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.

think the 1.2htp would probably be a good shout although wouldn't earn you much street cred among your mates if such a thing is important to you :P

 

Best bet is to find a few fabias with different engines on autotrader and try them back to back in comparison sites. my friend had a 1.2htp as her first car and she was happy with it, nice toquey engine and practical.

 

andy

Make sure to look into getting insured through "ONLY YOUNG DRIVERS" its a brokerage firm that managed to get my insurance on my 1.4 16V elegance (100bhp version) down from 2800 to 1100 with every extra inc breakdown, fully comprehensive

Not interested in impressing mates, I'm looking for practicality and affordability. Is there any particular year I need to be looking for, are any particularly good or bad?

Thanks Aaron, I'll take a look at that. I work for a company that makes the software insurance brokers use, so I'm hoping to be able to get some sort of discount through there. Currently seems that More Than is my best option, though I'll look at OYD later today.

Even though I have it myself, I wouldn't recommend the 1.4, 8 valve engine as the design dates back to the 1950s and they are slow and not very economical. They tend to have noisy timing chains too.

 

A common issue on MK1 Fabias is water leaking into the interior through the door ancillary carrier seals. Most should have been sorted by now but there will still be some with leaks, so that is something to bear in mind. The solution is to remove the door cards and seal the carriers with sealant.

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/226475-fabia-door-carrier-seal-repair-illustrated/

Edited 19 May, 201610 yr by TMB

I would try my up most to avoid the black box, i work with a guy that does 30mph on a road that really should be 40mph ie long straight out of work that is non residential. Everyone gets stuck behind him on the way home... Poor guy its making hum depressed, so much so he now pays for the insurance to build up his no claims, and cycles 15miles a day as he cant cope driving like grandma.

 

 - For the trolls, yes its important to drive safely, but that also means driving to the conditions of the road, and within your and your cars capability. 

With regards to mileage, I would be more concerned about the service history, I got my car when I had just turned 19 and the mileage was at around 79k, it's now at over 130k but I've not had any major problems as it's well looked after. 

 

When shopping around, it can be useful to check the MOT history of the car:

 

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

Edited 19 May, 201610 yr by Dazza95

- For the trolls, yes its important to drive safely, but that also means driving to the conditions of the road, and within your and your cars capability.

Lol. Statement makes no sense. In who's opinion is it that you are driving within yours and the cars capabilities? Yours or the person you've crashed into?

That's why there are speed limits so it's straight forward for everyone. You either drive legally or illegally.

Ps I break the speed limit everyday so I ain't no troll just honest.

Lol. Statement makes no sense. In who's opinion is it that you are driving within yours and the cars capabilities? Yours or the person you've crashed into?

That's why there are speed limits so it's straight forward for everyone. You either drive legally or illegally.

Ps I break the speed limit everyday so I ain't no troll just honest.

Some councils are retartds? some roads change but the limits have never been altered? school used to be there but now converted to a car show room limit never alter blah blah. There is a long straight road (A6) Preston - Garstang, that 5 years ago was national speed limit, nothing has changed, its green belt nothing has been built, its now 40mph. I will tell you the only person that does 40 is the tractor driver.

 

Im not advocating speeding, Nor am i saying its legal :P. But like i said drive within you/ the cars/ the conditions capabilities. You could call this a Dynamic risk assessment.

 

The point im making is the black box, is soul destroying!

Not interested in impressing mates, I'm looking for practicality and affordability.

The youth of today are total numpties (trust me, i know plenty of them), i'm glad to see there's a normal person left from your generation. Good for you young man.

Hope you find a cracking Fabia Estate and get using it like it was intended.

I've got a Fabia 1.9SDI estate, it's my first car. Not quick and definitely not powerful on hills but economical and has been fairly reliable for me. All the problems I've had have been just general wear-and-tear due to age. Very happy with it though.

 

As for black boxes, pain in the backside. They don't take into account circumstances, so if you have to brake because of soemeone else's stupidity, they assume it's you being an incompetent driver.

While I can understand everyone's points regarding black boxes and telematics, do I actually have a choice? Where my insurance would be ~£100/month with a black box, its nearer £400 upwards without. Am I missing a trick?

You need to shop around a bit, there was a difference of about £300 annually when I insured my Fabia for the first time. Also, adding your parents as named drivers (not main) can help. Try going through Chris Knott on here, they were the cheapest for me this year

My Nana is the family member I'll be adding as a named driver, she reduces the premium lots. I've tried the comparison sites and individual brokers, no where seems to give a reasonable premium without telematics.

