[Closed] First car for a 31 year old IT nerd - something interesting a very bad idea??

Good shout on the Puma I had one years ago, you can fit two bikes in it with the seats down it has a nice engine and does handle well and it's cheap to buy and probably insure.

How about an old-school E36 M3?

Or look on the road-legal motorsport section of Pistonheads. There are always a few leftfield options there.

MR2/MX5/Boxter can all be made to work with bikes.

MR2 - Mk1 and Mk3 good - mk2 naff and now most mk1 are rot boxes (as are a lot of mk1 mx-5)

This would work better with a less big bike:

[img] ?gl=GB[/img]

sold this a couple of months ago for what I paid for it £1200 not bad after two years of ownership - fun car and had it on 'classic' policy £138 per year fully comp with pan euro breakdown

[img] ?gl=GB[/img]

[img] ?gl=GB[/img]

This is how you carry bikes on an MR2

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

Thanks for the response guys.

I have no intention of driving how I ride a bike so am less concerned about handling at the ragged edge.

However, I do like the idea of track days in order to learn where the limits are.

For info, the Honda S2000, Elise's , M3's etc are in a different league altogether with regards to insurance!

The mx-5 does make sense but then an rx-8's so much cheaper and could be kept if and when sprogs arrive on the scene..

If you're not too fussed about handling 'at the ragged edge', the rx-8 probably makes more sense then.

The mx-5 is a better sports car but the interior of the rx-8 is undoubtedly a nicer place to be.

have a mk3 mx-5 great car. better than the mk2 / 2.5 though still not has cool/fun really as the mk1. don't buy a car based on when rugrats might turn up... you can always sell.!!!and even mk-5 come with ISOfix

You'll find a Golf TDI plenty fast enough if it's your first car, and very safe too. Given enough road it'll creep up to twice the national limit...

And you can get your bike in it.

A3 tdi Quattro sport. Fun and practical and can drive circles round every mx5 I come across....

Yer to be fair mx-5 is far from a sensible car for transporting bikes and shite around....

Interesting and sensible don't often come together.

Golf TDi's and A3's are definitely not interesting...

For the OP however, how about a 306 GTi-6? Comfy ish. Can cruise easily and relatively frugally, 6 speed box. Makes an awesome noise when you boot it. Has plenty of toys. Bike'll go on roof bars or a towbar no problem.

If you want an RX-8, you may as well try one, but make sure you go in knowing what to expect. They need oil (not a major issue), and the fuel consumption and road tax (for later ones) are pretty brutal. But hey, run it for a year then sell it on - if you've bought a good one and been careful you shouldn't lose much on it, and you'll have had a year of fun.

IMHO - because everyone else has one - you can seriously damage yourself in any car, really. If you misjudge your speed and/ or a corner, you're probably in trouble, and the question really is how much. And, admittedly, some cars will put you deeper in trouble than others.

Alfa 147? Learn all the joys and pitfalls of car ownership in one go.

if I had 4k to buy any car I'd be going for a ep3 type-r if I was bothered about kids/carrying stuff. If I wasn't. I'd be going for a mk1 mx5 and strapping a charger to it and put the grand change in the bank. An rx8 would be nowhere near any list I made.

Dave (31 year old IT 'geek', 3 x owner of mk1 mx5s and had the aforementioned 1.6 sport civic which I loved to bits).

Ah yes but you're an IT geek whereas I'm an IT nerd.

That makes a huge difference.

Probably

Go classic or quirky, get a nice safe car that way and still turn heads. Saab 96, p1800.

Or more modern, Toyota Sera

Only cheapo advice from me - dont get a rwd first. Proper pants browning. Especially when you might not realise the price of folk's fences, hedges and sheds - from personal experience.

Any sporty fwd - good for a laugh. Makes you look sensible. Dont buy anything precious for your first car - you may well dent it whilst parking etc etc. Or someone else will and you'll realise that NCB is worth a lot.

