Advice - Ideal first car?
- Thread starter WirelessMonkey
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Heathrow
Yes, as in the airport.
I read your insurance numbers and thought '?100 for a year?' Where are you getting your insurance quotes?!?. Then I read per month- and seriously, you can get the insurance down to ?600 - you don't need to go for a full fat Fiesta.
Which brings me onto my addition to the driving skill conversation. When I was 16, it was all about the 'lets buy a 2l turbo rocket' (well not quite, but you get the idea). However when I started driving my opinion on speeding and what cars can do changed.
You don't necessarily need a huge 1.6 Fiesta to have loads of fun (the Fiesta 1.6 I'm learning in is a Diesel). My parent's Kangoo is fast enough for winding roads (don't take it near a dual carriageway - it struggles
How about this sort of thing for example? Insurance will be A LOT lower, leaving you more money to have fun with. You could have a more modern Polo with cheaper insurance than a Golf II; it'll be easier to drive, and I would rather have that, at least.
My advice is don't go higher than a group 7-8 car. The insurance will cripple you before the car does. If you want to know what bracket a car comes under, look here.
Just my two cents.
Best advice in this thread, kudos to Speedtouch ? this is a good attitude which may assist him both in his upcoming driving test and subsequent driving career.
MadCat360
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Best advice in this thread, kudos to Speedtouch ? this is a good attitude which may assist him both in his upcoming driving test and subsequent driving career.
The faster the car, the more control you have at higher speeds. A Ferrari is more capable of safely traversing a windy road at 50 MPH than a Civic due to available grip. The faster the car the safer it is to drive fast. Having a car that will make you scared before you get to it's limit is a good idea.
It's always good to have a capable car. Just keep your head in the game and drive with your eyes and your butt, not your right foot. By no means should you force yourself to have a slow or unwieldy car as your sporting car. That is dangerous. When you test drive a candidate for a sporting car, make damn well sure that the car's talent far exceeds yours. This is good not only for your skills on the track, but for safety on the road as well.
It all depends on what you plan to do with it. If all you're going to do is pootle around and use the car as it was intended (like me), buy what makes you happy. If not, see above.
Speedtouch said:
It sounds to me like someone needs to go to a high performance driving school to learn some limits. Is there tire noise when you do these maneuvers? If there is no tire noise, you are still 100% in control, unless it's raining. Even with the tires screaming you'd be surprised at how much control you still have with some instruction.
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Davetouch
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^ By 'maneuvers' I mean stuff like parallel parking and 3-point turns. Not using any throttle, just on the biting point I find myself going faster than I want to. No-where near wheel-screeching, and I am still in control, I just don't feel as if I should be going this fast.
Also, do you realise I've been driving for 1 month? So please stop suggesting that I need to go on some performance driving school. And the fact that you are suggesting that you must not have a slow car as your 'sporting car'. This is his first car, in the insurance raping UK. We have no choice compared to you.
And that my point is not that you must have a slow car to be in control, I'm saying that you can have plenty of fun without going near the limit (which will, yes, be lower than in a Ferrari, but you still won't need to get anywhere near it) in a slower car.
My advice to WirelessMonkey is to start driving for maybe a couple of weeks before setting your heart on a car, or a type of car. See how you feel behind the wheel - because us telling you 'you'll be fine in a 1.6 Zetec S' is pointless if you don't feel in control and end up in a ditch because of it.
Also, do you realise I've been driving for 1 month? So please stop suggesting that I need to go on some performance driving school. And the fact that you are suggesting that you must not have a slow car as your 'sporting car'. This is his first car, in the insurance raping UK. We have no choice compared to you.
And that my point is not that you must have a slow car to be in control, I'm saying that you can have plenty of fun without going near the limit (which will, yes, be lower than in a Ferrari, but you still won't need to get anywhere near it) in a slower car.
My advice to WirelessMonkey is to start driving for maybe a couple of weeks before setting your heart on a car, or a type of car. See how you feel behind the wheel - because us telling you 'you'll be fine in a 1.6 Zetec S' is pointless if you don't feel in control and end up in a ditch because of it.
MadCat360
Forum Addict
If you've only been driving one month then I triple my recommendation for driving or racing school. The faster you learn to use the car fully, the better driver you'll be at road speeds, I guarantee it. The sooner you understand the car the better.
There are plenty of cars in the lower insurance groups that will completely exceed a new driver's capability. The Fiesta is not one of them.
