically looking for an old diesel banger, which doesn't help the insurance.

 

[GearJammer]

So here's my question. What was the first car you ever had?

Mine was a G reg Astra GTE in a cream colour....named him Alfie.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear, how can you have such a great car like an Astra GTE (with digital speedo?) Kernowfem and then be so cruel as to bless it with a name like 'Alfie'? You sound like my girlfriend, she has a N reg Ford Fiesta in purple and she calls it 'Miss Cadbury'.........

Anyway.... my first car was a D reg 1.6 Mk2 Vauxhall Cavalier Hatch, followed by 2 other Mk2 Cavs, an F reg 1.6LX Saloon Automatic (got written off, shame coz there quite rare now) followed by another F reg 1.6LX manual, then i skipped a generation and moved on to a W reg Vectra 1.8 SRi and then to my currant Vectra, an 08 Reg Vectra 1.8 SRi.

And yes, i do like Vauxhalls..... what i'd give to still have one of those Mk2 Cavs, preferably the LX auto

 

[Smethwickian]

It's not just the youngest drivers clobbered for insurance.

I've been driving 23 years but now effectively only have a couple of years' no claims bonus because I drove a company car for nine years until changing jobs a couple of years ago. Despite a letter from my previous employers outlining years of blame-free driving, insurance companies just don't want to give any credit so apart from a small introductory discount from one firm, I just have to build up my own bonus again. Grrrrr.

My first car? A bright yellow (plus rusty bits) Datsun Cherry. It sure stood out in most car parks but it was cheap and got me on the road for the first time....

 

[YorkshireBear]

Little tykes, acceleration wasnt fantastic and it wasnt weather proof but it was fun to drive!

 

[AlexS]

58 plate black VW Polo 1.2 match. Quite cheap to run, do a fair amount of mileage in the thing, and the air con and Ipod jack come in useful!

 

[Oswyntail]

Volvo 240 estate. Perfect starter car - automatic so I could learn road sense, chunky so people would steer clear of me, and stately so i couldn't pretend to go fast like a prat.

 

[jon0844]

Like Striker, my first car was a D-reg Fiesta (white, 900cc) - but I did later get an XR2 with pepper pots as a runaround, which was an E-reg but in somewhat worse-for-wear condition given it was some years later.

Sad thing is that it drove well, and was incredibly cheap to run - then some bugger wrote it off by breaking the glass, popping the bonnet and taking loads of parts that made it uneconomical to repair. And the police being as good as ever couldn't be bothered to send a forensics team out as it was a Sunday, even though there were bloody fingerprints on the side from the broken glass!

 

[90019]

Like Striker, my first car was a D-reg Fiesta (white, 900cc)

957cc
45hp and a top speed of 88.

My best friend had a C reg Fiesta (Popular Plus, in silver) until recently, had 41k on it when he sold it. I think it had done 27k when he bought it for £100 about 3 years ago.

 

[Kernowfem]

Oh dear oh dear oh dear, how can you have such a great car like an Astra GTE (with digital speedo?) Kernowfem and then be so cruel as to bless it with a name like 'Alfie'? You sound like my girlfriend, she has a N reg Ford Fiesta in purple and she calls it 'Miss Cadbury'.........
(

Oh yes it had the digi speedo.....when it actually worked

It also had the headlight washers, but it was angled slightly off....i soaked many a pedestrian with them.

His last three letters on the reg plate was ALF, so i was kind of lazy in naming him.....but come on GJ, it's no where near as bad as "Miss Cadbury"
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Little tykes, acceleration wasnt fantastic and it wasnt weather proof but it was fun to drive!

Was it the red and yellow one, or the pink one??

 

[90019]

His last three letters on the reg plate was ALF, so i was kind of lazy in naming him.....but come on GJ, it's no where near as bad as "Miss Cadbury"

My friend's Fiesta became known as Petunia after another friend scrawled it in the dirt across the back window

 

[devon_metro]

I bet a taxi every trip would still be cheaper than a car.
I don't know any details of yourself but if you are around 20ish with no no claims and only just past your test you will be looking at 2 grand just for insurance alone

Rubbish. Using taxis all the time would cost a fortune

I'm 19 with 1year no claims and my fully comprehensive insurance was £795 this year.

That works out around £2.15 a day for insurance, and probably £1.50 (+50p other associated costs) a day for fuel at the very most - assuming I put £10 in a week.

If I was to go to work and back (finishing around 11pm) then I think the cost of taxis would be a fair amount higher than £4 per day, considering the fact that call out charges alone are generally around £3. I'd probably be looking at £15 a day and since I work weekends, more on Friday and Saturday evenings.

