Best car under 1000 for a new driver?

InTheTrees

My neice is looking for her first car. She has around 900-1000 to spend.

It looks like whats available for that price is mostly from the mid to late 90's.

Are there any makes I should avoid? Mostly we're looking for something that will be reliable and wont be a constant drain on her limited finances. Certainly nothing fancy. But solid. I'm in the US so i'm a lttle out of touch on current quality and specs.

If you were going to put a loved one in a 1000 car what make would you look for?

Thanks in advance!

bazz26

There is no such thing as a reliable brand with a budget of €1000 imo. Judge the cars you look at on current condition rather than brand reputation.

cian1500ww

Are you taking into account the cost of insurance and tax as well ?

Atlantic Dawn

Avoid Fiat Punto because of head gasket issues. I'd go with something that has atleast 1 year NCT and if possible get one with as close to 2 years as possible, this will give some indication of how good or bad the car is. I'd go with a 1 - 1.2 litre car to start off in, something like a VW Polo, Seat Ibiza, options are fairly limited for €1000, a 1.4 Toyota Corolla would be a better buy but the engine size might cause problems with insurance.

InTheTrees

cian1500ww wrote: »

Are you taking into account the cost of insurance and tax as well ?

God. great question. No I'm just assuming she can cover that.

If we keep the engine small the insurance will be the least wont it?

colm_mcm

A Micra or Starlet would be the best bet, but buy anything on condition rather than putting all your faith in a brand.

InTheTrees

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Avoid Fiat Punto because of head gasket issues. I'd go with something that has atleast 1 year NCT and if possible get one with as close to 2 years as possible, this will give some indication of how good or bad the car is. I'd go with a 1 - 1.2 litre car to start off in, something like a VW Polo, Seat Ibiza, options are fairly limited for €1000, a 1.4 Toyota Corolla would be a better buy but the engine size might cause problems with insurance.

great Advice, thanks.

I've always been wary of anything italian so thats good to know about puntos.

I like VW, they have some quality. Seat's are similar arent they?

The corollas seem to be expensive enough that she could only afford an early 90's with high mileage (from what I've seen).

And I will certainly pay alot more attention to NCT's and the length left.

Mr Benevolent

InTheTrees wrote: »

God. great question. No I'm just assuming she can cover that.

If we keep the engine small the insurance will be the least wont it?

Haven't been in Ireland for a while eh? The insurance will be €700-€900 per year and the tax will be €156 or so. Petrol will cost around €1500 per year depending on use and servicing with cost about €150-€200.

Buster_Gonnads

Hmm. She would have to take insurance and tax into account as this will probably be at least 1000 - 1200 EUR for any small car(dependant on age etc) on a learner permit.

Best bets Fiesta, Micra, Polo.. All reliable and cheap enough to insure.

cian1500ww

InTheTrees wrote: »

God. great question. No I'm just assuming she can cover that.

If we keep the engine small the insurance will be the least wont it?

Lower engine size=lower tax. Insurance depends a lot on the type of car, cheapest would probably be the likes of the fiesta, corsa, micra etc.

InTheTrees

Confab wrote: »

Haven't been in Ireland for a while eh? The insurance will be €700-€900 per year and the tax will be €156 or so. Petrol will cost around €1500 per year depending on use and servicing with cost about €150-€200.

(its been 20yrs!)

Plus the fact that a thousand euro car IS going to have some issues sooner or later probably at the next NCT.

But she let me know her budget so I'm assuming she's though out the insurance aspect. Maintenance probably not...

grezz

you cant go wrong with a suzuki swift 99 or 00 for about a grand never go wrong the japanese cars

mondeo

Get a japanese car, get a 97'ish 1.3 Mitsubishi Colt for a grand.

Mr Benevolent

mondeo wrote: »

Get a japanese car, get a 97'ish 1.3 Mitsubishi Colt for a grand.

Where?

squod

mondeo wrote: »

Get a japanese car, get a two 97'ish 1.3 Mitsubishi Colts for a grand.

FYP

mumblin deaf ro

Stretch to €1500?

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1134483

Alanstrainor

mumblin deaf ro wrote: »

Stretch to €1500?

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1134483

What the...?

Did you even read the thread?

InTheTrees

mumblin deaf ro wrote: »

Stretch to €1500?

