Looking for my first car

[Paulie]

Nice to see you're being sensible about it 👍 160bhp is a lot when it's your first car.

*Looks at comment, looks at my first car*

Ruh roh!

Something completely different, but what of an Opel Omega?

 

[homeforsummer]

*Looks at comment, looks at my first car*

Ruh roh!

Whether you own a reasonably powerful first car or not, would you or would you not agree that it's more sensible not to go for something with too much power when it's your first car?...

 

[Paulie]

Whether you own a reasonably powerful first car or not, would you or would you not agree that it's more sensible not to go for something with too much power when it's your first car?...

Yes. I just don't know if I'd call anything under 200hp at the crank too much to handle for a learner except maybe in wet conditions. *Wonders how much my Ute is now with modifications and after 15-16yrs of power loss*

 

[zazaza]

Something completely different, but what of an Opel Omega?

Opel Omega it's a big car for me and usually they have an amount of mileage.

About Opel, what do you thing about an Astra GSI? There are different GSI versions: from 115hp to 150hp. And usually they are cheap.
What are your suggestions about this car?

 

[Jondot]

Opel Omega it's a big car for me and usually they have an amount of mileage.

About Opel, what do you thing about an Astra GSI? There are different GSI versions: from 115hp to 150hp. And usually they are cheap.
What are your suggestions about this car?

Drive one, then drive a basic Focus. That should be the end of that discussion

Or if that's not enough to drive you away, the insurance premiums will be.

 

[homeforsummer]

Drive one, then drive a basic Focus. That should be the end of that discussion

Or if that's not enough to drive you away, the insurance premiums will be.

Actually, this is where I come in and recommend one of these:

Cheap? Yes. Economical? Yes. Fun? Very. Quick? Quick enough for a first car. Parts? Grow on trees, virtually. Handling? Better than just about any other small car of the time and still better than a fair few of the new ones.

Ideal spec: 1.4 Zetec 3dr (like the one in the picture above)
Cheaper to insure: 1.4 Ghia 5dr
Even cheaper: 1.25 Zetec/Ghia/LX
Even cheaper: Any of the 1.3 8v Endura engined models.

1.3s have 60bhp, 1.25s have 75, 1.4s have 90. You can get 1.8 non-turbo and turbodiesels. Both are noisy, both are economical, the non-turbo is very slow and I wouldn't recommend it. The turbodiesel is about on par with the 1.3 but does 15 more mpg.

I had a basic 1.3 for over six years and it was brilliant. The press didn't like the 1.3 because you can't rev the nuts off them like you can with the 16v versions but it was more than adequate and what you lose in performance to other cars you make up for in handling. And if you like low-revs torque, the 1.3 is much better than the 1.25.

Plus, they built them in Spain so you can still claim some home pride

 

[Jondot]

I'm guessing the wee Fiesta's going to be disregarded as a little tame considering the sort of stuff in his wish list, so...

If you can get insured, of course. Technically a coupe so you might get a bit of a shock from the quotes.

 

[mustangGT90210]

Yes. I just don't know if I'd call anything under 200hp at the crank too much to handle for a learner except maybe in wet conditions. *Wonders how much my Ute is now with modifications and after 15-16yrs of power loss*

My truck had 145 at the crank from the factory, in a 5500 pound vehicle. Anything he gets will probably be faster

And I'll be jealous of the speed...

 

[Prosthetic]

I got 148 HP from factory in my Focus... I don't see how people say it's to much to handle o.O... It's the easiest car I've ever driven.

 

[lpb-nissan-gt-r]

1995 Honda Civic coupe that's what I am looking at in the summer when I start to drive, but I do not know about insurance if any one could come up with a rough figure that would be great, what about a standard Saxo and make it your own?

 

[Leonidae]

150bhp isn't a lot at all. doesn't feel any different than 90 or 100bhp, well, in FWD at least where it's wasted into wheelspin even with modest 1.6l Opel Astra.. oh, and the wheel hop.. do not get anything small and french.. or italian. Ford, VAG-products.. or perhaps Mazda 323 GTi?

 

[Rotary Junkie]

323 GTi is the problem.

GTi or GTI badge = /deathofwallet.

 

[zazaza]

1995 Honda Civic coupe that's what I am looking at in the summer when I start to drive, but I do not know about insurance if any one could come up with a rough figure that would be great, what about a standard Saxo and make it your own?

Last Sunday a friend of mine has bought this little 8v Saxo. It only has 60k kilometers and it costed 2.800€. Car was from son of a mechanic and it has some upgrades. It's a pretty nice car. Screenshots are from the used cars website.

 

[lpb-nissan-gt-r]

Nice,I am not keen on the wheels or the steering wheel though.

 

[socomplayer2]

That saxo is very nice in my opinion. Also I second your choice of the mk2 and mk3 vw gti. I have driven over 40 different vws between mk2 and mk6 and something about mk2 and mk3s are very unique and fun. Also those models have a large cult following and great community.

 

[Leonidae]

MkII Golf> MKIII.

 

[mustangGT90210]

I got 148 HP from factory in my Focus... I don't see how people say it's to much to handle o.O... It's the easiest car I've ever driven.

I agree. The only car that's ever worried me about power was a '93 Camaro Z28. 280 hp, with a shift kit in the transmission. Anything less than that doesn't take me out of my comfort range

 

[YSSMAN]

MkII Golf> MKIII.