 

[Kernowfem]

My friend's Fiesta became known as Petunia after another friend scrawled it in the dirt across the back window

For some reason all my cars have been male...cant do with female cars....too moody!

 

[Minilad]

Rubbish. Using taxis all the time would cost a fortune

I'm 19 with 1year no claims and my fully comprehensive insurance was £795 this year.

That works out around £2.15 a day for insurance, and probably £1.50 (+50p other associated costs) a day for fuel at the very most - assuming I put £10 in a week.

If I was to go to work and back (finishing around 11pm) then I think the cost of taxis would be a fair amount higher than £4 per day, considering the fact that call out charges alone are generally around £3. I'd probably be looking at £15 a day and since I work weekends, more on Friday and Saturday evenings.

You are lucky then. My other half lad is 20 and his insurance is nearly 1800.
He lives in a big city with good public transport so most of his journeys can be done on public transport. So for the amount of times he would have no alternative but to use his car I reckon he could use taxis and still not come close to the costs of running his car.
So it's not rubbish at all, just different circumstances

 

[90019]

I'm 19 with 1year no claims and my fully comprehensive insurance was £795 this year.

For what car?

 

[45104]

It's not just the youngest drivers clobbered for insurance.

I've been driving 23 years but now effectively only have a couple of years' no claims bonus because I drove a company car for nine years until changing jobs a couple of years ago. Despite a letter from my previous employers outlining years of blame-free driving, insurance companies just don't want to give any credit so apart from a small introductory discount from one firm, I just have to build up my own bonus again. Grrrrr.

My first car? A bright yellow (plus rusty bits) Datsun Cherry. It sure stood out in most car parks but it was cheap and got me on the road for the first time....

this is the story of my life ( except my first car was a datsun violet 140j also in yellow !!! currently £400 fully comp on a 10 year old 1.9 diesel scenic with 2 yrs no claims

 

[YorkshireBear]

Was it the red and yellow one, or the pink one??

The red and yellow one Didnt even know they did a pink one...

I wish i could contribute more to this discussion but im nearly 20 and still cant afford drivign lessons so there is little hope...

Although within reason if i was to pick i think id want a renault clio few of my friends have them and they are cracking little cars.

 

[ACE1888]

FBD 806L Ford Cortina Mk3 Estate, no bumpers, rust bucket, failed it's MOT badly too... Lime Green it was...how early 1970's haha
Not because I'm a railfan, just always seen driving as a chore really...

 

[deltic1989]

Mine was an H-Reg BMW 316i Coupe in alpine white, complete with original stereo (you put these funny flat box type things in where the CD usually goes, and bottletop alloys.
got it for a steal on ebay £130, not bad for a beemer even if it did have issues. running a G-Reg BMW 318i touring now because the kids need the extra boot space

 

[devon_metro]

You are lucky then. My other half lad is 20 and his insurance is nearly 1800.
He lives in a big city with good public transport so most of his journeys can be done on public transport. So for the amount of times he would have no alternative but to use his car I reckon he could use taxis and still not come close to the costs of running his car.
So it's not rubbish at all, just different circumstances

]

I suppose it does depend where you live, I know if my car was insured 10 miles away it would cost a fair bit more. All down to car crime rates and the number of claims as far as i'm aware.

 

[Masbroughlad]

I had a bright yellow Ford Fiesta Poular - T reg, 950cc, leaking floor, radio that kept falling off. Loved it. Had a bright yellow arial so easy to find in car parks

 

[2Dogbox]

Mine was B reg Ford Fiesta. It fell to bits and it was broken down more than It was working - cost £700. The insurance was about the same third party only. . it finally died after only 10 months and was replaced with a lovely Austin Metro 1.3L (F reg). had lots since then.

 

[TackerUK]

Vauxhall Cresta pa Great bird puller

 

[Kernowfem]

I had a bright yellow Ford Fiesta Poular - T reg, 950cc, leaking floor, radio that kept falling off. Loved it. Had a bright yellow arial so easy to find in car parks

A bright yellow fiesta used to park on College road at Masborough, just below old Mrs Bannon's shop....wasn't yours was it??

 

[yorksrob]

Personally I regard cars in the same way that I regard dogs.

Noisy smelly things which cost far too much in time and money to maintain.

Needless to say, I've never owned either.

 

[AlterEgo]

My first car was "Charlie Chester" the Ford Fiesta. Think it was a T-reg 1.1 or something similarly underpowered. An absolute bucket. Thank God I managed to sell it!

 

[Tom C]

First car was a beige Austin Montego 1.6L

It was given to me by my uncle who won it in a raffle for 50p and that was about 50p too much.

Love cars and currently driving a 96 850 T5, stonking performance and just so comfortable. When the Volvo fails to tickle me, I think a nice P38 Range Rover is next on the agenda.