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1134483

LOL! I'd worry about the turbo lag...

But seriously I saw an early 90's big volvo that would be perfect. Built like a rollcage and uses enough petrol that she'll be riding the bus mostly.

Safety first..

mumblin deaf ro

Alanstrainor wrote: »

What the...?

Did you even read the thread?

Was my smiley wink too subtle?

enviro

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=200951196255867

jaffa20

enviro wrote: »

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=200951196255867

They are charging 500yoyos for the nct :eek:

Dish

Ull lift an old VW Golf MK3, Jetta for around that money. THey may have high milage but they'll run on the smell of diesal. The jettas come in 1.6 diesal and are a great motor i personally find.

enviro

jaffa20 wrote: »

They are charging 500yoyos for the nct :eek:

Bit pricey for the NCT alright, 3 months warranty for that too though

For under 1k there is not many decent motors available.

This maybe
http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1138924

challengemaster

Confab wrote: »

Haven't been in Ireland for a while eh? The insurance will be €700-€900 per year and the tax will be €156 or so. Petrol will cost around €1500 per year depending on use and servicing with cost about €150-€200.

I'd say that's a bit optimistic... €1300-1600 for insurance would be more realistic, tax will be from €172-286 per year for a 1.0 - 1.2, obviously petrol will vary...

bazz26

jaffa20 wrote: »

They are charging 500yoyos for the nct :eek:

In other words it will cost at least €500 to get it through the NCT.

€1500 for a 13 year old Polo is pure madness.

squod

There's still loads of '00 & '01 ford fietas around for that kind of money.
http://cars.buyandsell.ie/search/image_preview?pid=1277893

garyt43

My gf has a 1.4 00 nissan almera (hatch 4 door) up for sale ...she bought a vw passat the other week, she is a secondary school teacher and needed something bigger on the road for the long journey.....now the car has about 120k miles on it could be more....has about 1yr nct left on it and was always serviced,,,she has it since 90k miles and has it about 2yrs....mechanic lives a few hundred yards from her and she also bought car off him.....cant say what she wants for it but i couldnt imagine more than 1k...

2 new front tyres
stereo with bluetooth
elec sunroof
elec windows (front anyway not sure about rear)
serviced just before she bought the car...
not sure if there is road tax still on it...
car is in galway....20 mins from rosscommon if that helps...

if your interested or want any more info let me know.

InTheTrees

I relaly like the sound of a golf diesel.

What about peugeots? I havent seen one person on this thread mention a french car...

I realise though at this price its really going to come down to the individual vehicle and the condition its in.

InTheTrees

garyt43 wrote: »

My gf has a 1.4 01 nissan almera (hatch 4 door) up for sale ...she bought a vw passat the other week, she is a secondary school teacher and needed something bigger on the road for the long journey.....now the car has about 120k miles on it could be more....has about 1yr nct left on it and was always serviced,,,she has it since 90k miles and has it about 2yrs....mechanic lives a few hundred yards from her and she also bought car off him.....cant say what she wants for it but i couldnt imagine more than 1k...

2 new front tyres
stereo with bluetooth
sunroof
elec windows (front anyway not sure about rear)

car is in galway....20 mins from rosscommon if that helps...

My neice is in Galway too...

I'm guessing she'll want more than a grand for it though.

If its less than a grand send me a PM?

the_syco

Check the milage, and when the timing belt was changed?

garyt43

ill see what price she is looking for it.....and ill send you a pm tomorrow or a reply through this...

Newbridge,
Galway.

Gfs home address.....

browner85

InTheTrees wrote: »

What about peugeots? I havent seen one person on this thread mention a french car...

.

and y do u think that is????
toyota starlet or a micra and ya wont go wrong........

questionmark?

Vw polo 1.0 L is a good bet very realiable and a 1000€ should pic up a '98 with a good 12 to 18months nct very cheap to run also. You should check out http://www.carzone.ie/

Mr Benevolent

questionmark? wrote: »

Vw polo 1.0 L is a good bet very realiable and a 1000€ should pic up a '98 with a good 12 to 18months nct very cheap to run also. You should check out http://www.carzone.ie/

Be reasonable. I wouldn't recommend a '98 Polo to my worst enemy.

questionmark?

Confab wrote: »

Be reasonable. I wouldn't recommend a '98 Polo to my worst enemy.

