Topic: What Car Do You Own/Drive?

[MrGrumpy]

My first: '61 Corvair Monza.  $500 in 1970.

My first car was a 1988 Fiat Uno Bianca that my gran gave my sister and I when she stopped driving. I loved that car.

[pazcom]

My first car was a 1988 Fiat Uno Bianca that my gran gave my sister and I when she stopped driving. I loved that car.

my first car was a 1983 (A Reg?) Fiat Uno - loved it. Always wanted the Turbo version too, could never afford one then and probably can't now, if there are any left on the road

["Santa Claus is wearing his shorts"]

My first: '61 Corvair Monza.  $500 in 1970.

I bought a 1.6 Mk2 Capri for £60 to do up, but it was too far gone, then I got a 1977 1.6 Mk4 Cortina for my 21st, that cost £200 and about £90 to insure. 12 months later I paid £1300 for a 2.0 Mk3 Capri and paid £199 to insure it.

[MrGrumpy]

my first car was a 1983 (A Reg?) Fiat Uno - loved it. Always wanted the Turbo version too, could never afford one then and probably can't now, if there are any left on the road

Hardly any left which is a shame.

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/browse/fiat/fiat_uno

Even the basic Uno 45 was a hoot to drive.

[F-T-9]

Anyone know what kind of insurance a learner driver would need in the event that they are driving someone else's car?

So I want to teach my younger brother how to drive in a manual, however my car is an automatic but my mum's car is a manual which is what we're planning on using. I'm just a little confused on if I'm allowed to teach him in a car that isn't insured in my name (however I have fully comp insurance which allows me to drive other cars).

I tried googling but couldn't really find a straight answer.

["Santa Claus is wearing his shorts"]

Anyone know what kind of insurance a learner driver would need in the event that they are driving someone else's car?

So I want to teach my younger brother how to drive in a manual, however my car is an automatic but my mum's car is a manual which is what we're planning on using. I'm just a little confused on if I'm allowed to teach him in a car that isn't insured in my name (however I have fully comp insurance which allows me to drive other cars).

I tried googling but couldn't really find a straight answer.

They need to be insured as a named driver on the main policy holders policy and the supervisior also needs to be insured to drive the car, in event of them having to take over the driving. Also, your Mums might not like a learner driving the car without her supervising and yours might not like covering you supervising a learner in someone elses car. You're policy possibly only covers you as Third Party Only when driving someone elses car, I know my insurance in the past has had that restriction, so any damage won't be covered, which will be costly in a total loss claim.  To be 100% sure speak to the insurance companies involved.

It might be better for your brother to take out learners insurance on your Mums car, that way, if he has an accident, it doesn't count against your Mums NCB, nor

https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/learner-drivers/guides/supervising-learner-driver/

[F-T-9]

They need to be insured as a named driver on the main policy holders policy and the supervisior also needs to be insured to drive the car, in event of them having to take over the driving. Also, your Mums might not like a learner driving the car without her supervising and yours might not like covering you supervising a learner in someone elses car. You're policy possibly only covers you as Third Party Only when driving someone elses car, I know my insurance in the past has had that restriction, so any damage won't be covered, which will be costly in a total loss claim.  To be 100% sure speak to the insurance companies involved.

It might be better for your brother to take out learners insurance on your Mums car, that way, if he has an accident, it doesn't count against your Mums NCB, nor

https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/learner-drivers/guides/supervising-learner-driver/

Cheers Rob, really good advice. I'll have a chat with the insurance companies.

[jambutty]

In the States, the vehicle is insured.  Not the driver.

Liability (differs from state to state) is basically: anyone you give permission to drive is covered.

Seemingly madness, but it works.

[Brissyred]

In the States, the vehicle is insured.  Not the driver.

Liability (differs from state to state) is basically: anyone you give permission to drive is covered.

Seemingly madness, but it works.

Same here, third party insurance is paid with your rego(road tax), and covers the vehicle.

[MBL?]

Anyone know what kind of insurance a learner driver would need in the event that they are driving someone else's car?

