Buying my first car

This time last year I passed my test and bought an 04, 1 litre, silver, 5 door Corsa with 35,000 on the clock (46,000 now as I drive a lot for work!) which set me back £3,500.
As a female over 25 I got my insurance for just under £1,000. I'll end up paying more this year as I did have a small accident/claim two weeks after my test But what I would say is that this car has been perfect for me.
I'm 5"6 and prefer cars with plenty of glass at the back so I can see well when reversing which I find is good in the Corsa. It's comfortable, plenty of boot space and has been reliable and not ridiculous to insure. Remembe that despite the boy-racers in Black Corsas, it's also a common choice as a driving instructors car.
For £2,500 you don't need to end up with a banger, you just might need to have a good look around.

Corsas have a bad reputation as boy racer cars so you may find your insurance quotes will be warped.
It's your first car, you're gonna have a few bumps and scratches but you'll learn to love it- don't be afraid to buy a 1.0 engine or an old banger because chances are you'll only have it for a couple of years.
A few easy to insure and reliable cars are the old citroen range, old peugeots, old nissans and old vauxhalls. Just check that it has power steering and ideally factory fitted security (immobiliser or similar)

I would never recommend a 1.0l car to anybody. They are incredibly underpowered so you have no quick acceleration should you need it. Also, small engines have to be worked very hard just to maintain higher cruising speeds, thus ruining your chances of achieving the high MPG figures that come with these cars.

I would never recommend a 1.0l car to anybody. They are incredibly underpowered so you have no quick acceleration should you need it. Also, small engines have to be worked very hard just to maintain higher cruising speeds, thus ruining your chances of achieving the high MPG figures that come with these cars.

I got a peugeot 106. It was only £350 and I've had no problems with it for 1.5 years now..
(Don't laugh at my old banger!)

Saying goodbye to it when I go to uni though.

Its not always black ones they go for. Corsas are sometimes seen boy racer cars in general, no matter what colour they are.

In comparison to my first car, thats brand spankin' new
Mine was a 1985 reg 1.0 VW Polo in white. Calling it a turd would have been a compliment. That was a real banger! Decided to flog it in favour of a motorbike to take to Uni.



Only redeeming feature was the fact the insurance was only £700, and as a male who had just passed his test with 0 years no claims discount, it was worth it

I would never recommend a 1.0l car to anybody. They are incredibly underpowered so you have no quick acceleration should you need it. Also, small engines have to be worked very hard just to maintain higher cruising speeds, thus ruining your chances of achieving the high MPG figures that come with these cars.

have you ever run an online insurance quote? despite being awful cars corsas are amongst the cheapest cars to insure because they have a low insurance group (which determines how high the premium is)