Newly licensed driver. First car advice? 8k spend...

oreos

Hi Guys,

I'm a newly licensed driver (male, mid-20s) in the market to buy my first car. I've read the stickied posts for guidance (very helpful btw) and researched online quite a bit, but there seems to be a lot of potential pitfalls so hoping the community here could offer up some advice.

Since I only have one year named driver exp. I'm looking for something that is relatively cheap to insure. Trying to find something with reasonable milage that has a decent track record of reliability. I would personally be doing around 50km per week. I have a budget of 8.5k max to play around with, but have no interest in spending that much if unnecessary.

My first thought was Polo/Fiesta, but everything in my price range is on the older side (to insure)/high milage. So I was thinking possibly going for an i10, clio instead...

Could you guys advise on some options? Also, would I be better off buying dealer or private?

Thanks

saccades

50 km a week is petrol engine.

I'd avoid anything french, their electrics are shocking compared to other brands.

It may be worth going to a big car seller (8K is a decent amount) and buying something a little leftfield. Think beige, think safe.

Honda Jazz, volvo s50 etc etc (although I think their smallest engine is 1.8 unfortunately) , a saloon is cheaper to insure than a hatchback (classed as a door less).

bear1

Stay away from a diesel. 50km per week puts you firmly in petrol territory.
If you are looking for something relatively simple and for an a to b commute then something like this should fit the bill

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/hyundai-i20-nbsp1-2-deluxe-5dr-low-kms-new-nct/18123373?campaign=3

Or this which is slightly bigger but a bit more appealing looks wise. Same spec it seems and both should be fairly cheap to insure and tax

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/fiat-punto-2010/17899164

road_high

saccades wrote: »

50 km a week is petrol engine.

I'd avoid anything french, their electrics are shocking compared to other brands.

It may be worth going to a big car seller (8K is a decent amount) and buying something a little leftfield. Think beige, think safe.

Honda Jazz, volvo s50 etc etc (although I think their smallest engine is 1.8 unfortunately) , a saloon is cheaper to insure than a hatchback (classed as a door less).

Care to expand on this please? The Clio and 208 are great small cars and reliable.
Volvo V50 is a bizzare option for a newbie driver.

oreos

bear1 wrote: »

Stay away from a diesel. 50km per week puts you firmly in petrol territory.
If you are looking for something relatively simple and for an a to b commute then something like this should fit the bill

Okay noted. Will stick with petrol. That i20 looks reasonable. In terms of pricing, if I see models on done deal that are under the average selling price - is that an immediate red flag? Or would that be common. Example: this i10 in terms of age/spec is the best I've come across for that model: www donedeal ie/cars-for-sale/hyundai-i10-deluxe-2015/18061393 (EDIT: can't post urls because I am a new user)

road_high wrote: »

Care to expand on this please? The Clio and 208 are great small cars and reliable.
Volvo V50 is a bizzare option for a newbie driver.

Good to know. Both Clio & 208 are options I had been considering. Trying to stay in smaller hatchback category if possible

Philb76

Mother in law has a 15 Hyundai i10 brilliant little car surprisingly refined very well specced has everything reliable cheap to run and in the right colour look pretty good driving it always reminds me of the original yaris

oreos

Philb76 wrote: »

Mother in law has a 15 Hyundai i10 brilliant little car surprisingly refined very well specced has everything reliable cheap to run and in the right colour look pretty good driving it always reminds me of the original yaris

Reviews for the 2014-present seem solid. I learnt to drive in an 03 Yaris and also like it because of that similarity. Unfortunately getting a 2015 isn't really likely with a dealer so I'd buy private. From what I understand, the Hyundai manufacturer warranty passes to the new owner, so that's re-assuring if buying off a randomer

colm_mcm

Yep. Warranty transfers. Check out the Kia Picanto too. Same basic car as the Hyundai but with 7 year (160kkm) warranty.

Philb76

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/hyundai-i10-deluxe-2015/18061393

Good shout on picanto as well

John_Rambo

I have an old Renault Clio that won't go away.

Every year I debate about insuring and taxing it. (I have another car)

It's 18 years old, but it won't give up... sails through every NCT, starts every time, even after snow and cold weather, uses very little petrol (city/suburban driving)... The only time I got an NCT warning was when the tyres were old, perfect, but old. I may have been very lucky with the particular car, "a good car off the line" is what the mechanic describes it. It's recently developed a small oil leak, but haven't had to top up yet.

Sometimes I park it and walk back to it thinking I've been blocked in to realise that I actually parked it there. Turns on a 1cent coin!!!

Electrics are fine.

368100

road_high wrote: »

Care to expand on this please? The Clio and 208 are great small cars and reliable.
Volvo V50 is a bizzare option for a newbie driver.

Electrics in renault are well known to go wrong.....i see them on the roads all the time, indicator on blinks the rear light etc.

oreos

Philb76 wrote: »

Good shout on picanto as well

The i10 you linked is at the upper boundary of what i'm willing to spend, but I was thinking of putting in an offer for it. Do you think there would be much wriggle room on price? It seems decent enough value as is.