From a known VW fan, this is truth x1000. Lighter in weight, better fuel economy, typically more reliable and much easier to work on, the MKII is vastly superior to the MKIII. Granted, I still like the look of the MKIII, and when it comes to actually having to travel long distances, the newer versions are much better than the old. But, after they scrapped the wonderful engines and (generally) tighter suspension setups, it just wasn't the same thing.

 

[socomplayer2]

Idk about mkII>mkIII but they do each have their plus and minus's.

 

[Paulie]

I agree. The only car that's ever worried me about power was a '93 Camaro Z28. 280 hp, with a shift kit in the transmission. Anything less than that doesn't take me out of my comfort range

My Ute had 175hp from the factory, and I've done mods since which have definitely made it quicker (hopefully more than brand new thanks to power loss), and it's only hairy if you're being silly in the wet, or if it's really REALLY teaming down when you should be more careful anyway, plus this has a light ended bum. Funny though that a 270kw Ford Territory is more tame thanks to the turbos not spooling at low throttle and massive weight increases.
I think any car suggested here so far will be more than easy enough to control.

 

[homeforsummer]

Nice,I am not keen on the wheels or the steering wheel though.

Heh. I like both the wheels and the steering wheel in that Saxo. The wheels are from the Peugeot 106 Rallye.

I reckon you'd have a lot of fun with it, zazaza. Looks like it's been very tastefully improved.

Re: Power - it's not that high power is too much to handle, it's more that if you have more power you're still going to be inclined to use all of it (it's just the way new drivers are) and that can get you in trouble very quickly when you're inexperienced. I'm sure plenty of us here were responsible enough (I'm sure plenty aren't, too) to not drive like an idiot when offered something with more power, but at least if you have a car with low power to start off in then even if you do thrash it you won't get silly speeds out of it.

Also worth noting that some of you saying you have more powerful cars here also have significantly heavier ones so the performance is blunted slightly. Things like that Saxo above weigh a fair chunk less than 1000kg, so even with roughly 100bhp it'll still shift pretty quickly.

Also worth noting that little European hatchbacks go sideways very easily when you lift off the gas (in the sort of situation you realise that the extra power has resulted in you going too quickly) so again, with less power you're likely to be travelling slower if you do do something daft.

And again, it comes down to insurance. Even a Focus with 140-odd bhp from a 1.8/2.0 is going to be a hell of a lot more to insure than say, a Focus with the 80-odd bhp 1.4 engine.

I think any car suggested here so far will be more than easy enough to control.

As above. It's not about control in day to day driving, it's about an inexperienced driver getting it wrong in a car with a fair bit of performance. And it's about insurance.

 

[zazaza]

Finally, after searching a lot of diferent cars, I bought an Opel Astra F GSi 1.8 16v (C18XE engine), that has 125hp. I bought it to a direct owner, not in any used cars shop. It is not the most powerful Astra, because it does exist the GSi 2.0 16v, that has 150hp and it has a similar price. I think that 150hp are a lot for my first car, so I finally found an 1.8 16v for cheap. It costed 1300 € and it has arround 150000 km. Wheels are the OZ Superturismo GT 15" and it has Monroe shocks.

A picture from the used cars website:

I have not a lot of pictures of it, because I bought it yesterday, but today I tried to take some ones.

About the insurrance, it cost relatively cheap, thanks to my father, that has some bonus price. I asked for the 150hp Astra, and they said it costs 1200 € per year (without any bonus and if one of the usual drivers is a novice), but thanks to those bonus, they asked that it will be arround 600€. So, finally mine has 125hp and I expect it to be cheaper than 600€ per year.

Thanks for your suggestions, I searched for Civics, Celicas, and they were a little bit expensive for my budget, and here, japanese cars weren't so popular untill the end of the 90's, so there aren't a lot of spare parts. About the Golf, there are a lot of MkIII 8v and MkII 8v for cheap, but usually with more than 200000 km. I also searched for the R19 16v, but it has 140hp (I thought a lot about the R19, because I love that car, but finally I think that 140hp it's quite a lot) and the the gasoline consumption for the R19 it's arround 10l/100km, and here in Spain 1l iter of 95 octane benzin costs beetwen 1 and 1'10 €.

I love the Astra GSi since I was a child and now I'm very happy with it. They are really cheap here!

Thanks for all your suggestions!

 

[homeforsummer]

Nice choice. I'm not a big Opel fan myself but you seem to have bought quite a tidy one and it'll be more than up to the task of first car Pity you couldn't get a 19 16v, they're lovely cars, but I expect you have the same problem over there that we do in the UK - most have been badly modified and driven without a lot of care.

 

[speed junkie]

Im assuming there are no Miatas in Spain.

 

[zazaza]

Im assuming there are no Miatas in Spain.

Unfortunately not. And if you find one of them here, they are really expensive.
Anyway, it is possible to buy the newest Mazda Mx-5 in the official delearship.
Until the early 2000, Mazda was not popular here in Spain. We haven't RX-7 for example.

 

[Paulie]

Woot an Opel, I like Opels.

 

[shelby_sc]

My first car was an old Opel Astra and I really loved it. It was not difficult to find a cheap car but it was very difficult to find the right car insurance. I am of the opinion that the United States car insurance system is quite complicated and besides this if you are a young driver the insurance is very expensive. I had to look for a while until I had found the right insurance for my requirements.