So I want to teach my younger brother how to drive in a manual, however my car is an automatic but my mum's car is a manual which is what we're planning on using. I'm just a little confused on if I'm allowed to teach him in a car that isn't insured in my name (however I have fully comp insurance which allows me to drive other cars).

I tried googling but couldn't really find a straight answer.

There really is no need to learn to drive a manual these days for a lot of people. Autos are everywhere in all sizes. This is assuming your brother will be driving your car for a while. It is of course cheaper to buy an old manual but it’s not as bad as it was 10/15 years ago in the second had market.

In saying that I’d love to have a good manual car around the place but it just isn’t feasible for me. The insuring the car thing the lads above mention seems a far better system or if you could just insure yourself to drive anything within certain reasonable limits would be even better.

["Santa Claus is wearing his shorts"]

^

Disagree that it's pointless. There are still millions of manual cars out there, far outnumbering autos and unless you are in the market for a nearly new or new car you will be heavily limited in choice. Out of everyone I know, only 2 or 3 of us have autos, everyone else still has a manual. Eventually, like HGVs it'll be a case that an auto test is all you need, but not yet

[Mumm-Ra]

^

Disagree that it's pointless. There are still millions of manual cars out there, far outnumbering autos and unless you are in the market for a nearly new or new car you will be heavily limited in choice. Out of everyone I know, only 2 or 3 of us have autos, everyone else still has a manual. Eventually, like HGVs it'll be a case that an auto test is all you need, but not yet

Only reason to have a manual in the states is to foil carjackers 

["Santa Claus is wearing his shorts"]

Only reason to have a manual in the states is to foil carjackers 

Thought you just whipped out your Colt M1911 or AR15?

[jambutty]

Only reason to have a manual in the states is to foil carjackers 

Or to keep your teenagers out the car.

They're a bitch in City traffic.

Driving automatic after 20 years on a stick in the City was life changing.  Relax, listen to music......

[.adam]

^

Disagree that it's pointless. There are still millions of manual cars out there, far outnumbering autos and unless you are in the market for a nearly new or new car you will be heavily limited in choice. Out of everyone I know, only 2 or 3 of us have autos, everyone else still has a manual. Eventually, like HGVs it'll be a case that an auto test is all you need, but not yet

Plus if you hire a car abroad there is a good chance it'll be a manual and you won't know how to drive it.

["Santa Claus is wearing his shorts"]

Plus if you hire a car abroad there is a good chance it'll be a manual and you won't know how to drive it.

True.

Another thing to consider is a lot of autos are heavier on fuel than a manual. Mines a 2.2D with a 6 speed auto and on a run I get about 47, the 2.0D manual will return 60 mpg. Around town it's worse and it's due to the autobox holding a gear longer than I'd like, I use manual mode to force earlier changes

[Graeme]

I don’t think I could go back to a manual after a year with my DSG box

[TheKid.]

Yeah I’ve had two years in my auto now and can’t go back to manual

["Santa Claus is wearing his shorts"]

I'd not choose a manual for my next car but been driving the wife's manual Astra for 5 months while sorting mine out and it's been easy enough. It's traffic jams where you really feel the benefit, my left leg used to be killing after a commute down the M6/M62 when I had my Sierra Sapphire

[[new username under construction]]

Electric, one pedal, don't even have to use the brake. pfft

[sattapaartridge]

Has anyone used RADWELD PLUS on a Coolant Leak before? I'm about to whack some in the scirocco, as i have a coolant leak. been quoted £500 for a coolant leak water pump replacement, as its just under the engine. man. im not getting any luck.

[AndyMuller]

Best place to buy/lease a car? I only passed my test last week but I don't know what to go for!

I need something reliable.

[.adam]

Best place to buy/lease a car? I only passed my test last week but I don't know what to go for!

I need something reliable.

