Buying your first automotive may be difficult, particularly when you’re a petrolhead and wish to present the world that you simply’re extra keen on motors than the common spotty-faced Vauxhall Corsa proprietor.
You’re in all probability searching for one thing fashionable that’s new sufficient to play your personal music in and that gives a little bit of involvement within the driving expertise. You’re additionally more likely to be working to a really tight funds, each to purchase the automotive after which get it insured.
We’ve pored over the classifieds and run extra insurance coverage quotes than we care to recollect to place collectively a definitive information to the most effective first automobiles for brand new drivers.
Each automotive on this record has a novel promoting level to mark it out from the opposite slabs of steel in your common automotive park. From fashionable superminis to scorching hatches, there’s an excellent choice right here for everybody.
Citroën C2 VTR (2003-2009)
The C2 VTR definitely seems to be the a part of a scorching hatch with its squat, bulldog-like stance and sharp-edged bodykit.
The spec is promising as properly. Early VTRs pack a 1.6-litre four-pot that pushes 108bhp by the entrance wheels, dispatching the 0-62mph dash in a decent 10.9sec. The tyres are fatter, the suspension stiffer and the steering faster too, making full use of the C2’s light-weight chassis.
This all makes for a reasonably nippy bundle – if not one which’s as enjoyable because the Saxo VTR that preceded it. That’s as a result of the C2’s lifeless steering and laggy Sensodrive automated-manual gearbox in the end restrict driver engagement.
Yet what makes the C2 VTR such a compelling choice is the comparatively low value of insurance coverage. The 1.6-litre VTR sits in group 13, whereas the a lot wheezier 61bhp 1.1-litre model is all the way in which down in group three.
C2s are low-cost to purchase too, with asking costs for 1.6-litre VTRs hovering round £1000-£3000.
We’d additionally suggest looking for out an instance of the C2 GT, which was a bona fide homologation particular for the World Rally Championship. It swapped the tragic Sensodrive ’field for a correct guide shift, and shaved 28kg off the VTR’s kerb weight. It’s a full 1.4sec faster to 62mph, but stays in insurance coverage group 13. The solely downside? Just 2500 have been made, so that they’re a lot tougher to trace down at this time.
Citroën Saxo VTR (1997-2003)
Sure, it’s a throwback to the bygone days of stuffing superminis with extra ’woofer than Crufts, however the Citroën Saxo VTR nonetheless stacks up as top-of-the-line entry factors to efficiency motoring.
It has an older model of the 1.6-litre four-pot discovered within the C2 VTR, pushing out 90bhp. That won’t sound very highly effective, however it’s solely acquired about 900kg of steel to cart round, so feels surprisingly potent on the open highway.