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Triumph Herald, Morris Minor, Renault 5, Mk1 or II Fiesta, Metro, Mini, A30/35, A40, Kia Pride, Datsun Sunny, Cherry...the options are virtually endless. Be careful with all your 'learning RWD skills' stuff - unless you're being a bit of a knob or have an empty (and that means empty...trolley parks/signposts/bollards and kerbs are everywhere when you're going sideways!) wet car park or field then you shouldn't even know what wheels are driven most of the time! I think some people overestimate the 'legend of RWD', most RWD cars won't exaclty slide their tail without a loose/wet surface, a lot of power or some idiotic steering/braking combinations. It wasn't so long ago that RWD cars were the norm and people drove around all day, everyday with it being a drift-fest. When you first get out on the road you WILL drive like an idiot - just knowing that and confining it to suitable moments will make a huge difference! Crikey, that was all a bit grown up! ;D ;D That's a good point well made. Looking for something out of the ordinary as your first car is an excellent idea but you can't expect a year's experience Volvo 340 or a 1.3 Marina to give you Lewis Hamilton's abilities and prepare you for a RWD 200 bhp turbo. There's a guy on the Mini forum I frequent who, with a few years' driving experience, decided to buy a 200SX as it became insurable. He was living the RWD dream but it ended up in a hedge, a slightly different shape to how it was before. The lad in question isn't a nutter either, he just wasn't ecpecting the boost to come in quite that fast. You aren't going to get anything quick and insurable so focus on something that you like and don't worry unduly about whether it's FWD or RWD.
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Jaguar S-Type 3.0 SE
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all this talk of old cars ...are you /dad capable of doing some fairly big mech jobs and maybe welding etc?
old cars need a fair amount of tinkering to keep going , don't expect to buy something out of the paper and do 12k a year with just a oil change and wash
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91 golf g60, 89 golf 16v , 88 polo breadvan
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Go for something 80s for your first car. Seriously, you'll be able to insure anything under insurance group 5-6 relatively easily, and anything under group 10 is possible if you don't mind 'manipulating the system' if you get what I mean....
Insurance will be your problem. And insurers wont touch you if you change anything on the engine or lower it more than 50mm or so.
I've been through all this this year (i'm 17), I have the choice of either running a modded slow car (1l polo / 205) or a standardish larger/quicker car in order to get sensible insurance.
There is no way of getting around it cheaply. You WILL pay more than a grand for your first year no matter what happens. And a provisional license makes it cheaper not more expensive, mine went up from £600 to £1200 when I got my full license.
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Last Edit: Jan 2, 2009 10:50:35 GMT by Adam
1997 TVR Chimaera 2009 Westfield Megabusa
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,521
Member is Online
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all this talk of old cars ...are you /dad capable of doing some fairly big mech jobs and maybe welding etc? old cars need a fair amount of tinkering to keep going , don't expect to buy something out of the paper and do 12k a year with just a oil change and wash Not true! Choose the car well and you shouldn't have to worry about anything major for quite some time. They don't suddenly disolve all by themselves while your back is turned for an afternoon. I did something like 60,000 miles in my Oxford before it saw a welder and about 85k before the engine came out. Mild tinkering perhaps yes, but that's just basic maintenance and is all part of owning the cars in the first place. There's no harm in learing some basic skills. If you've not got family to help I'd suggest finding someone local (perhaps via this forum) who could go over potential purchases with you whatever it is you're looking at.
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable.
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Joshy
Part of things
Posts: 73
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all this talk of old cars ...are you /dad capable of doing some fairly big mech jobs and maybe welding etc? old cars need a fair amount of tinkering to keep going , don't expect to buy something out of the paper and do 12k a year with just a oil change and wash I'm getting there! I've just (as in 4 months ago) started a 3 year apprenticeship with Bentley, so am slowly building up a bit of mechanical knowledge! We're allowed to use the workshop facilities after work/during breaks and I've got decades of experience at hand, so I should be alright... I hope!