Use a comparison site like leaseloco

[Graeme]

LeaseLoco is decent for leasing price comparison, but lease pricing is horrendous at the moment. I started leasing a Cupra Ateca in May 2022 (although it was ordered October 2021). I'm paying £388 per month for 3 years with a mileage allowance of 5,000. I've just looked this morning for the same car on the same terms and the cheapest price is £508.

Probably a bad time to lease or take out significant finance on anything, certainly anything with terms of 2 / 3+ years.

[TheKid.]

There’s still deals about for leasing cars if you look for value rather than wanting a specific car

[TheKid.]

These often have good deals that don’t appear in the comparison sites

https://www.contractcars.com/

[NarutoReds]

Honda Civic FC. Love the car so much.

My second car in my whole life.

[[new username under construction]]

Lease prices are weird as f**k, id3 and mg4 went from £350 and £360 a month a week ago to £319 and £320 yesterday, it's hard to know when to grab something

[AndyMuller]

Is it better to lease or buy?

["Santa Claus is wearing his shorts"]

Is it better to lease or buy?

It all depends on what you want. Personally I don't have any interest in paying £12,000 or more to borrow a car for 3 years, then give it back, just to have the latest model, some people don't want the hassle of having to pay for servicing etc and like having a new "reliable" car. The ULEZ zones are changing things though, older cars will become less desirable as they get rolled out. On a Jag forum im on, loads of members are having to ditch X types as they aren't ULEZ and buy something else, having to spend thousands they didn't need to.

My car is 14 now, it was bought for me in 2017, cost £6k, works out at £1k a year, gets me where I need to go in comfort, wifes car was £9k in 2006, still going strong. That's how I personally ike to do things.

[Graeme]

Is it better to lease or buy?

It's personal preference. Rob is right that it's a lot of money to pay out over 3 years with nothing to show at the end of it. If that's a concern then PCP might be a better option. Pay a fixed amound over a couple of years and then you have an option at the end of the term - pay a lump sum and keep the car or hand it back and walk away. If you generally buy new cars every few years then leasing can be a good option because if you get a good deal then the amount you pay over the lease term can be less than the depreciation on the value of the car.

I'm currently on my first car lease. For me it was more a fixed cost motoring decision. Historically I've always bought a car that was maybe 3-4 years old on finance over 4-5 years and then starting again, but I would get annoyed when I had a major expense with it. My last car needed a new clutch and flywheel at about 20k miles and set me back about £900 on top of my finance payments. Having a car that will always be under warranty aleviates that concern for me. I've leased for 3 years with 5,000 miles per annum. At the very worst case I may have to replace some tyres but that should be all. I just looked at it that if I'm always paying £200 - £300 out on finance, for an extra £100 per month I could aleviate any worry about repair costs and have a new car every few years.

["Santa Claus is wearing his shorts"]

It's personal preference. Rob is right that it's a lot of money to pay out over 3 years with nothing to show at the end of it. If that's a concern then PCP might be a better option. Pay a fixed amound over a couple of years and then you have an option at the end of the term - pay a lump sum and keep the car or hand it back and walk away. If you generally buy new cars every few years then leasing can be a good option because if you get a good deal then the amount you pay over the lease term can be less than the depreciation on the value of the car.

I'm currently on my first car lease. For me it was more a fixed cost motoring decision. Historically I've always bought a car that was maybe 3-4 years old on finance over 4-5 years and then starting again, but I would get annoyed when I had a major expense with it. My last car needed a new clutch and flywheel at about 20k miles and set me back about £900 on top of my finance payments. Having a car that will always be under warranty aleviates that concern for me. I've leased for 3 years with 5,000 miles per annum. At the very worst case I may have to replace some tyres but that should be all. I just looked at it that if I'm always paying £200 - £300 out on finance, for an extra £100 per month I could aleviate any worry about repair costs and have a new car every few years.

In the past, my mate owned a garage, so I used to do all my own work on the cars, so I was happy paying £1k for a car and just doing the work when needed, never had any big bills. He's not got it anymore and I cannot be arsed crawling around on the drive anymore, so pay for work to be done. Mine has cost me around a grand this year (£500 was my own fault for hitting a cone on the motorway), latest is it needs a new rear caliper and might need a lot of welding next year, running into a couple of thousand. Then there is the whole clean air zone around Manchester and what will happen with that?