I have no intention of driving how I ride a bike so am less concerned about handling at the ragged edge

This sounds like something I once thought lol. My pride - and confidence - has still not recovered 😆

Hmmm, this is making me wonder - just how over zealous do you have to be to bin a RWD car?

My brother in law installed his mx-5 on a roundabout , via a very solid lamppost.... 12 years or so experience but then he always did seem a little er 'enthusiastic' with his right foot...

Some people are making out that RWD cars are inherently unsafe.

They're not, but if you have come from a fwd car with lots of active safety gizmos especially traction control, but then get in a RWD car without traction control, if you just give it full throttle exiting a corner in the wet you might find the back end steps out a bit, and if you dont recognise this is happenign until its too late then you could be in a spot of bother. If the RWD car has traction control it'll be no different to the FWD car as it will not let you give it full throttle.

You'll learn loads about how to drive a car in a RWD car and once you get to know it, you'll never want a FWD car again (because in general, they're boring compared to RWD)

But its this adjustability on the throttle that makes a lot (but not all)of RWD cars interesting. Your right foot is an analog device, use it like one and you'll be fine.

I used to have a TVR cerbera that would spin the back wheels in s straight line even at 90mph in 4th gear if it was wet, but you had to be really clumsy with the throttle to provoke it to do this, and it was great fun all the time.

My first car was a 6month old Mini Cooper, I've driven many many cars over the years (cough 6), many scary fast cars namely the supercharged/mapped loaner STI Impreza.

None come even close to the £900 1.7 Yamaha engined Ford Puma.

If the MX5 mk2 was more practical* for biking itd be equal, if not a slight win for the mx5 however the Puma is small, nimble, go-kart like and bloody nippy once you are over 2nd gear. Direction changes, snappy input- the steering is great and its cheap as chips for parts etc. When it dies I will go back to a Forester but I hope it flies through its MOT in Feb.

Trying to refit a saris post ride then the bike and secure is a hassle post-ride when you can just chuck it into a hatch......then there's the fact you can carry 3/4 people in a Puma or a lot of junk..

Saying that if you can fit a towbar to a mx5?

First Time Driver:

Get a modern car with good NCAP scores, ABS and Airbags! Doesn't matter how you intend to drive, its all too easy to get out of shape or just make a cock-up. [i] You have to make a gross error to loose control of a modern car[/i] Rubbish! Just going a little wide on a bend is 'out of control', especially if you end up heading for an oncoming car.

A car that ticks the above boxes will usually be a common and not particularly desirable. But it does mean that in the first 6 months of driving, you will be kerbing £10 wheel trims rather than £600 alloys, and broken mirrors etc will be cheap and easy to replace.

6 months minimum in a 'normal' car, then go and fine something exciting!

This was my mate's car as we headed out for a ride, I can't honestly suggest its a practical car for the OP though.

[img] [/img]

Rather than an RX-8, you'd be better spending the same money on a BMW 3 series coupe.

It'll drive as well and you'll actually be able to sell it when the time comes.

The thing is though, for 4k it'd be a pretty old 3 series coupe!

Rx-8's are crazy cheap!

I doubt the op would get insurance on a rx8

Not a nerd, but after passing my test at 30 I got a Fiesta 1.4 03 plate. Not scandalous to insure and cheap to run/fix.

...And apperently a really good drive as well. Like the mk1 Focus etc.

Hora - the insurance isnt actually too bad, I posted a page or two ago the comparative quotes for a corsa, Octavia and rx-8.

...And apperently a really good drive as well. Like the mk1 Focus etc.

Nothing to compare it to, but is a fun car to throw about.....just have to use the gears right to make up for the lack of grunt.

RRR....hmmmmmmm could be within the 'brief' then.

Hmmm is there anyway I can buy a mx5? How could I explain to hora jnr and mrshora that I can't carry them both?

How about old school cool? Jaguar XJS 4.0
It'll use more oil and more petrol than an RX8, and probably has the actual reliability that the RX8 is perceived to have, but because it's not a rotary it'll pass muster for a STW "list".

