Buying First Car

[natalie_1982]

Hi, I'm a complete girl and can just about tell the difference between and car and a tractor, other than that I'm afraid I am useless.  My boyfriend is sitting his test soon and I want to buy a car for him for Xmas.  We been told that we'd need a 1.4 (but I don't know what that means) for the journies he'd need to make, but other than that I don't have a clue. What is a good first time car that is fairly cheap to run?  Ta in advance.

[Grimalkin]

Very generous of you!  It depends a lot on how much you want to spend though. 

A car with a 1.4 litre engine or smaller (1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3) is eligible for lower car tax - a considerable saving.  Anything higher would probably start getting expensive to insure too.  1.0 would probably seem a bit sluggish...I had a Peugeot 106 with a 1.1 engine which was very nippy in lower gears, but slower at higher speeds eg motorway driving.  Also the pedals were quite small - this wasn't a problem for me, but my boyfriend found it tricky to drive (men generally having bigger feet this is worth bearing in mind).

Is it going to be a suprise? I think it's best if he could test drive the car before you buy...esp if he is tall/short for example - he'd need to make sure the driving position was ok. 

Have a look at the car magazines in WH Smiths - What Car? gives you descriptions of all the different models (i too am complete girl about cars and found this very useful when buying mine).  Personally I'd avoid Fords (find them comparatively clunky and slow) and consider Peugeot 102/206 or Vauxhall Astra (not older Vauxhall Corsas - horrendous). VW are well thought of (Golf, Polo or Lupo for 1st car) but tend to be a bit more expensive.

[natalie_1982]

Thanks Grimalkin - v.helpful.

It will be a surprise, and I'm looking at spending around �700.  It won't be just from me though, his parents and mine will donate towards it and I know that he would like a Golf or Corsa but they seem to be few and far between locally. 

Good pointer about the size of men - although he's not huge (only 5ft8) these are things I guess I ought to consider.  My brother was going to come with me to look at it to see if I am getting a good deal or not, but the cars you mention (I've just googled them and had a look on Autotrader) seem ideal.

[Grimalkin]

I'm not sure where abouts you live but I'd say it's definitely worth haggling.  It took me weeks and weeks to sell my last car (forking out �30 a time to advertise...) and I eventually dropped the price by �400 from what Autotrader said it was worth.  Also, if you go to see a car advertised for say �975 and arrive with �925 in cash they'll be likely to accept it.  If you don't know about cars I'd definitely get someone to go with you, and make sure you get a test drive.  I think autotrader have a page at the front telling you what to check when you look at the car.