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It's obvious by this thread that us people in the US are just a different society when it comes to vehicles than the Euros. I laughed out loud when I read "a huge 1.6 Fiesta" As far as I'm concerned something with an engine that size is a child's go-kart. I have friends and family that live out on their ranches and as children they had vehicles like that, and in many cases full sized ranch trucks they were driving as young 10 years old.
My first car (which was given to me) was my mustang- it was my Mom's first car in high school, she drove it through college then put in her parents garage for 10 or so years before it was driven up here 1000 miles away and parked in front of our house for another 5 years or so (well, not exactly, I have really fond memories of her picking me up from elementary school a few times in it before it was parked) before I got my license and we got running again for me. 5 liter engine, fairly poor handling at higher speeds but easily good enough to be a daily driver. My second, and payed for, car is my Grand Prix. Supercharged 3.8 liter engine, blows the Mustang out of the water in every aspect except style. Insurance for my cars is a little higher than most people would like for their cars at my age, but why the hell not I say.
From day one I've always treated these cars as weapons and I never went head on into driving them without fully learning how they act, and now when I do have a little fun in them I make sure it's in a completely safe area. Not every new driver is an idiot, just take it slowly and learn properly and you can start in whatever car you want. You do not (and should not) need to use any more than 1/2 throttle for any around town driving, regardless of the car. I understand if you've got more power available it's very tempting to use it, but be smart and know when and when not to.
Everyone here who says a new driver should only be limited to some tiny little piddly weed whacker powered car needs to lighten up. There are people capable of not being a complete moron. Get whatever car you fancy as your first car, all you have to do is respect it and be smart about it and you won't have problems.
My first car (which was given to me) was my mustang- it was my Mom's first car in high school, she drove it through college then put in her parents garage for 10 or so years before it was driven up here 1000 miles away and parked in front of our house for another 5 years or so (well, not exactly, I have really fond memories of her picking me up from elementary school a few times in it before it was parked) before I got my license and we got running again for me. 5 liter engine, fairly poor handling at higher speeds but easily good enough to be a daily driver. My second, and payed for, car is my Grand Prix. Supercharged 3.8 liter engine, blows the Mustang out of the water in every aspect except style. Insurance for my cars is a little higher than most people would like for their cars at my age, but why the hell not I say.
From day one I've always treated these cars as weapons and I never went head on into driving them without fully learning how they act, and now when I do have a little fun in them I make sure it's in a completely safe area. Not every new driver is an idiot, just take it slowly and learn properly and you can start in whatever car you want. You do not (and should not) need to use any more than 1/2 throttle for any around town driving, regardless of the car. I understand if you've got more power available it's very tempting to use it, but be smart and know when and when not to.
Everyone here who says a new driver should only be limited to some tiny little piddly weed whacker powered car needs to lighten up. There are people capable of not being a complete moron. Get whatever car you fancy as your first car, all you have to do is respect it and be smart about it and you won't have problems.
Davetouch
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^ I agree with everything you just said.
The only 2 problems we have in the UK is money and chavs. Money is simple - insurance. Chavs are the people that caused the problem with the insurance.
And thanks to the kind of people like that, even when you're 20, the insurance companies still see you in the same group as the kind of people who like to go to Ibiza for their summer holidays. So even though a 1.6 Fiesta may not be the most physically huge thing you could drive, the insurance people think its big enough, thanks to the people which end up in a ditch in a 1l Saxo, dead, thanks to the wonderful Saxo's safety features. Its a shame that insurance here is set on the age of the person more than the car.
The only 2 problems we have in the UK is money and chavs. Money is simple - insurance. Chavs are the people that caused the problem with the insurance.
And thanks to the kind of people like that, even when you're 20, the insurance companies still see you in the same group as the kind of people who like to go to Ibiza for their summer holidays. So even though a 1.6 Fiesta may not be the most physically huge thing you could drive, the insurance people think its big enough, thanks to the people which end up in a ditch in a 1l Saxo, dead, thanks to the wonderful Saxo's safety features. Its a shame that insurance here is set on the age of the person more than the car.
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Just to throw some random fact into the mix. My cousin has only just passed his test, and almost instantly he was given a brand new sport Punto. Yeah I'm jealous.
And as far as first cars go, don't forget what I went for.
Everything Speedtouch is saying is spot on too.
And as far as first cars go, don't forget what I went for.
Everything Speedtouch is saying is spot on too.