Driving parents' estate

Im going to start learning to drive on my 17th birthday in just over a fortnight. I have provisional etc..
I can't afford to buy and insure a car for myself obviously. But my parents said they would pay to have me insured on their Voltzwagen golf 1.4L estate. Once ive passed my test would this be an OK car to drive? I always see young drivers drive hatchbacks, obviously becuase they have no need for a larger car, but i was wondering if there is another reason too, i.e estate cars are harder to drive..
Opinions please :smile:

its X reg btw
Thank youuu

Reply 1

JC.

19

No difference at all to be honest.
I have used my stepdads Volvo estate and my mothers Honda Shuttle on various occasions.
If anything, driving an estate car is actually a lot easier than a hatch for the simple reason that the rear door tends to have a much larger area of glass. This makes reversing into tight spaces a lot easier than a hatch which tend to have fairly poor rear visibility.

The easiest vehicle to drive IME was a Nissan Cabstar flatbed. Principally because you could see the end of the vehicle at all angles

Seriously mate, don't worry about it. :smile:

Reply 2

Sync

14

What JC said. I find driving a big car is generally easier as you can see all four corners, which is often not the case with a hatchback. I find driving my Range Rover easier than driving our Golf hatch...

Reply 3

recneps

10

just remember that its a longer car than the vw polo and the ford ka that you're parking between and you'll be fine. The size of the car is relatively unimportant compared to visibility etc.

Reply 4

tomc87

1

The only slight issue you might have is reversing, as visibility through the back tends to be worse on estates, although I think the MK4 Golf had a pretty square end so shouldn't really be a problem, and the rest of the diemensions are no wider than the hatch version so should be fine! With it not being particularly powerful should be fairly reasonable to insure too.

Reply 5

Minardi

12

JC.

The easiest vehicle to drive IME was a Nissan Cabstar flatbed. Principally because you could see the end of the vehicle at all angles

Same goes for the defender pickup. Squareness is an underrated characteristic...

Reply 6

InArduisFouette

21

Minardi

Same goes for the defender pickup. Squareness is an underrated characteristic...

or any SWB land rover .. even classic RR and disco 1

Reply 7

andymt

OP

11

thanks for the info guys!
yeah the insurance isnt much actually, its £300 now for both my parents inclusive, both have 8 years no claims, and we rang up and they said it would be in the region of £500 for both my parents and me. (we're with the AA)

Reply 8

Sync

14

Just a tip for when you pass - try and get a policy with a company like Direct Line which lets named drivers (ie. you!) build up a no claims bonus. That way, when you come to buy your own car in the future, you have some no claims bonus and it'll be much cheaper to insure. Just to give you an indication, I have two years NCB and am insured for less than a 1/3 of what it cost me for my first year no NCB...

Reply 9

Steeps

11

tomc87

The only slight issue you might have is reversing, as visibility through the back tends to be worse on estates, although I think the MK4 Golf had a pretty square end so shouldn't really be a problem, and the rest of the diemensions are no wider than the hatch version so should be fine! With it not being particularly powerful should be fairly reasonable to insure too.

if anything estates have better vis over a hatch due to larger areas of glass, the only real difference between most estates compared to their hatch sisters is at most a foot behind, which makes next to no difference to driving as most of the time you're going forwards.

Reply 10

Minardi

12

andymt

thanks for the info guys!
yeah the insurance isnt much actually, its £300 now for both my parents inclusive, both have 8 years no claims, and we rang up and they said it would be in the region of £500 for both my parents and me. (we're with the AA)

Thats cheap. Go for it :biggrin:

Reply 11

gbduo

15

Yeh, i drive my mums Volvo V50D quite a bit, so easy to drive...and diesel makes life so easy, if a little boring at times :p:

Reply 12

JC.

19

tomc87

The only slight issue you might have is reversing, as visibility through the back tends to be worse on estates,

Actually its the complete opposite.

Estate cars typically have a large glass pannel in the tailgate.

Reply 13

tomc87

1

Fair point, guess I was wrong, with the exception of the lifestyle estates which always seem to have really thick rear pillars like the 156 and IS sportcross, although i'm sure visibility was really bad in our old Escort estate....

Reply 14

andymt

OP

11

hah. we used to have an escort estate. cant remember if the visibility was bad or not and anyway i would have been too young to notice my parents complaining

Reply 15

pumpkin7

13

bigger cars are generally better to be able to see out of, unless it's something stupid like a mitsubishi warrior. then you're screwed.

Reply 16

tinkerbellejess

13

I've driven my dad's volkswago sharan (admitedly only around a carpark as of yet), it's fine, just different to my instructor's car. But at the end of the day, it's all practice!

Reply 17

JC.

19

pumpkin7

bigger cars are generally better to be able to see out of, unless it's something stupid like a mitsubishi warrior. then you're screwed.

You'd be better off with an Isuzu Rodeo Denver Max LE.
You get more toys for the money. Its a decent truck too! One of the best things about them is you can watch a DVD whilst driving. Simply release the handbrake and pull it up 1 click. :biggrin:

Reply 18

Mr Catbert

1

odd. most use the speed to work out if you're allowed to do that.

Reply 19

chilliconcarne

I wouldn't have thought your parents' golf estate would be too difficult to drive-once you got used to it I'm sure you'd wonder what all the fuss was about!

My dad said that I could HAVE his Audi A6 Quattro estate (2.5l diesel engine...faster than it sounds, believe me lol.). It's 10 years old, helps keep insurance down...but has 180k on the clock, aaah... My mum's against it tho as my dad lives abroad and she thinks it'll go wrong...inevitably expensive repairs! Bit gutted really, quite fancied driving it, the engine makes a nice noise! I like the seats and the badge mainly lol. Oh, and the fuel economy-does 43 mpg quite easily. :biggrin:

Driving parents' estate

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