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205: great fun, can be modified easily enough and a surprisingly competant and reliable car.
Nova: keep it clean, no silly bodykits etc. Enough engine choices to keep you smiling for life. Brilliant little cars that are a hoot to own/drive but will rust.
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Corsa Apology Champion 2014.
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Have you tried Direct Line for insurance? They allow you to insure your car in your parents name AND let you build your own no claims at the same time. Worth a look for sure.
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1986 BMW 635csi coupe - No, I'm not a drug dealer. 1997 Mazda MX-5 1.6i - No, I'm not a hairdresser either.
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Some very interesting suggestions here indeed A quick question about insurance, does anybody know of any young driver friendly insurance providers for older cars. As Ben mentioned above, online quotes are stupid with older cars, but I have tried calling into a few specialist brokers and basically got told the computer says no until I'm at least 21 . Most annoying of all, the insurance company that I had hoped to go with (£500 cheaper than anywhere else on a similar car, it's cheap to declare mods and (believe it or not) offer Third Party cover on other cars, even at my age!) won't insure anything that is older than 20 years old In the end I gave up looking, they all wanted me to be over 21 and the ones that would insure me were more expensive. I went with what www.moneysupermarket.com car insurance search engine brought up as the cheapest. That's a bit annoying.. I'm with Footman James and I'm under the impression that they don't ordinarily insure young'ns but the club I'm with has some sort of special deal with them, infact, my policy confirmation letter called it something like 'TSSC Young drivers policy'. I took out the policy at 20, turned 21 a couple weeks ago.
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...proper medallion man chest wig motoring.
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Joshy
Part of things
Posts: 73
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Have you tried Direct Line for insurance? They allow you to insure your car in your parents name AND let you build your own no claims at the same time. Worth a look for sure. This is still a fronted Policy though, isn't it? To be honest I'm not too worried about NCB. The company that I'm looking to go with after my first year of driving (Bell) don't seem to care too much about NCB. It's having the license for a Year that really brings the quotes down (I.E, literally halves them). Wish insurance companies would let me have a MK1 MR2/MX5
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Although I have a soft spot for Marinas, I really would not recommend one as a first car for somebody who is likely to be "enthusiastic" in acquiring "RWD skillz". Hands up, I've not driven them on the road, only the race track, but they are incredibley tail-happy in the wet and difficult to control on the limit in my experience - far more so than other small RWD cars I have driven. Most banger racers who have raced a marina will tell you it is a lot easier to keep a V6 Granada pointing in the right direction at race speed than a 1300 marina!
One car I am very suprised not to see mentioned is a Lada Riva 1300 which I imagine would be fairly cheap to insure, the old RWD Toyota Starlets are a good car as well and haven't been mentioned yet I don't think - both have definite "retro credentials" and not so old as to have trunions or front drum brakes!
You might also find that a smaller engined Ford Sierra is insurable - the positives being they are still cheap, easy spares & repairs & loadsa room, the downside being the fact they are a bit big/dull. A 1600 CVH mk2 will not set the world alight, but will be a different league to a 1.0 Polo or something like that! It would probably do the same MPG as a lot of the older stuff mentioned, better on a run thanks to 5th gear and good aerodynamics. I had a few Sierras when I was younger and aside from a tricked up mk1 2.0, I found them practical & cheap to run. I suppose the obvious one with retro credentials that would set you back a bit more money would be an old pinto powered 3-door.
Remembering back to my own early experiences, the number 1 criteria I would set for a first car is good strong brakes and decent tyres on all 4 wheels - judging by what comes through my mate's scrap yard, most new drivers who crash do so by leaving it too late to brake, locking up & skidding into a stationary car from behind.
The best thing about starting to drive for the first time is not looking cool or going fast, it's having that freedom to go all over the place. Personally I think I did a very sensible thing at 17 because I got myself a small diesel car - a mk2 fiesta. Averaging over 50mpg ment I could afford a LOT of freedom, a lot lot more than my mates with their 30mpg cars anyway!