Get the RX8.

p.s. I love the XJS, so it's a semi-serious suggestion.

My brother has a V12 XJS.

It decided to not start as he and new wife left the church en route to their wedding reception..

It's now in a garage , covered up and unloved at my parents house... A lovely car in a straight line by all accounts, when it worked ...

A-B happens quicker in our Mondeo diesel estate, shifting so much kit and you don't even notice the speed. The MX-5 is slower A-B, but so much more fun and feeling.

get the least amount of car to move as much as you need, the mondeo could never handle like the mx5

On a motorway. On a series of bends the Mondeo would be left behind.

Just to give a contrasting approach... I went from sports bikes, where in all honestly 99% of people can't get anywhere near the edge of the thing's performance, and half the 1% that can choose not to, and bought a diesel focus estate. And tbh I have far more fun trying to make the focus go moderately quickly than I ever had going considerably faster on a bike. Obviously different people take their pleasure in different ways but I'd much rather be trying to hustle a slower car, than being in a fast car feeling slow.

Also feel you learn a lot from driving a more basic car, they flatter you less and don't let you hide mistakes as easily.

YMMV of course- no doubt a lot of people would hate my mobile garden shed.

hora - not many straights on the roads I was thinking of, Welsh B-roads with rarely a chance to get beyond 4th

MX5 is more fun, but the Mondeo [u]will[/u] be waiting at the next village.

Like Northwind suggests, lot to be gained from hustling a basic car.

[img] [/img]

I'd still take a mx5 over a civic type r. After I drive one I thought it was all revs and shouting with little too show.

Timber you've obviously raced someone at somepoint. All that you proved against that driver is someone in a welsh village had their taxi turn up early that day.

OP - Any car with a bit of poke will be entertaining for your first car! All the folk on here going on about 'boring this', 'wouldn't have that', have all drove/owned multiple cars. It's only on driving muliple cars that you notice the difference between them!
Has for the RWD, FWD and AWD debate...I have a RWD car and although I love it, I wouldn't buy another. I live at the bottom of a steep hill and can't drive up it when there's snow/ice about. Luckily I can borrow a 4x4 when that happens, if it wasn't for that, I'd have sold my BMW and bought an Audi Quattro by now.

First car for a 31 year old IT nerd, I would say get yourself a cheap Nissan Micra and use it for a year to get used to driving and cheap insurance aswell, after a year then upgrade to a better one.

Good luck

Why? What wierd thinking!

Buy a car with great drive dynamics. You'll be safer as you'll be more in tune with the cars handling and interface with the road.

Buy with the view you'll bang and ding and you will.

So. Buy a mk1 1.6 5door Ford Focus on decent tyres.

Job done.

If the budget will stretch to it.. an unmolested Mk2 Golf late 80's early 90's.. they're not exspensive to buy and you can get classic insurance on them... fit 5 people inside or a bike and a hoot to drive or storm up the motorway, A road, track day, family outing etc....

Race? No.
I own both and it is my drive to work.

Taxi comment is true though, stop outside a pub in town on Friday night and chances are someone will try to get in.

NO offence but a mk2.5 Mx5 will beat many many carsa in competent hands down twisties. Yes it means braking later, etc however you'd arrive first. Yes in a turbo diesel you'd arrive more relaxed but you'd arrive first in a mx5 and grinning.

If you've had the rear out you almost automatically 'know' its limits. Wierd.

I sense HUGE amount of complete bollocks in this thread. All 4 pages of it.

DWB you can't just say that- add detail!

"NO offence but a mk2.5 Mx5 will beat many many carsa in competent hands down twisties. Yes it means braking later, etc however you'd arrive first. Yes in a turbo diesel you'd arrive more relaxed but you'd arrive first in a mx5 and grinning."

Not in the wet you wouldnt, or even the slightest damp....FWD is just so much easier to drive to the limit in wet conditions where RWD can catch any one out in the wet and roads dont have any run off.

and I am convinced that with an average driver FWD will always be quicker.

