Hello! First post on these forums, and new to driving, please bear with me.

I'm 18 and looking for my first car. I'm involved with scouting and a lot of outdoors activities like camping and cycling, so I'm looking for a slightly larger car, preferably an estate. Obviously insurance costs are a priority.

Currently the favourite is a Skoda Fabia Estate, years 2001 to 2005, as I can get insurance for around £100/month with a black box, and can get the car for less than £1500.

Now I need some advice from you guys. Is a Fabia my best option? Is there a better Skoda estate for my situation? Can I get insurance any cheaper than this? If I do get a Fabia, is there a particular year or model I need to look out for? When buying, what mileage should I look out for, as some cars crap out at certain mileages? Are there known faults to look out for, or any surprises I can expect?

Any and all advice is appreciated.

Might be worth posting in the Fabia section. Good choice by the way. Good luck.

I don't seem to be able to post there for some reason. Thank you!

Hi, just seen your post I drive a Skoda Felicia 1.3 estate and just love it. I know it's 19 years old but it's the most incredible

work horse. I've used it to carry my 2 sons and all their belonging to Uni at Leicester and Lancaster and I live in the deep south.

The only drawback is it is a little underpowered but that keeps the tax and insurance bracket down! Boot capacity is also

huge! Hope this helps

Hi,

Please feel free to give us a try for insurance if you like. If you wanted to PM me some contact details I'd be happy to arrange for one of my quotes team to give you a call back.

Regards,

Dan.

Hi Dan, I appreciate the offer but I've visited your website previously and was quoted quite a high premium compared to other brokers and insurers, and given that I'm only an apprentice I'm looking for a real bargain on insurance.

Nothing wrong with a mk1 facia. Just make sure the electrics all work (Inc the steering).

My choice if you want cheap transport would be the SDI (diesel without a turbo). Dad has one, it's not fast, but it doesn't get any slower if you load it up. I can get it showing 70+mpg.

For how you're going to be using it, avoid the 1.2. It's a bit fragile, and you need to work it hard to get anywhere, especially loaded up.

Like the other guy said, have a looked felicias as well. There's so many well looked after, granny owned ones about for small change. The 1.3 is good on fuel, doesn't mind a bit of abuse, and is basic to work on. Avoid the 1.6, I had a couple in my pickup, it was thirsty and no quicker than the 1.3. If you see a diesel one, they're great. The only downside is, they're a bit tricky to work on because they're a bit squeezed in the bay.

The only diesels I've found have been much more expensive than the petrols, so not sure if that's an option.

Autotrader is showing tax of £205 for a lot of the Fabia hatchbacks, which I've been looking at rather than the estates recently, any idea why the tax is so high?

I also came across a fairly cheap petrol hatchback but its described as a Blackline Limited Edition, any ideas as to what's so special about it?

Hi Dan, I appreciate the offer but I've visited your website previously and was quoted quite a high premium compared to other brokers and insurers, and given that I'm only an apprentice I'm looking for a real bargain on insurance.

Hi,

Ok no worries. Thanks for giving us a try anyway.

Regards,

Dan.

I've been told the 1.4 diesel is very noisy and encounters a lot of issues due to it only having 3 cylinders. Anyone able to verify this or advise otherwise?