good learner car

nome

could any1 tell me whats a good small second hand car for learnin to drive in. have bout 1000e to spend and don't know much really bout cars, so need a few pointer on whats good for learnin in.

cheers

bazz26

Something like a Nissan Micra, Opel Corsa, Ford Fiesta, Seat Ibiza or VW Polo are all great cars to learn to drive in. You should be able to pick up a early or mid 1990s model on your budget.

The Nissan Micra is the only one of the above which had power assisted steering as standard, this will make parking alot easier.

Eoin

bazz26 wrote:

Something like a Nissan Micra, Opel Corsa, Ford Fiesta, Seat Ibiza or VW Polo are all great cars to learn to drive in. You should be able to pick up a early or mid 1990s model on your budget.

The Nissan Micra is the only one of the above which had power assisted steering as standard, this will make parking alot easier.

I think only the Japanese import micras have the power assisted steering? My sister got an 97 Irish one, and even with non-power steering it is dead easy to drive. Much better than the polo or fiesta - these are absolute pigs to steer with no power steering.

Ann Elk

You need to buy Herbie - he'd never let anythinh happen to you and he's such a sweetheart - not like that pompus KITT guy he'd crash your ass just to laugh at your stitches.

bazz26

eoin_s wrote:

I think only the Japanese import micras have the power assisted steering? My sister got an 97 Irish one, and even with non-power steering it is dead easy to drive. Much better than the polo or fiesta - these are absolute pigs to steer with no power steering.

As far as I can remember all Micras (noddie mobile type model) from 1993 had power steering as standard. The Micra was also the first car in that class to have a 1.0 litre 16 valve engine as standard. I can remember Nissan making a big deal about this in their adverts back then.

preilly79

ok, this may be seen as a biased (and deffinitely not in the right forum) view but i have a 1995 toyota starlet for sale. it's a 1.3 'Soleil' with 146k on the clock, which for a toyota is nothing. it has very good air-conditioning too.

the car is in perfect nick, has had new wheels and new tyres put on recently, a new stereo and speakers, new shocks, new break pads all round, new water pump, new windscreen (i.e. everything that wasnt perfect was replaced). the car has just passed the NCT and is taxed for another two months.

anyways, it's the car i learned to drive in and spent the last year driving. it's had a few little problems but there's not much wrong with it now. it's got power steering and is very easy to drive. nice and light, it goes well too. that's the type of car i'd recomend, and if you're interested in letting it go for €1300, but i would be willign to be bargained with

if interested, let me know!

nome

eh, no thanks on the starlet, bit more than wanna spend, and a friend of mine had one of these and she was alsways havin trouble with it!
thanks anyway

unkel

bazz26 wrote:

As far as I can remember all Micras (noddie mobile type model) from 1993 had power steering as standard

Nope

eoin_s wrote:

I think only the Japanese import micras have the power assisted steering?

Correct, originally Irish Micras did not have PS until late '97 iirc. Not a big deal though, the steering is pretty light without it

@OP, I would recommend the Micra for your first car. It's cheap, there are loads for sale out there, it is pretty much indestructible, it is nippy for a one liter car

The other cars bazz mentioned should be fine too

murphaph

Stick with a 1.0L jap motor. Micra is good. Light steering and jap gearboxes can take a learner driver. I have to say, although I have always owned German, VW gearboxes aren't up to much compared to jap ones. They seem to be indestructible in comparison.

thrpoint

excuse the ignorance but what does the test involve in the south

stevenmu

If you get thinking about a polo, go for the seat ibiza instead, it's the same car with slightly nicer bodywork, and you'll get a much better one at that price range, newer, less mileage, more likely to have PS etc. Tbh I can't think of any reason someone to go for a polo over one.

Eoin

the NCT or driving test? driving test info here, NCT info here

Slutmonkey57b

What's the punto like?
(i know fix-it-again-tomorrow, but from what I can tell it's pretty reliable.)