(and I've owned/owe an MX5 Mk3 and Mondeo diesel 🙂 )

One word; understeer Funky

Hora - then your driving the FWD wrong Hora 🙂

No They tend to understeer, lift off/brake etc positioning all you want but if you are hussling a FWD through twisties at a reasonable rate you will always combat understeer in these sort of situations.

The Mondeo's centre of gravity higher/more body roll etc also adds to the mix as it aint no sports car is it.

I could easily have taken my MX5 down snake pass smoothly with no dramas whereas in a Focus it was 😯 and to a much lesser extent in my Puma. Saying all this I'm no gung-ho driver, its all done at 7am'ish at the weekend and there will always be another driver out there quicker than me.

Sounds like you dont drive smooth enough 😆

😆 I pride myself on using the brake as little as possible on the way home from a ride- just gearing down.

Hora, "gears are for going, brakes are for slowing."

Police driver's handbook 🙂

Someone hit the nail on the head up there. Many of us passing comment on here have driven lots of different cars. FWD, RWD, 4WD. Some of us have had near misses (and not so near misses). Try a few and see what you think.

Bear in mind there's a reason that most day-to-day cars are FWD. The very fact they understeer rather than over-steer makes them a safer proposition for most drivers. There's been lots of threads on this here STW explaining why and I'm sure the internet has lots of explanations too.

(as usual, there are always exceptions) 🙂

Gosh, there must be some fast drivers on here.
"the Mondeo aint no sports car" - well, on public roads, with mixed surfaces, if you're going round corners faster than a fairly quick driver in a Mondeo can, you're going way too fast. Same applies to a Focus.

Bear in mind there's a reason that most day-to-day cars are FWD

Cheaper to manufacture and packaging means you get more cabin space.

Toyota Celica?

Decent size boot, good handling FWD car with a decent size boot / rear seats.

FWIW if you want a 'fun' car do it. Whatever you spend your money on there is always a compromise somewhere. HAving always wanted something a bit 'sporty' and going with a sensible option if I were in your position I'd get something a bit tasty.

I've never driven a RWD car but as you'll be driving a 'normal' car for a few months I'd just jump in and get the RWD car if thats what you want. The learning curve from FWD to RWD is unlikely to be lessened from having ingrained decades worth of FWD style driving inot you, in fact you may be in a better position to drive RWD car.

FWIW I used to love the massive torque you get in a diesel, however I've just gone back to a petrol and love the constant 'mediocre' level of torque you get out of a petrol. Petrol is far more refined, quieter and less brutal IMO.

If I was a new driver again on my shortlist would be:

Fiat Panda
Toyota Aygo
Honda Jazz
Ford Ka (old shape)
Ford Fiesta

Why? I love cheeky small cars

Toyota Celica GT4?

Decent size boot, very rapid, good handling 4WD car with a decent size boot / rear seats.

I think it should be the law that everyones first car is a mini 1000 (the old type), great fun to drive. If by intresting you just mean faster, you have missed a very important lesson somewhere. Mini is still the most "intresting" car I've driven, despite having driven some fast ones.

I thought I'd just provide an update for any of those interested (e.g. Possibly none of you).

My first "something interesting" car was my parents 17 year old M Reg 1.4 Astra in which I covered about 9000 miles in.

I've now upgraded to a "sort of interesting" car which is a bimmer 3 serie coupe , only 2L petrol but 170bhp and it being quite light makes it interesting enough for a relative newbie driver like me!

I thought I'd just provide an update for any of those interested (e.g. Possibly none of you).

My first "something interesting" car was my parents 17 year old M Reg 1.4 Astra in which I covered about 9000 miles in.

I've now upgraded to a "sort of interesting" car which is a bimmer 3 serie coupe , only 2L petrol but 170bhp and it being quite light makes it interesting enough for a relative newbie driver like me!

I found this thread (and your update) quite interesting 🙂

I just passed my test around 4 months ago at 31.

