First car

rg2007

yo, im currently insured on me mothers 1.6 citroen picasso, passed my test in it and all last december, except she says it too fast for me, and i need to get my own car. anyone got any advice on what car might by ideal? 1 litre engine, 1.2 max, and under €2500, probly somethin 10 years or older, and reliable. i was thinkin a polo, but sure how they fare regarding reliability, what models would ye recomend?

cheers

Mr Benevolent

For €2500 you could get something 7 years old at least. Polos... no. VW doesn't really deserve it's reputation. Go with a Jap car, a Micra would do fine.

'02 Micra

bazz26

I always recommend the Ford Fiesta as a first car. The 1.25 litre is a nippy little engine, it was co developed with Yamaha and is very reliable. On your budget you should be able to pick up one of the last run 2002 old shape Fiestas in Ghia trim. It will have nice things like alloy wheels, air conditioning, electric windows and a cd player. You will find it near impossible to get another small car with that spec for such good value. The Fiesta is also cheap to service, good on fuel and parts are reasonably priced and easily sourced if needed.

An example:
http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=200931194780791

TestTransmission

bazz26 wrote: »

I always recommend the Ford Fiesta as a first car. The 1.25 litre is a nippy little engine, it was co developed with Yamaha and is very reliable. On your budget you should be able to pick up one of the last run 2002 old shape Fiestas in Ghia trim. It will have nice things like alloy wheels, air conditioning, electric windows and a cd player. You will find it near impossible to get another small car with that spec for such good value. The Fiesta is also cheap to service, good on fuel and parts are reasonably priced and easily sourced if needed.

An example:
http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=200931194780791

That info should be made a sticky,that question comes up so often.
Id recommend the fiesta too.

Sids Not

Cheap low milage car here...looks clean

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=133440&cat=500

El Guapo!

bazz26 wrote: »

I always recommend the Ford Fiesta as a first car. The 1.25 litre is a nippy little engine, it was co developed with Yamaha and is very reliable. On your budget you should be able to pick up one of the last run 2002 old shape Fiestas in Ghia trim. It will have nice things like alloy wheels, air conditioning, electric windows and a cd player. You will find it near impossible to get another small car with that spec for such good value. The Fiesta is also cheap to service, good on fuel and parts are reasonably priced and easily sourced if needed.

An example:
http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=200931194780791

+1
I had a fiesta as my first car and I couldn't fault it. Great little cheap starter car and good fun to drive too. I always reccommend fiestas as a first car.

Heroditas

Fiesta, Micra, Yaris, Clio

rg2007

not being picky, but i hate nissan micras, id drive anything but a micra

AugustusMaximus

I'd say go for a Fiesta or a Yaris. The styling on the Micra mightn't be to everyone's tastes.

BTW, I wouldn't consider a 12.7 second 0-60 to be anything fast. I'd consider anything slower than that to be dangerous for overtaking.

Sids Not

If its your first car chances are you'll get bored with it quick , if you spend all your money on it you wont have the bob's for new wheels ,stereo etc......get a cheap run-around and change it in 6 months....;)

Bryan91

Mitsubishi Colt

boredatwork82

An old Toyota Corolla. loads of them around.

johndaman66

In that league you would be hard pushed to beat an older micra for reliability and it is generally "bomb proof" but if you cant see yourself driving one. Other than that a yaris or suzuki swift maybe? I wouldn't necessairly rule out a polo or seat ibiza either. Although they asking prices vary considerably a lot of the early ones are as cheap as chips at this stage and they seem to generally hold well condition wise. They are suppose to be dead simple to maintain too so if you are any way savvy you could pick up some of your own tools and do your own maintenance...think of the garage bills you would save on...trust me they don't half know how to charge a lot of them.