She only has 1000€ to spend. Many people around the country have learned to drive in these. They are cheap to insure and cheap to run and would be much better than other suggestions such as a micra or 1.3colt. Theres no point on spending a 1000e on say 95 bmw that has had the s*** drove out of it by a boy racer and is quite expensive to run. So i was been reasonable with my suggestion.:P

crótach

Get a Micra, mine's 14 years old and never gave me any trouble, also cheap to insure and run. And if you do need something repaired parts are cheap and readily available everywhere.

InTheTrees

Does the Micra or the polo come with a diesel?

If they do it probably increases the price? Are diesels cheaper to insure?

BTW Thanks for all the responses, it really helps a lot.

colm_mcm

A polo isn't as dependable as a Micra or Starlet and is a bit more akward to drive.

questionmark?

colm_mcm wrote: »

A polo isn't as dependable as a Micra or Starlet and is a bit more akward to drive.

Cant say that i can agree with that anybody that i know that has had a mid ninties micra has had trouble with it. (although crótach has been lucky seemingly) I cant say the same for a startlet forgot to mention that earlier they are a great little car from experience.

Polo's are realiable and parts are cheap also. Although this can be said for all small engineed mid to late 90's cars.

And OP a beleive that diesal engines only came in polo saloons. Dont know about the micras i doubt it was avaiable on the older models maybe another poster could help you out here.

jaffa20

I learned to drive in a 97 polo. Great little car. Only had it for 6 months and never gave any problems. Sold it very quickly to upgrade after i passed my test. Seems to be a high demand for them among learners. The worst thing can be the lack of power steering but it can only make you a better driver.

zilog_jones

A 1.0 Polo is about the most lethargic supermini you can buy. I've seen several cases of gearbox failures with late '90s Polos. And the majority of Irish examples up till around 2000 have shocking poverty spec - no power steering, not even an airbag! :eek:

@InTheTrees:
Depending on your neice's age, any sort of large car would be out of the question due to insurance. A diesel wouldn't be worthwhile for low mileage driving, and big old diesel engines don't usually translate well into superminis - too much weight in the front, so crap handling and more wear on tyres and stuff.

Cars I would suggest:
Ford Fiesta (the 1.25 is better than the 1.3)
Nissan Micra
Toyota Yaris (probably an impossible dream at that price)
Renault Clio
Seat Ibiza (like a Polo but less overpriced, still avoid the 1 litre though)
Fiat Punto Mk. II (avoid the 1.2 8 valve engine, only this one has head gasket trouble)
Daihatsu Sirion (not very common but completely unloved brand so should be cheap enough)

grezz wrote:

you cant go wrong with a suzuki swift 99 or 00 for about a grand never go wrong the japanese cars

Too bad they were built in Hungary by then They were well past their sell-by date too - pretty much the same car since 1988!

crótach

InTheTrees wrote: »

Does the Micra or the polo come with a diesel?

If they do it probably increases the price? Are diesels cheaper to insure?

BTW Thanks for all the responses, it really helps a lot.

Polo might come in 1.9 diesel version, not sure. But since they're larger engines they would cost a lot more to tax and to insure.

Also bear one thing in mind, people who buy diesels, buy them for a reason - fuel economy. And if you're buying a diesel that old it's guaranteed to have two-three times the mileage of a petrol car.

It's not worth it in my opinion. Get yourself a small petrol engine car like was suggested here, there's plenty out there, you'll find some with low mileage that were driven by grannies. Just don't buy off a boy racer

I got mine from my mother-in-law and it only had 30k miles on the clock.

bongi69

+1 for a 98-99 Ibiza.
Was my first car, and gave it up when I passed the test. Its cheaper than a similar polo for basically the same car. So should it break, you'll be able to put polo parts into it, bar body panels, exterior lighting, and some of the interior bits

zilog_jones

crótach wrote: »

Polo might come in 1.9 diesel version

The 1.9 diesel (non-turbo) was available in the Polo (at least in the UK anyway), but no TDI until the 2000 facelift. The Polo Classic (saloon) was available a 1.9 TDI. But yeah, probably not worth it anyway.

kc66

I think something like this is great value. The gf has one and it has give no problems in the few years she has it. Should get a good one for a lot less than €1000.