When folks have plates blocked from view, I can't run a check in advance. Would it be a done thing to ask for them to share by message? Also, if I wanted a mechanic to look at it, not sure how i would go about it. I'm down south and this is 3+ hours away...

oreos

colm_mcm wrote: »

Yep. Warranty transfers. Check out the Kia Picanto too. Same basic car as the Hyundai but with 7 year (160kkm) warranty.

Thank you. Picanto added to the list!

colm_mcm

oreos wrote: »

The i10 you linked is at the upper boundary of what i'm willing to spend, but I was thinking of putting in an offer for it. Do you think there would be much wriggle room on price? It seems decent enough value as is.

When folks have plates blocked from view, I can't run a check in advance. Would it be a done thing to ask for them to share by message? Also, if I wanted a mechanic to look at it, not sure how i would go about it. I'm down south and this is 3+ hours away...

You can get 161s from dealers for less than that. Admittedly with higher mileage, but newer is newer and private sale is less valuable to you then main dealer sale.

Shefwedfan

50km per week. You should be buying electric.

It is cheaper for insurance versus Petrol/diesel. The cost of running is tiny. I done 15k km last year and it cost me €197 in electricity. The tax is lowest band.

You could get a decent spec Leaf or Zoe for the money you are talking about. It will be automatic and have a load of kit compared to the cars you are talking about

Buying second hand you get a grant for home charger. If close to a public charger they are free as well but they can be dodgy.

You could get a Renault Zoe really cheap up north(no VRT) and get the battery rental. With your low mileage it would be perfect

Just an option instead of petrol/diesel

saccades

road_high wrote: »

Care to expand on this please? The Clio and 208 are great small cars and reliable.
Volvo V50 is a bizzare option for a newbie driver.

On average french cars have more electrical faults - their wiring looms all follow a common style which is cheaper to produce but more prone to bad earths. How do you think PSA group make their cars so cheap?

Both those cars I suggested are only generally only driven by careful drivers because of their boring & sensible image, consequently premiums are lower on those cars because there are less claims.

Volvos have very low premiums because they are covered in air bags (so less chance of 1M payout on injuries) which are all intelligent for the last ~15 years (only the ones required go), admittedly on a 8K car it'll probably be written off but you'll be safe.

There are almost the recent v/s60 in his range too (but diesel unfortunatly) where the premium drops massively again because they have fitted as standard a radar/camera type system that massively reduces the chance of a crash below 19kmph (might be mph) and does similar on motorways as it detects you are not slowing quick enough to the object in front and brakes.

The thing with the unfashionable v50 is it based on the ford focus, so drives well, is well equipped& built but has depreciated massively, but the OP won't be taking that hit.

i did say it was a little leftfield.

Philb76

Yes to all the querys its a huge sum of money to hand over ring them and if they deny any requests ie history check especially any finance owed this is overlooked more than u think can an inspection be done just move on usually hiding sumthing not trying to scare u but its a first purchase and dont be afraid to walk away even though it has cost u time and money to look at a car i have been spoofed to on the phone several times about conditions of cars

colm_mcm

saccades wrote: »

On average french cars have more electrical faults - their wiring looms all follow a common style which is cheaper to produce but more prone to bad earths. How do you think PSA group make their cars so cheap?

Both those cars I suggested are only generally only driven by careful drivers because of their boring & sensible image, consequently premiums are lower on those cars because there are less claims.

Volvos have very low premiums because they are covered in air bags (so less chance of 1M payout on injuries) which are all intelligent for the last ~15 years (only the ones required go), admittedly on a 8K car it'll probably be written off but you'll be safe.

There are almost the recent v/s60 in his range too (but diesel unfortunatly) where the premium drops massively again because they have fitted as standard a radar/camera type system that massively reduces the chance of a crash below 19kmph (might be mph) and does similar on motorways as it detects you are not slowing quick enough to the object in front and brakes.

The thing with the unfashionable v50 is it based on the ford focus, so drives well, is well equipped& built but has depreciated massively, but the OP won't be taking that hit.

i did say it was a little leftfield.

I don’t even know where to start with that.

theteal

Not sure where you’re based OP but within your set of parameters I’d be inclined to look at something like a Yaris https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/toyota-yaris-12-1-3-vvt-i/17651414 (apologies about the link, phone not compliant). There are 1 litres there too but that Yaris is not as small as it used to be so the bigger engine could prevent you from going insane.

bear1

saccades wrote: »

On average french cars have more electrical faults - their wiring looms all follow a common style which is cheaper to produce but more prone to bad earths. How do you think PSA group make their cars so cheap?

Both those cars I suggested are only generally only driven by careful drivers because of their boring & sensible image, consequently premiums are lower on those cars because there are less claims.

Volvos have very low premiums because they are covered in air bags (so less chance of 1M payout on injuries) which are all intelligent for the last ~15 years (only the ones required go), admittedly on a 8K car it'll probably be written off but you'll be safe.

