To be honest we need more info about the person concerned. There's no point suggesting an MG Midget if it's a 17yr old girl whose only interests are clubbing.

I'm guessing the person concerned is female given that the original suggestions from Foggy have been Micra, Skoda or 340. Given that classic insurance is a option I'm also guessing she's mid to late twenties. I also guess she likes cars, but has no real mechanical knowledge (yet) and has recently learned to drive.

Thus I conclude we're talking about Ruth!

Right, that helps narrow it down - MG's, Spitfires etc are all too cantankerous for her to realistically cope with at this stage, Beetles are good, but she isn't a hippy. What's the budget? £500? £1000? £2000? Normally I'd recommend a Nissan Figaro as they share a lot of mechanical bits with the Micra so should be easy to get spares for, they're Japanese and reliable, there's a good fan base and they're cool and funky. However, a good one is upwards of £3k so probably out of budget.

These are my ideas (not going to talk about the 340 as we all know about them!);

Honda CRX Mk1 / Mazda MX5 / Toyota MR-2 - for pretty much the same reasons as the Figaro, but they're cheaper.

All are above the 1.4 mark in engine size, but MX5 aside are reasonably cheap, reliable, different and have a good following. However, they may be a bit too 'common' and chavvy for her.

Morris Minor or Mini (or Riley Elf/Austin Se7en etc etc etc) - cheap reliable fun, but maybe a bit too maintenace heavy/rot prone. Image:- 'Arty type' for the Moggie, 'cheeky' for the Mini.

VW Golf Mk1/2 - uber sensible, uber safe, uber boring and conservative. Upmarket image, but no sense the owner is fun or left-field.

MG F - better cars than expected, good club/owners scene, but engines may be too big and possibly a bit too 'tarty'.

Renault 5 - cheap, cheerful, full of Gallic charm, not too bad on rot/reliability and shares parts with a 340.

Citroen AX - as above but without the parts sharing.

I wouldn't go for the Pug 205 as they're too troublesome IMHO.

Finally, if she isn't doing great distances, I'd honestly recommend the Citroen 2CV - got to be reliable as there's nothing to go wrong, great fun, quirky, cheap to run, a hoot to drive and best of her her Dad has loads of them so he can fix it when required, not you!!



On another note re classic insurance most companies won't touch under 25's (Ruth's Ok, but just in case anyone else had ideas), most require the car to be off the road at night (driveway minimum, garage preferred), a lot want you to have a 'daily' car and annual mileage is restricted. There's also the fact that you don't get to build up a NCB so if you ever move away from a classic to something newer you have to start from scratch.

How about Civic? CRX is just different looking Civic and some 90's 1.3 Civic with injection has good interior space, while not being very large car, they are reliable, but part prices are bit high, also insurance might be bit high because of chavs.

Very low petrol consumption, especially lean burn models which are of course newer and not really for classic insurance.

I always hesistate to recommend a classic or older vehicle for those on a limited budget, unless they're in it for the right reasons - love of the car. If they're *just* in it for cheapness the classic in question is just one custodian away from the scrapyard.

Just had another thought -

Suzuki Cappuccino.


Like a Figaro only cheaper

Rust Rust Rust!

^^ issues lol

as much as rust is a problem not alll cars are Rusty beyond believe, get a classic with 12months ticket run for a year asses the situation if its not re ticket-able sell it to someone that can sort it, that way you get the joy of a classic for minimum cost but also keep out of the scrappy, may sound bad but if you think about it it could be worse and it will most likely live on. only problem i see with this approach is getting attached to it, thus making it impossible to part with a plunging crap loads of dough into it, which is what i would do

V6 Man wrote:Just had another thought -

Suzuki Cappuccino.


Like a Figaro only cheaper

SteveP wrote:Rust Rust Rust!

For once the Brummie is actually right... as much as I love the Cap, they are far worse than 300's are even though they are 5-15 years younger. Foggy would be welding all summer

I am indeed talking about Ruth. She wants a car, but has very little money at present to spend on making it happen. Insurance is by far the biggest worry, as she has only recently passed her test. Perhaps the thread title and question was misleading. I'm looking for the most "sensible / normal" thing I can get away with insuring as a classic, essentially. The Micra or Felicia are ideal, but undoubtedly far too new to be insured as classics. I'm ideally looking for something similarly sensible / boring...but just old enough to be insured as a classic. The budget is as little as possible - under £500, ideally. Anything "sexy" is out of the question on purchase price grounds...even a half-decent Golf is probably scene-taxed out of range. A mk2 Golf would be high up my list if it weren't for the price issue. I don't think she's at all fussy about what she has...although she has long wanted one of these...

http://www.carthrottle.com/wp-content/u ... /E28-1.jpg

I appreciate that the actual answer to this question will come from an insurance company. I was just seeking help with brain storming. The 205 is the best idea I've heard so far, although I think I'd still favour a 340 on safety grounds. Seen too many comprehensively folded up 80s French superminis. 300s might not be up to modern standards, but they were pretty amazing in their day.

I suppose the bottom line is this. A Felicia and a good 340 cost roughly the same, and all else being equal, the Skoda is the better car for a young female driver who has recently passed her test and barely gives a rat's ass about cars. However, Felicia insurance is about £800. If it's half that for the 340 on a classic policy, it's worth looking into. I need to make a few calls...

cheers

James

Is a MkII Golf really that expensive in the UK? Here excellent examples can be snapped up for well under a grand even though their numbers are dwindling fast ...

I don't think they're boring at all. An early MkII around 1985, in brown metallic, some kind of special edition spec, OEM alloys and 90 bhp? Much more interesting than a Skoda.

This is what I'm thinking of:


or this:


One of the most durable cars ever, along with a Merc 190E, but that would be pushing the budget a bit.

Tom

Yes the scene tax on them is quite incredible. You can pick up examples for under a grand but they'll need some work. Saying that, they WOULD last forever.

Hi James.
A mate of mines son is realy into 80s early 90s VW Polos.
Great looking cars. Cheap to buy and run.
Cheers Mark.

Safety and classic insurance is quite difficult combo, as we all know, it was not until mid 90's when other than Swedish car makers did pay attention to it and it took few years until really good ones started to roll out.

We do have a system where you can take car off from road and then take it back, during that time insurance costs next to nothing. If you have similar system which is not impossible to use in practise, then it might be one possible way to cut tax, driving only part of the year?

Ok, I had no idea that Cappuccino's were so good at rusting.

I reckon it comes down to a Mk2 Golf. (Did the 1.3's get PAS?), A early 1990's Honda Civic hatch (pref one of the 'special' editions that got some extra toys), a Clio or a 2CV.

To be honest the Civic is probably the best bet as the base model ones don't suffer from scene tax. A 1.3 (for low tax) is pretty nippy and frugal too, they handle well, look quite chic and sporty (esp the hatch in red) and are very reliable. My mum had a 1993 one from new and in 10 years did 125k with nothing other than routine servicing, tyres and brakes.

Yeah, I'm worried that good mk2 Golfs are going to be too expensive. A friend just sold a very tidy 1986 1.3...that was a lovely car.

EH2 Civic...now there's a thought!


All depends on what the insurers say. I just got a quote for £120 on a 340 1.4 (vs 3-400 for regular insurance), so there is the potential for major savings. I'll try a call on Monday...

cheers

James

The Civic pre that is pretty awesome, the wedge one. Else, cheap mk2 golfs and equiv polos are very cheap, a few 1.3 ones have sold round here recently for less than 300.