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all this talk of old cars ...are you /dad capable of doing some fairly big mech jobs and maybe welding etc? old cars need a fair amount of tinkering to keep going , don't expect to buy something out of the paper and do 12k a year with just a oil change and wash I'm getting there! I've just (as in 4 months ago) started a 3 year apprenticeship with Bentley, so am slowly building up a bit of mechanical knowledge! We're allowed to use the workshop facilities after work/during breaks and I've got decades of experience at hand, so I should be alright... I hope! fair enough ..sounds like you'l cope
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91 golf g60, 89 golf 16v , 88 polo breadvan
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Foxy
Posted a lot
Making pink manly in the north!
Posts: 1,913
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I learnt to drive in a renault clio and the day after I passed my test decided I wanted a van! 1986 2lt Transit swb semi high roof! It fecking rocked, we went on skating trips and all sorts, best thing for a gang of young lads to have at that age!
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I'm the handsome fella with the cheesy white specs or is that the cheesy fella with the handsome white specs?
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Retro First Car?arthurbrown
@GUEST
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I learnt to drive in a renault clio and the day after I passed my test decided I wanted a van! 1986 2lt Transit swb semi high roof! It fecking rocked, we went on skating trips and all sorts, best thing for a gang of young lads to have at that age! Debatable in it's merits I would have said. When I was at school, my mate had a LWB Series 3 Landy for a first car, which could fit about 12 people in, but I think the attraction of driving 11 drunken mates home soon wore off 'cos it quickly got converted to a pick-up body. ;D
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series land rover FTW! get an SII or IIA, tax exempt, cheap as chips insurance, stupidly easy and cheap to get parts for and to repair/maintain, you could probably do an entire rebuild with 2 screwdrivers, an adjustable spanner and some gaffer tape LOL. They also don't rust so much thanks to aluminium body, and if the chassis gets rotten then you can pick up replacement army surplus 88" galvanized/dipped chassis pretty cheap brand new from the stores as it was only fairly recently that the army demobbed the last of the series III's so they still have huge stockpiles of spares for them they need to get rid of. You will find people living in mud huts in deepest darkest africa who can fix just about anything on a Landy. They are long lived, sturdy, tough, full of character and will be a car you can easily pass down to your grandchildren. I had a '69 IIA as my first car when I was a student and loved her to bits. Kirsty
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I have determined that my sole purpose in life is to serve as a bad example...
CURRENT vehicles - '84 Saab 900 turbo classic, '93 Nissan 200SX S13, 2021 Volvo V90 Inscription.
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Joshy
Part of things
Posts: 73
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Has gotta be an imp!!! Cheap insurance, tax and loads of fun to drive (RWD) engine at the back. and fun, easy to work on!! Just on a whim I decided to Google "Hillman Imp" (missed this post), and I have to say, I think I've fallen in love. From what I can work out, They're just utterly, utterly perfect for me. Small, cheap, simple fun that costs next to nothing to insure (and that's with the big insurers, I'm sure if I contacted some classic brokers I could insured for pennies). I was hoping that I'd talk myself into getting something sensible, comfortable and practical, but an Imp completely overrides those ideals for just being so Crazy! There is one gathering dust in the coachwork workshop at work, never paid it much attention, but certainly will now! Anyone want to tell me more about Imps? ;D
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:)Skoda Favorit....cheap to buy and run, quite nippy, almost normal but with enough quirks to be interesting. ....and cheaper insurance if you join the Owners' Club!
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Last Edit: Jan 4, 2009 9:03:35 GMT by daverapid
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Just on a whim I decided to Google "Hillman Imp" (missed this post), and I have to say, I think I've fallen in love. Anyone want to tell me more about Imps? ;D We have a winner! I'm sure one of our Impers can fill you in more, but in the meantime have some Imp/Stiletto/Chamois/Husky pics:
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