There are almost the recent v/s60 in his range too (but diesel unfortunatly) where the premium drops massively again because they have fitted as standard a radar/camera type system that massively reduces the chance of a crash below 19kmph (might be mph) and does similar on motorways as it detects you are not slowing quick enough to the object in front and brakes.

The thing with the unfashionable v50 is it based on the ford focus, so drives well, is well equipped& built but has depreciated massively, but the OP won't be taking that hit.

i did say it was a little leftfield.

That's some amount of ****e right there.

Shefwedfan

saccades wrote: »

On average french cars have more electrical faults - their wiring looms all follow a common style which is cheaper to produce but more prone to bad earths. How do you think PSA group make their cars so cheap?

Both those cars I suggested are only generally only driven by careful drivers because of their boring & sensible image, consequently premiums are lower on those cars because there are less claims.

Volvos have very low premiums because they are covered in air bags (so less chance of 1M payout on injuries) which are all intelligent for the last ~15 years (only the ones required go), admittedly on a 8K car it'll probably be written off but you'll be safe.

There are almost the recent v/s60 in his range too (but diesel unfortunatly) where the premium drops massively again because they have fitted as standard a radar/camera type system that massively reduces the chance of a crash below 19kmph (might be mph) and does similar on motorways as it detects you are not slowing quick enough to the object in front and brakes.

The thing with the unfashionable v50 is it based on the ford focus, so drives well, is well equipped& built but has depreciated massively, but the OP won't be taking that hit.

i did say it was a little leftfield.

Its not leftfield. Its a load of bu**s**t.

Seriously you should be writing books or comics or something :P you do tell a good story

Heres Johnny

I'm a fully fledged German badge snob but OP don't listen to the rubbish about French cars, they aren't any worse than any others. I've had 2 Peugeot 206 and 307 and there are Clios in the family too and they've all been fine, cheap motoring. Yaris are fine cars too.

Philb76

I had a vw golf mk4 with electrics that wud hav put any French car to shame they really were that bad

Shefwedfan

My wife used to own a little Clio, Chloe the Clio. It was a brilliant car. It ran on fumes and was really fun to drive. You could throw it around the place.

I loved it

No issues with electrics or anything......

kirving

Saccades is correct about the Volvo. Despite my S40 being 125bhp, 1.8, it was cheaper for me to insure as my first car than a Focus or Golf 1.6 which were around 110bhp. Was also cheaper than a from one insurer Micra and Fiesta as far as I remember.

He's wrong about the electrics however. I work for a Teir 1 automotive supplier, in electronics. For ALL of the manufacturers that we supply, quality is the no. 1 priority.

You will see similar if not identical wiring methods, standards, quality and testing across German, French, UK and US manufacturers. To say that French cars use poor quality parts is simply not true. Operating margins for most brands are very similar.

ba_barabus

saccades wrote: »

On average french cars have more electrical faults - their wiring looms all follow a common style which is cheaper to produce but more prone to bad earths. How do you think PSA group make their cars so cheap?

Both those cars I suggested are only generally only driven by careful drivers because of their boring & sensible image, consequently premiums are lower on those cars because there are less claims.

Volvos have very low premiums because they are covered in air bags (so less chance of 1M payout on injuries) which are all intelligent for the last ~15 years (only the ones required go), admittedly on a 8K car it'll probably be written off but you'll be safe.

There are almost the recent v/s60 in his range too (but diesel unfortunatly) where the premium drops massively again because they have fitted as standard a radar/camera type system that massively reduces the chance of a crash below 19kmph (might be mph) and does similar on motorways as it detects you are not slowing quick enough to the object in front and brakes.

The thing with the unfashionable v50 is it based on the ford focus, so drives well, is well equipped& built but has depreciated massively, but the OP won't be taking that hit.

i did say it was a little leftfield.

Christ, a barstool has started to talk

oreos

Thanks again for all the advice folks!

For the past two weeks I've scoured every car website and done many a viewing and have finally settled on a 2014 i10 with low milage. It's with a main franchise dealer, so I was wondering whether paying for a pre-purchase inspection would be worth it? Note that it also has 14 months of warranty left.

cnocbui

Honda Jazz.

Philb76

oreos wrote: »

Thanks again for all the advice folks!

For the past two weeks I've scoured every car website and done many a viewing and have finally settled on a 2014 i10 with low milage. It's with a main franchise dealer, so I was wondering whether paying for a pre-purchase inspection would be worth it? Note that it also has 14 months of warranty left.

Best of luck with the new car it is up to you a main dealer usually has a standard to keep to plus under warranty any problems throw it back to them

shaunr68

Agree with the Yaris recommendation, also I'd say to the OP don't blow all your budget. Get something reasonable but you should also expect a few minor scrapes in a first car (hopefully just against things like gate posts and walls rather than other cars!) so don't buy anything you're going to be too precious about.