Also have you considered a car derived van such as a corolla for example. My first car was a Renault megavan 1.9 flat diesel. At the time it was a grand cheaper to insure than the lowest rate 1.0 five seater car such as a polo. It will depend pretty much on the insurance company though. I was insured with Quinn Direct on it and I know Hibernaian wouldn't have even quoted me on the megavan at the time until I was over 25. Things may have changed since with these companies for that matter and I wouldn't be full sure what the story is with other insurance companies...FBD are probabaly cheaper on the commercial vehicles I think too but I think FBD are very very expensive for motor insurance from my own experience... I would recommend you steer well clear of a megavan though...it was bloody heartache to own and fix. You will only be covered to carry one other passenger too (which is why they are cheaper on the insurance).

Berty

BTW somebody should tell your mother that you COULD NOT have a 1.0 ltr engine in her picasso and the reason it has a 1.6 is because of the weight and because of the weight and its therefore not tooooooo fast for you because of the weight of the vehicle itself vs the power of the engine.

Tanks have 6.0 Rolls Royce engines but they cannot move very fast.

Now if you took the 1.6 ltr engine and put it in a Citroen AX then the thing would go fast.

Obviously the Picasso is not very becoming on a young person anyway so onwards and upwards.

AugustusMaximus

Berty wrote: »

BTW somebody should tell your mother that you COULD NOT have a 1.0 ltr engine in her picasso and the reason it has a 1.6 is because of the weight and because of the weight and its therefore not tooooooo fast for you because of the weight of the vehicle itself vs the power of the engine.

Tanks have 6.0 Rolls Royce engines but they cannot move very fast.

Now if you took the 1.6 ltr engine and put it in a Citroen AX then the thing would go fast.

Obviously the Picasso is not very becoming on a young person anyway so onwards and upwards.

My thoughts exactly. 12.7 for 0-60 certainly is not fast.

johndaman66

AugustusMaximus wrote: »

My thoughts exactly. 12.7 for 0-60 certainly is not fast.

I wouldn't really consider that slow either though. Specially for a first car and given the general traffic conditions in Ireland it is probably more than adequate.

browneire

My first car was a 94 corolla, moved on to a saab now but still won't get rid of the old girl! I can't comprehend people starting on small cars such as the Micra and Fiesta - they just aren't safe in a head on collision. At least there's a bit of body in the front of the corolla.

AugustusMaximus

johndaman66 wrote: »

I wouldn't really consider that slow either though. Specially for a first car and given the general traffic conditions in Ireland it is probably more than adequate.

It's certainly not overly fast though.

Mr Benevolent

browneire wrote: »

My first car was a 94 corolla, moved on to a saab now but still won't get rid of the old girl! I can't comprehend people starting on small cars such as the Micra and Fiesta - they just aren't safe in a head on collision. At least there's a bit of body in the front of the corolla.

To be fair, the Micra had the same NCAP results as the Corolla, so they're equally as safe. Personally I'd prefer an '02 Micra over a '91 Volvo with plenty of body anyday.

AugustusMaximus

Confab wrote: »

To be fair, the Mirca had the same NCAP results as the Corolla, so they're equally as safe. Personally I'd prefer an '02 Micra over a '91 Volvo with plenty of body anyday.

I think it was either 5th Gear or Driven who did a test showing a head on between Volvo 940 and a Renault Modus.

The Modus held up much much better with the driver compart holding up fairly well. The driver's bay in the 940 was a write off the driver would have almost certainly been killed.

Here we are

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBDyeWofcLY

johndaman66

AugustusMaximus wrote: »

It's certainly not overly fast though.

Ok not particulary fast or slow so. The first yoke I had done the 0 to 60 dash in 20 seconds going downhill probably I reckon. Even the 1.6 16 valve vectra I'm driving now has a quoted 0 to 62 mph figure of 12.9 seconds and I have never being left wanting in keeping up with the traffic flow so I reckon a 12.7 seconds time for 0 to 60 is more than adequate for general road conditions in this country.

samsamson

Regarding the old fiesta 1.25 liter which people are recommending; would that car be able to get to 120 kph for motorway driving?

I'm looking for a first car too but will be doing quite a bit of motorway driving (usually in journeys around an hour long).

rg2007

seat ibiza 1 litre <2002

yer thoughts?