I bought a C class Merc (weak engine for the range, but pretty powerful compared to a typical 17 year old new driver car perhaps) the day after I passed my test. Done about 7,000+ miles in it, mostly on Scottish A roads with about 600m per month on a short motorway commute and the rest dodging traffic at home in the city.

Judging by the advice in this thread, I made a "bad" choice - RWD, engine bigger than a lawnmower, not got plastic trimmed hub caps for all those inevitable scrapes.

In all honesty, it's great. Can't think of one occasion where the back end has suddenly vanished (maybe I'm just not driving fast enough around all those awesome fun roundabouts in town), nor have I accidentally found myself doing 140mph on the wrong side of the road.

I'm going to hazard a guess that if you're going to drive like a muppet/idiot/blind person, then it doesn't matter whether you're in a Micra or an M3, you're still going to drive like a muppet/idiot/blind person. Most other people might just be capable of, like in everything else they do in life, adjusting to what it is they have.

Sure, i've made a few bad judgment calls along the way, fortunately nothing serious but enough to make me not do it again...but none were the "fault" of the car, totally down to me. And i'm pretty sure having a different car wouldn't have stopped me making those faults!

Drive what you want, just drive it sensibly and within the limits of your ability surely? If someone can't do that, then it doesn't matter what you put them in, they'll still get in trouble on the road.

At the end of the day, a tonne of metal is a tonne of metal - it will hurt if it hits you at 70mph. I'd rather it was a 4l RWD monster being driven by someone sensible, than a 80bhp FWD peashooter being driven by a goon.

@RopeyReignRider - yes we are interested in the update. I think you made the perfect choice, arguably a bit early to go for the BMW but take care, be sensible and have fun. It was 4 years for me in sensible cars before I got something sporty.

@peterfile - I think the key thing is your age, at 31 you're that much more sensible than a 17-21 year old. Sadly the number 1 cause of death in young women between 18-21 is their boyfriend's driving.

I stopped reading after someone suggested a MK2 MR2, possibly the most tailhappy car of all time.

Yep, perfect for a beginner.

I think the key thing is your age, at 31 you're that much more [i]sensible[/i] than a 17-21 year old.

I wish that I was sensible!

I think it's just a healthy dose of fear and awareness of my own mortality - something I definitely didn't have at 17-21!

I am an experienced driver - I've been driving for 20 years - but I was surprised at how different (and to be honest unforgiving) a RWD car can be. The dry stone wall was surprised too

Not too long after passing my test, I took my Girlfriend's Dad's M3 out when he was away on holiday. I completely lost it on a roundabout, but fortunately there was no damage. Scary car.

I'd definitely recommend taking the car down to a industrial estate (that has roundabouts) late at night to get a feel of how the back steps out with sudden throttle inputs. Do it on a damp day/night- you wont need much speed at all you'll find.

Ideal would be a track day - but the above is fine. Much better that you have your first experience of the rear out with no one around.

Mine was in a MX5- thank **** I immediately counter-steered but it still stepped out a fair bit.

What tyres do you have on the rear? Probably budgets?

GOOD car though! 8)

I'd definitely recommend taking the car down to a industrial estate (that has roundabouts) late at night to get a feel of how the back steps out with sudden throttle inputs.

This is an awesome idea.

I did the same on the "go kart" track between Glen Nevis and Polldubh. Really, really windy and hilariously tight in places, so easy to find the limits without going quick.

Did that a few times in the wet until i sunk in that you can't just bash the accelerator coming out of corners!

It's also the place I first learned that it's not always a great idea to take your foot off the accelerator mid way round a corner 😯

Watching TG's piece on Mika/Finish driving school methods again I thought 'why can't we do this here for learner drivers!'. It'd save sooooo many needless crashes a year. Once it happens to you -its like a whole flood/of education isn't it.

Drive what you want, just drive it sensibly and within the limits of your ability surely?

Everyone thinks they do that. The problem is, knowing the limits of your own ability is a problem for many people.

