Aye on my first one an R reg Punto 60 S you spent all day in lower gears revving the knackers off it ahh the joy of N/A power.
Speaking from experience if you buy a car and it's only got one set of keys, drive to a locksmith on the way back from the garage and get a spare cut . I'd go for a golf / polo depending on insurance. When i was looking, golfs seemed to have done pretty high milage even with a £2k budget. Not so bad on a diesel i guess but not great for petrol engines. I ended up with a 1.9 Diesel polo, great little car imo.
Not much use if your car key is coded to the immobiliser, though ... found out the hard way when I had to get a new key for the Clio and it ended up costing me £135 In fact, if the OP decides to buy a Renault, make sure that the key works properly - the 'plip' style keys are prone to cracked PCBs, especially if they've been mistreated (dropped, kicked, looked at etc.). If you end up with a car with a keycard then all I can say is 'best of luck'
I wouldn't let people saying 'my mate had one of those and it was poo' put you off something if you like it, seems like you could find someone to say that about anything. Chances are they just bought a shoddy one in the first place. It will be the quality of the specific one that you buy more than anything. I *hate* the process of buying a car (I usually have very specific requirements, or pick something where theres only ever 1 in a 200 mile radius), which makes this more difficult, but look at as many as you can - even if you look at one and think it's the one, just look at another one to compare. It will either make you realise it wasn't as good as you thought, or that you should go and buy it right now and let you know you got a good one! Remember it is your first too, chances are you will love it, but it will be gone for something better soon enough. Won't comment on any models suggested, as they all seem pretty boring to me! All I know is that I wouldn't buy a diesel - stinky!
Thanks for the detailed response tzang, I appreciate your advice (and everyone else's of course!) It seems like every car has pros and cons. I'll have a look at what's available in the local papers and see if there's any good deals going.
I am going to have to back up the micras now. I know you are talking about k11 micras, as k12s are too pricey to be first cars. But I own a k12, and it doesn't skip a beat. Its not that bad. And what is more shameful is that it keeps up with my friends saxo furio quite well until it starts to top out. What is more shameful than driving a micra (true story, I don't make a habit of this btw) is when you are in your "awesome" 106, I guess a 1.1 which has been chavved up and trying to race me and loosing quite badly. The moral of that story is, JAP POWAH!!!!! hahaha (even though the k12 micras are basically clios). My suggestion is a clio, I know loads of people with them. My friend has a "crappy" old clio and a 2001 corsa which are shared around the family, the corsa constantly breaks and the clio is rock solid, even with a 4 speed gearbox
tl;dr go for something that has guts, opt for Stick if you you can drive it. Personally Im getting a Subaru... but to each his own. Do not get a Ford (you know what they say, Fix Or Repair Daily)
lol yeah... whats funny is my dying '99 Escort has three gears (R, 1, 2) that are messed up when you shift and it still shifts smoother than some newer cars... Still has some guts it in as well...
Aye, but if you have the key with a chip it's allot more straightforward to get someone to code it to your immobiliser than getting the whole lot sorted. You can get cables off ebay for VW cars for about £15 iirc that use can use to plug a lappy into your car and program new keys. You need to know your secret key code which requires another cable.
A while ago, one of my son's took a driver's education course. The manual transmission class was an added cost option he didn't take. The boy is still shiftless. Automatic only. john /edit I don't think that came out right.
CO has a class for manual trans? Wow, seems opting for MT is getting more odder, NC doesnt require anything for MT, but GA (and I think ID) requires a special certifaction/endorsement to drive MT and if you dont get it, you get a restricted license with an AT only on there... Really wierd...
Buy the Toyota Aygo, it is a wonderful little car, and since it is Toyota it NEVER fails. Edit: Kinda hard to afford a Harley when you are fresh out of Uni.. Get a Puch..
You can pay less and just get the Pug or Citroen version, since there all made at the same car plant.
I recently bought a new car, all i can say is dont get a punto. I had an X reg and it was a fun car but a nightmare apart from that. In the end the engine gave up so i traded it in, i actually got £400 quid for it and it needed a new engine. I put the 400 towards a 2000 MK4 Golf which was £1900 after the trade in discount, from a local independent dealership. Came with full VW service history and had just had the cambelt changed so don't have to worry about that for a long while. Had also just had remote central locking put in which was a nice unexpected bonus. If you look around you can find good deals, this was the cheapest Golf I could find anywhere, in immaculate condition with full VW history =D Another note, it had 70,000 miles on it and its a 1.4 16V I really want a 3 door black MK2 GTI Golf but cant afford the insurance atm =[
