Quote from Migz :

Yeah, Steph haha :P She's single now WHOOOOT .
And yeah, a working bike, which goes rather fast, would be a bargain for £200.
My moped i have cost £350 and it doesnt go anywhere near as fast, nor is it as good looking.

Edit: Im not trying to tell you anything, im just saying i know the guy, and i know the kinda stuff he does, so i wouldnt doubt that his goes rather fast, and i wouldnt doubt that the speedo says 78mph.
The speedo could be out by quite a bit, but im not saying it acctually goes 78mph, im just saying it acctually says 78mph on the speedo.

Speedo is usually out on some of them. I've had mine beside my Dad with him staying at the same speed as me and it read 63mph on the TomTom and my speedo was reading 65... Some over read some don't as much. It will do 70mph tops, trust me.

Also, the 2006 onwards RS50s are a bit slower on top end than the 99-05 model which I have, so it deffently wont reach 78. If it's been tuned, it will drink fuel and probably need rebuilding after 2k to 3k miles lol.

Quote from Migz :

The guy im buying it off is a rather illegal bastard. He's probably spent quite a bit of money on it. So i wouldnt doubt that the speedo says 78mph, although yes speedo is probably out so itll be doing a tad less i bet. But tbh either way £200 for a bike like that is still a bargain.


Edit: Where? From the girl who i likes, ex boyfriend

You're trying to tell me that they will do 78mph... I have 2 parked outside my house that I own and one in my back garden in bits. I know how fast they'll go. It will reach 78mph, redlining the shite out of it and the top end will just seize. If the crank cant handle the power either, that will break.

I was going to spend £600 on tuning mine, metrakit top end which is the best one made for RS50s, it will have been good on acceleration but, top end will still be crap.

People say these bikes will do over 70... they wont without having worse acceleration than they already have. If it was geared for 70, it will take ages to get there.

Quote from DevilDare :

200 bloody quid? Where?

It's probably ****ed or the pre 1999 one. Seeing as the new shape RS50s are £3k new, it wont be the shape he posted a pic of.

£200 for that model... Don't think it will. 78mph, bollocks to put it bluntly. If it's doing that speed, it will have a massive front sprocket with a smaller back sprocket and wont have any acceleration.

The RS50s will do 65mph tops... that still wont be accurate if read off of the clock.

Evo's just rule over Impreza's lol. I went in a friends Ralliart, hard as hell ride, but you can put up with it as it's bloody quick lol.

Quote from dougie-lampkin :

Yes. Any car enthusiast worth their salt will look at your rear drums and lack of rear diff and laugh at you for trying to impersonate the proper 2.5 4WD version. I love doing it to all the boy racers around here, it's so much fun to see their faces drop

I wouldn't get one anyway. If you can't afford the STI or WRX, you shouldn't own one lol.

Lol, 1.6 impreza is £1700 a year to insure. But aren't they fwd the 1.6?

Obviously I don't want the car to stay solid in a crash. I meant that I've heard from someone that if you're in a crash in one, they crumple badly compared to other cars.

Hmm... :S

Quote from BlueFlame :

You're not gonna get much help if you ask menial questions and bite peoples heads of when they give the obvious answer you were asking for...

I know what crumple means though. I just wanted to know if anyone else heard if they are like sardine cans.

Last edited by sam93, Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:30.

You normally only get 30minutes of driving, not even that on these type of days.

Quote from Jakg :

Crumpling != Being bad in a crash.

No shit Shirlock.

I just wanted to know if anyone else has heard of the same thing.

What ever car I get, it will be staying for a year and then going... Pass Plus and 1yr NCB at 18 should bring my premium down enough.

I've heard that the ZR's are meant to crumple like a bitch in a crash :S

Are they pretty safe?

Quote from Jakg :

The student loan comes in two bits - tuition fees (£3k per year ish paid directly to the Uni) and the bit which is meant to pay for your accommodation (mine is set to be £3,300-something per year), all of which you have to pay back. If you spend the accommodation one on an M3, where the hell do you actually live?

I might have remembered it wrong, I know he is using some of it for his 205 turbo... I think he might have saved some money up, used some of his student loan to buy it.

Quote from jegorchangai :

How about a Jeep grand cherokee 5.2 V8 as my first car? I can buy one for 1750 euro's and everything works.
Only disadvantage is how much petrol the thing consumes :P, but I can't see any more disadvantages. It makes a sick noise, its fast, its REALLY comfortable.

Anyone have any advice or a reality check?

You come over to England and try to insure that car for an affordable price for a 17yr old and tell us how you get on.

Quote from Nathan_French_14 :

What? Providing everything is in check, they will be fine. Just done take them through a carwash.

If i was looking for a first car again, i would definetely choose an MX5 over a ZR. A ZR/25 is a nice enough first car, and they handle ok, but an MX5 would knock spots of it, and they handle very well.

Get an MX5!

Unless you wanna dog on regular occasions with a lady freind. Then you would need the ZR...

It's a soft top though, all soft tops leak. Unless I try to find a hard top for it. Only downside to an MX5 is that it's a hairdressers car. Would be nice to have the best handling car made though.

We'll have to see what happens. If I get this new job I've applied for, I should be on £800 a month, so should be able to get a nice first car.

Quote from Bawbag :

Silly? Don't be so ignorant, 1.2 with 70bhp is pretty damn good, the only better ones are the corsa 1.2s which do 75 and 80bhp.

For a first car, a damn 1.0 corsa is fast enough, nevermind MX5's, BMW's and ZR's.

Sam, you know a student with an M3, then later you say that MX5's are for people who's mummys and daddys buy them everything...? Ever thought that was the case with Mr M3?