+1 for adding an aged relative ,with a decent driving history and decent NCB. Don't know WHY, but add an old fogie to even a an almost 9 year driver's policy and premium drops by at least £100 /YEAR.Daughter added me to her policy ,and though I'd never drive her car, she got £100 a year off.

For your circumstances I'd say get a 1.9SDI. Awesome fuel economy, a bulletproof engine that will chug along all day and easily do 200K miles.

I'd get the Elegance spec which has heated seats and mirrors.

By no means the quickest Fabia but it'll do motorway speeds however you'll need to plan overtakes.

1.9 SDI or 1.4TDI-almost same power output.  SDI is 64BHP/ 1.4TDI is 70 . Insurance -SDI = GP 5, TDI = GP7. That's the paper figures. But on the road- I've got a 1.4, and on the box it says 70/75 BHP- on the road ,it's more like a lot more. Then there's the handling- with a smaller lighter unit, there's less weight on the front ,so a 1.4 is a lot nimbler. And there's less need to time an overtake- bit of a turbo lag, and then it's keep an eye on the revs and change up as needed . Only thing a 1.4TDI is lacking is a six speed box. But in fifth at 70 on a motorway- there's more KICK from a 1.4

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Edited 20 May, 201610 yr by VWD

1.9 SDI or 1.4TDI-almost same power output.  SDI is 64BHP/ 1.4TDI is 70 . Insurance -SDI = GP 5, TDI = GP7. That's the paper figures. But on the road- I've got a 1.4, and on the box it says 70/75 BHP- on the road ,it's more like a lot more. Then there's the handling- with a smaller lighter unit, there's less weight on the front ,so a 1.4 is a lot nimbler. And there's less need to time an overtake- bit of a turbo lag, and then it's keep an eye on the revs and change up as needed . Only thing a 1.4TDI is lacking is a six speed box. But in fifth at 70 on a motorway- there's more KICK from a 1.4

While I would agree the 1.4 tdi is a nippier car than the 1.9 sdi, it has a turbo which brings added risk to any higher mileage car plus a number of 1.4 TDI have suffered catastrophic engine damage due to lack of oil pressure when the balance chain snapped. I don't know how likely this is but you see them on ebay every few weeks - effectively writes off the car. My first few cars maxed out at less than 80 so a sdi (which apparently does 98-99) is fast enough for me

AND that is where SERVICE HISTORY comes in. Cars at less than 80BHP- my first car had the grand total of 40BHP, and the next very similar Mini had similar. But i had one with more than 80BHP- an Austin  Maxi at 85BHP .But for a new driver , it's more than top speed. It's about a bit of grunt, to get out of trouble if needed.

Hey bud,

 

Think its a money super market job for insurance.  As said, make sure the cars have service history's.

 

I cant add much more other than I worked for skoda and the SDI's and TDI's would roll in with 250k on the clock without having anything major done in its life, well maybe a clutch etc, so dont worry too much about mileage on the cars, just servive history.

 

And i agree about avoiding the black box!

 

G

Really can't find any insurers that are offering insurance within my budget without a black box, so I don't see that I have much choice.

Since posting this, I've started looking at the Fabia hatchbacks rather than estates, as they seem to come reasonably cheaper and more within my price range. So I'm currently looking at a 1.4 hatchback. I've seen a blackline limited edition, anyone any clues as to what these are?

Most estates, including mine, have lived a tough life by bow being dog cars or tip cars. If you can find a good one they are worth it for the space (bike in back with front wheel off easy).

MY estate was a taxi in a previous life which has actually served me well.

 

On the  subject of adding older drivers, see if there is anyone such as a family friend who has had their licence a few years and is completely clean who you could also add. They don't have to live at your home address and they only need to drive it once to make it legit ("Hey, _______, can you move my car for me?). I found that adding two adults was the optimum - any more and any less brought the premium up a bit.

 

However, you may still find telematics is your best bet - my girlfriend did for her first year on a 10-month accelerator policy and her premium will drop substantially at the end of it. Just be extra careful and try and avoid one that gives you a curfew as all it takes is some unexpected roadworks/someone else having an accident on the motorway during a journey home and boom, £50 fine charge! Always look at the T&Cs.

 

Also, I totally understand why you want to pay monthly, and it's very sensible, but if you could afford to pay the lump sum up front you would save yourself a few quid at the end of it all.

Definitely worth checking all 4 major price comparison sites - ComparetheMarket, Confused, MoneySupermarket and Go Compare, as weirdly Confused brought my quote in at around £50 cheaper than CtM (which was the 2nd best).

 

 

All the best, I spent 5 months doing quotes on different cars I saw on AutoTrader before I bought so I know how hellish it can be and how demoralising it is at times!