I'm now trying to work out what to do, do I pay to get it repaired and run it for a few more years hoping the clean air zone isn't brought in, or bite the bullet, take £15k out of my pension and get a Euro6 XF and run that for 10 or more years.

As I've said many times, I don't want an SUV, no interest in driving one of those, a leccy car is unaffordable - lad at work has just got a motability Mokka e, £45k for a poxy Vauxhall, they're having a laugh, I could get a decent Audi R8 for that.

[Riquende]

I could get a decent Audi R8 for that.

Or this one for even less.



Dear God... It's got my senses working overtime.

[Riquende]

My car is 14 now, it was bought for me in 2017, cost £6k, works out at £1k a year, gets me where I need to go in comfort, wifes car was £9k in 2006, still going strong. That's how I personally ike to do things.

Something to be said for just owning something outright. I've had my Mini 7 years now of its 10 year existence. Paid £11k in 2016 and from what I can make out on the 'approved used' market it's basically held its value. For a few years I pondered trading it in for something more sensible but never really settled on anything else I liked so last year took the decision to keep it in perpetuity. Sure, it's aging, but knowing most of its history, I trust it more than any other random decade-old car.

I'm in a very fortunate position though, in that my job provides a car from our own demo stock which is brand new and replaced every ~6 months. This does all my work mileage so the Mini has done just 500 miles since the MOT in November (to be fair it spent 2 months needing new brakes). I run it at weekends mainly to keep the engine & wheels turning. Most people in the group with company cars give up owning their own as you get the car for nothing & just declare it as a taxable benefit. Given the frequent swapping there's no worrying about servicing, MOTs or the like. When I started at the place I was advised I could cash in on my own car, but to be honest, a 200+bhp 2 seat convertible is just a lot more fun that a 120bhp estate.

["Santa Claus is wearing his shorts"]

Or this one for even less.



Dear God... It's got my senses working overtime.

What kind of twat thinks that is a good idea?

[Son of Mary]

What kind of twat thinks that is a good idea?

I saw a Mini Cooper with the same paint job recently. 

[Riquende]

It was once offered as a factory option by Mini, but from what I've read you had to order the car via a single London dealership and pay £8k to have it put on. No idea how many people would have sprung for it, or how annoyed you'd be if you had to get a huge scratch dealt with.

["Santa Claus is wearing his shorts"]

It was once offered as a factory option by Mini, but from what I've read you had to order the car via a single London dealership and pay £8k to have it put on. No idea how many people would have sprung for it, or how annoyed you'd be if you had to get a huge scratch dealt with.

Done properly, it looks really good, that R8 is just an abortion. I wouldn't pay £8k for it though.

Reminds me of the Primera GT, changed colour as it drove past

[Trump's tiny tiny hands]

Late 2011 Mazda 3 TS2 with 55k miles or Honda Civic (2013) 1.8 i-VTEC ES with 77k miles? Both automatics. Managed to haggle them both to the same price. Problem is, I don’t really trust either dealership or their “warranty”. Is it worth paying more and getting manufacturer approved second hand cars?

["Santa Claus is wearing his shorts"]

Late 2011 Mazda 3 TS2 with 55k miles or Honda Civic (2013) 1.8 i-VTEC ES with 77k miles? Both automatics. Managed to haggle them both to the same price. Problem is, I don’t really trust either dealership or their “warranty”. Is it worth paying more and getting manufacturer approved second hand cars?

When I bought mine in 2017, I got an RAC 12 month warranty with it, so see if you can get something like that.

The Main Dealers tend to not put 10 or 12 year old cars on their forecourts, so you may struggle to find one. The 2013 Civic is a really reliable car, Honda had ironed out all the faults by then. Check the service histories and MOT history on the gov.uk website and see if they have flown through or had loads of fails.