First car, Carina E ?

Haruki

Hi all, first time poster here, hoping you guys can give me some constructive advice/put my mind at ease. I'm a 25 years old male and in the process of getting my learner permit, for shame ! (i'm a late bloomer) The issue is my dad (recently retired and sick of driving) has offered me his car, a 97 2.0 Carina E, 70,000 miles, 2 year nct, taxed for a full year, perfect condition, free of charge(granted, its probably not worth much) lock stock and barrel, mine. Now don't get me wrong, i'm over the moon and extremely grateful to him, its just im a little worried about the size of the car itself. I see alot of first timers in micra's, punto's, 206's...etc and im wondering maybe im biting off more than i can chew. Or maybe this is something i shouldnt be worried abour at all, i dont know. Maybe some of you guys could tell me of your experiences starting off in a large car or you thoughts on the issue in general, hope you can help, maybe reassure me. Thanks for reading.

peasant

Contrary to common belief, size doesn't really matter when it comes to learning how to drive ...your insurance company might be of a different opinion however when it comes to engine size

geespot

driving a bigger car shouldn't be a problem as its just what you get used to

shawnee

Car for free, take it. Its also a Toyota which are relatively trouble free. Will give you great experience and when you can afford to buy one yourself , you will have a better idea of what car to buy. The additional premium etc will be saved on purchase price. Enjoy it and don't worry about size,,,, it doesn't matter:D:D:D

Bazzo

I wouldn't worry too much about it. The reason you see first time drivers in those smaller cars is because the engine size also tends to be smaller(cheaper insurance). My first car learning to drive was my mam's citroen xantia which is a fairly large car and it didn't do me any harm.

Big Nasty

IBIWVB!

veetwin

I think as Peasant said the only issue you're going to have is insurance. They may not take too kindly to insuring a beginner on a 2 litre. Not a bad first car though. If you do prang it - no big deal - its probably worthless to anyone anyway. TPFT Insurance will do you.

Cass

Welcom aboard.

As the lads have said small car, usually (but not always) small engine size. For first time insurance and the deals that could/can be gotten on smaller cars.

My Father though me to drive in a Sierra Cosworth back in 89-90. Scary as hell. Later got lessons in his Carina II. Much easier.

Personally i would take his hand and all and enjoy.

ytareh

Be aware this car could go on FOREVER!Now the 2 litre is actually a pokey enough and fairly economical yoke but do you want to drive it for 5,6,10 or more years ?

Haruki

Thanks for the reply's folks, a lot of the responses are in line with what my dad was saying to me, but i just thought he was trying to shut me up:) felt i needed to put it out to the masses. God ! i feel more positive about it already...Cheers

johndaman66

I don't particularly see any reason why starting off driving in a relatively bigger engined and sized car than the almost default choice micra/yaris/punto starter cars is a bad idea. In fact if anything the 2.0 litre carina might be that wee bit easier to drive as you would likely be less inclined to stall at traffic lights and junctions.

If you are a 25 year old male starting off on a first provisional insurance on that particular car may be prohibitive though unfortunately.

Fair play to your Dad for giving you his motor like that though. Many would say that they are the last of the really good Toyota's. With only 70k miles on it you probably have years of hassle free driving ahead of you. Two years NCT and all...I reckon you owe your Dad one big time!

Haruki

ytareh wrote: »

Be aware this car could go on FOREVER!Now the 2 litre is actually a pokey enough and fairly economical yoke but do you want to drive it for 5,6,10 or more years ?

Hi ytareh, i am very much aware of this i heard they're pretty much bulletproof, and my dad has kept it in pretty fine condition so your right it could be moving for many a year "5,6,10 or more years ?" in my hands, maybe not. But who knows ? maybe i could become attached to it:eek:. Thanks for the reply

Haruki

johndaman66 wrote: »

I reckon you owe your Dad one big time!

No doubt mate.

Leonard Hofstadter

The only thing to watch out for with a car that age is rust.

Don't drive like a rally driver either, because these cars are extremely unsafe by modern standards.

Apart from that I'd say definitely go for it, I've been in petrol 1.6 taxis with 260k on the clock so yours is only decently run in really with just 70k on the clock:)!

Spotless

It sounds good. It might work out better if your dad kept himself as the insured and you as a named driver. Could save you loads and you could even go halves with him on the premium.

Good car to learn in though. I learned in a Mitsubishi Galant a long time ago! Somebody above said that size of car doesn't matter and I tend to agree. Just get lots of practice in an empty car park, reversing up close to objects, etc. Try not to hit anything!!

maidhc

captainspeed wrote: »

Don't drive like a rally driver either, because these cars are extremely unsafe by modern standards.

I doubt it. My poor 1995 mondeo got hit by Transit Connect 12 years its junior. The Transit came off the worse from what I could see. No one was injured in either.

A 2.0 Carina E is a fine bus, wouldn't worry about the physical size of the car, my first car was a Rover 414 which is only a tad smaller than a Carina E. Insurance as folk have mentioned may be the stumbling block.