I think you can buy skid training sessions at purpose built facilities, can't you? This may be better than a late night industrial estate 🙂

I think you can buy skid training sessions at purpose built facilities, can't you? This may be better than a late night industrial estate

I looked into this.

Apparently skid pan training (which is widely available and relatively cheap) doesn't give you a huge amount of transferable skills.

Whereas skid [i]car[/i] training is very useful, but there are few locations which provide it and it's quite expensive.

Thankfully the bimmer has all sorts of traction control, stability control etc.

I've had a taste of what happens when you over cook it coming off a roundabout but thankfully lots of lights lit up on the dash and the magic pixies sorted it all out. I've been a bit more careful ever since.

I would definitely like to go on a track day or similar in order that I can get a proper feel for it. I don't currenty have the confidence to turn the magic pixies button off!

As for tyres - Dunlop sport something or other on rear and hankook something or other up front. To be honest in general I don't think I've been driving much quicker than in the Astra despite the feeling that the car wants me to!

I don't currenty have the confidence to turn the magic pixies button off!

After a bit of googling, I worked out how to put my Merc into "dyno mode", which basically turns off everything (not just the ESP).

Let's just say I put it back on quite quickly. it's astounding how much work the car does to keep you on the road!

That's the big problem with fast cars.

In a 950cc MKII fiesta you can drive it at 100% of its capacity and still be travelling at very reasonable speeds. In fast cars you can only drive at 10% of capacity before things start to get stupidly dangerous. This I find tremendously frustrating.

You don't have to bomb around in a car at breakneck speed to 'enjoy' driving it.

Our car has a lovely exhaust note (even on idle), tight handling, torquey engine (thanks to stage 1 remap) - even tootling along quiet country lanes at 30mph is a pleasure.

You don't have to bomb around in a car at breakneck speed to 'enjoy' driving it.

I reckon some of it depends of where you get to drive too, and what sort of driving gets you going.

My little brother spent his youth accelerating and braking between traffic lights in a city. Therefore a car with a bit of va va voom was the order of the day, making those 100m sprints that little bit more enjoyable.

I get in the car on a Friday and drive 100 miles through some beautiful scenery, on a road that you really feel like you're "driving", even at 60 it can feel too quick at times. As you said, no need for breakneck speeds.

I'm slowly becoming more aware of mpg too. Going to Manchester the other week, I sat at 70 the whole way and averaged 46. Coming back at 3am the roads were empty and I sat around 80. Despite there being a subtle difference in speed, my mpg dipped to 38. So now I trundle along at 70 on the motorway 🙂

The only thing I'd change about my car is that I can't hear the engine unless I floor it (the supercharger sounds quite cool though). And I'd like another cup holder. And cheaper maintenance bills. 🙂

You don't have to bomb around in a car at breakneck speed to 'enjoy' driving it.

True, but cruising in comfort and high performance are opposite ends of the spectrum. I love cruising along, so I buy a car that's suited to it. If I had a fast car it would be frustrating jut cruising in it, and it would not be as suited to the task. Worse MPG and a harder ride, for a start.

I have four cupholders, they're ace!

I know what you mean about mpg - mine has a little mpg-o-meter that swings wildly from over 50 to about 10 as soon as I touch the accelerator!

I did manage to get 45mpg out of mine on a long run which I thought not bad for a 2L petrol..

I've now upgraded to a "sort of interesting" car which is a bimmer 3 serie coupe , only 2L petrol but 170bhp and it being quite light makes it interesting enough for a relative newbie driver like me!

I've got the 3.0. I really like it, but I don't love it. The chassis is very capable and its pretty fast in a straight line. You can even achieve power oversteer on an empty roundabout in relative safety (if you know what you are doing!) I drove from cardiff to NW england yesterday through wales and it was fantastic, just belting past lines of traffic on the A483 and A5

But it just feels too clinical. I yearn for a porsche but can't really justify the costs and nothing in the BMW's class comes close in terms of power, economy or handling that I can thing of.

On my weekly commute to London I get about 37mpg out of it.