Haruki

I have no doubt you guys may well be right about the insurance, i was quoted 680 5 weeks ago or so, that was as a named driver, which to be honest i thought was quite reasonable. Would this be an advisable route to go down ? even in the short-term ?

Bazzo

Haruki wrote: »

I have no doubt you guys may well be right about the insurance, i was quoted 680 5 weeks ago or so, that was as a named driver, which to be honest i thought was quite reasonable. Would this be an advisable route to go down ? even in the short-term ?

I'm no expert or anything but that seems pretty reasonable for an engine that size and your particular details. Given that you're already past the highest risk YMD bracket(I _THINK_ it's 17-24) it'll probably go down a lot once you get a year of insurance and your full license too.

brendansmith

Haruki wrote: »

I have no doubt you guys may well be right about the insurance, i was quoted 680 5 weeks ago or so, that was as a named driver, which to be honest i thought was quite reasonable. Would this be an advisable route to go down ? even in the short-term ?

Yeah thats very reasonable. Once you hit 25 the premium drops greatly afaik.

I paid 3k for my first insurance at 21 on a 1 litre micra so you are doing well. Plus you got the car for free so its all good.

Dont bother thinking about it for another second and just get on with it imo. Everything sounds good.

Haruki

brendansmith wrote: »

Dont bother thinking about it for another second and just get on with it imo. Everything sounds good.

Yeah, your dead on, less thinking more doing for me. Thanks for the reply's everyone, extremely helpful, and much appreciated.

Seamu$

My first car was a 93 Carina given to me by my Dad....definately the way to go...would highly recommend it! 70k is very low mileage...I sold my beloved 93 when it had 193k on it (and got 1,300 Euro for it :eek: those were the days)! Second car was a 96 Carina E and third was a 99 Avensis....so, as you can gather, I was happy with the Toyotas!!!

Had to get business insurance for work so my first insurance premium on my own, similar to others above, was 2,800 Euro :mad: ....named driver is the way to go.

brendansmith

Seamu$ wrote: »

My first car was a 93 Carina given to me by my Dad....definately the way to go...would highly recommend it! 70k is very low mileage...I sold my beloved 93 when it had 193k on it (and got 1,300 Euro for it :eek: those were the days)! Second car was a 96 Carina E and third was a 99 Avensis....so, as you can gather, I was happy with the Toyotas!!!

Had to get business insurance for work so my first insurance premium on my own, similar to others above, was 2,800 Euro :mad: ....named driver is the way to go.

Yeah apart from the micra (:() everything ive ever bought was a toyota and i think they are fantastic cars.
Alot of people think they are boring but they can all go to hell

barnacle

Should be grand. My first car (last year until a month or so ago) was my dads Renfault Megane. Hunk of crap tbh, but an older car like that will teach you things about driving a newer car wouldn't tbh.

On the oldness issue, an older car will in general have more problems than a newer one:

My one's engine would fail randomly, the steering would lock, and the electronic assist on the brakes would fail (all at the same time). Simple fix was just popping the clutch in and out, and everything would engage again. Stuff like that teaches you how to react calmly when things go wrong, and to avoid problems if you can't get it working again. Also teaches you to be wary of going to close to cars in front, and be more aware of whats going on around you, as you may need to jump across a lane really quickly.

On the size issue:

Size is unimportant, but I found one benefit of coming from a saloon with bad visibility, to a small hatchback was that the things like reversing are a lot easier, but you're better off learning it in a saloon, as you won't be daunted by the prospect of having to parallel/reverse park a big car later on.

Also, you will appreciate a newer car a hell of a lot more when you've driven an old beater than if you started in a new car. An as stated 70K is very low mileage for a first car, I think the megane is pushing 150K now (which imo is a lot for a megane, but not for other cars).

Dan Jaman

My Sh!teOldJapCar is a Carina II, the immediate forebear of yours. Twenty years old and still running great (but it only has 90K on it). I fully expect the little b*gger to outlast me. If this one dies I'll be looking for a Carina E, as most of the oily bits from the C II were carried on in that body.
Only thing I've found is that it's well worth while keeping an eagle eye on paint chips as the steel underneath is really crap and if road muck/salt gets to it, it corrodes rapidly. I've had to repair the front lower panel through ignoring it. Lesson learned there.

I Was VB

Fap, fap, fap, fap, fap.

_Conrad_

carina E = boring, bland, incredibly reliable, tough, cheap to maintain, fantastic. A very unexciting car, but a great car if you want dependable transport. You're 25 so you WILL get insured on it, 2 litre or not.
There is a reason they're still around, and a very good reason people still like them.

Esel

barnacle wrote: »

On the oldness issue, an older car will in general have more problems than a newer one

OP is talking about a Toyota, your experience was with a Renault. Enough said.

OP: Go for it. If your father is not getting another car, named driver might be the best option. Then see about getting your own policy when you get a full licence in a year or two.