Uhm, no his Mum and Dad didn't pay for it... He's 23 and bought it with his student loan lol.

Hmm, £1700 a yr. Still wouldn't get one. For a soft top, you really need a garage as they all bloody leak.

Quote from durbster :

Don't listen to Tristan regarding aftermarket suspension, he hasn't got a clue. Cars out of the factory are designed to be the best they can be within a strict budget, so often what we get isn't necessarily what the engineers wanted us to have.

However, if you modify or buy a modified car then you will get absolutely shafted on insurance so best to avoid it and buy something that does it for you as is.

What about a mk1 MX-5 or a mk2 MR2? I've heard of a few people having them as first cars. They would be pretty good to develop your driving in too as they're completely bereft of nannying computer systems.

An MX5/MR2 as a first car. The only people who have those as firsts cars are the people whos mummy and daddy pay for their insurance.

Nova... Yes I know what you are thinking. There is someone with one on SSS purely for track days and it will keep up with an Evo lol. He has put a different engine in the back and it's also RWD... Think it cost him a lot to do though.

E30... Cheap as chips as mainly they have a lot of rust in places you don't want but, if it's going to be a track car, you'll probably have it strengthened anyway.

How about an old sierra, capri, astra, vectra... There is a lot of possibiliies. If I was to build a track car though, I think I would go for a westfield with a busa engine lol.

Also, the E30 touring is suppose to make a good track car as they are suppose to have very good weight distribution.

Quote from dougie-lampkin :

Got my 1275 for €2k, and it's in a fairly good condition. Bit of rust around the body, but the engine is mint. They're half the price in England too Don't go for a Cooper or Clubman, you'll be raped by your insurance. Get a 1275, and give it Cooper stripes. If you want to be pedantic you can fit the extras, like the second tank and the Cooper cylinder head, but they're basically the same thing. They're cheap to insure too, and parts are for nothing.

Not so sure on the K series to be honest, A series is my speciality Yer man was a bit of a boy racer like, so it could be all his fault that it kept blowing gaskets. Just seems to be a bit of a coincidence

Problem is, fun and nippy don't go hand in hand with cheap insurance. You're going to have to make a compromise. Pay a bit more for insurance or save your money and get a better car when you're older. VTRs aren't really chavvy, just expensive to insure. Basically anything that has something extra in the name (VTR, GTI, Vtec :razz is a killer on insurance for young lads

So my list is growing lol:
1275 Mini
1.4 ZR
1.4/6 Corsa
VTR Saxo
Golf Mk2 (it's a slug though, well the 1.6 is)
Polo
Clio

That's really it. See how the money is around January depends on what I get. If I get this new job I've applied for, I will be on around £6-£8 an hour - Orange call centre lol, so money should be pretty good.

Quote from Luke.S :

Even ajp71's Lada?

I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole.

Quote from dougie-lampkin :

The Mini fits into your category perfectly actually. 0-60 in 10-11 secs, depending on who you listen to. Most 1275's put out about 60-70bhp stock, very easily tuned though, especially the carb'd ones. BMW do a supercharger that you can pick up second hand for ~£400 for example, has been known to triple BHP when setup correctly in the right engine. It'll out-handle literally any other "first car", especially if you fit 10"s, and can take most in a straight line. It has been known to take the odd chav in a Corsa by surprise when going around roundabouts

Motorways aren't that much of a problem, you can get them up to 90-95mph before your ears explode, but it's going to be fairly wobbly at that. 70mph is definitely possible, and it tears away fine at about 4k. One problem is speed bumps (they have 14cm clearance as standard, nearly all are lowered through wear and tear, or purposefully), but you can fit between them so it doesn't matter Plus it pulls like there's no tomorrow. Take it into town any weekend night, and if you come home with an empty car there's something seriously wrong. And it always has reserved parking spaces where no other car can fit. Tescos trolley bays work nicely

It's like a road legal go-kart, if you're doing 40 it'll feel at least 50, which is very handy as a first car. Most people will beg you for a spin in it, everbody seems to love them. It actually has plenty of driver leg room, not so much passenger leg room though. That's a good thing though, watching tall people get in/out is always brilliant. Even more so if you fit buckets

I'll stop talking about the Mini now as I've been ranting a bit. Oh, if you get one, pack several jackets when you drive during the winter months. You'll thank me when it happens

Avoid the ZR like a house on fire though. Aside from being less comfortable than sitting on a pile of bricks, the few I've seen have been plagued by engine trouble. The lad I bought my Mini off was trying to flog a ZR, blew 3 head gaskets in the last month on him. They're far more trouble than they're worth, a nice Metro would be a far better MG.

Seriously, any car will be fine. You're not a professional racing driver, you're 17. You don't have the experience to drive a big car properly (No offense mate, trust me, I'm in the same boat). You wouldn't believe the fun I've had in a 1L Yaris, it's not all about engine size. I've had a nice few close shaves in it, that I know I wouldn't have escaped (and probably wouldn't have survived) in a bigger car. By bigger car, I mean both engine size and physical size. It's far better to get a small-ish car know, rack up the experience on the road, and then get something with a bit of poke as a second or third car. Actually, the Yaris is about the best first car I could suggest. As a 1L it puts out just under 70BHP, and 0-60 in 12.5s

OK, I'm really going now. I've just spent the last 20mins typing this on my phone

Lol. A Mini Cooper I wouldn't mind or just a simple 1.3litre, but they seem to be pretty pricey for a decent'ish one.

I think it may be the rover k series engine in the ZR (If I remember correctly) which is prone to blowing head gaskets.

It's finding a car that is going to be fun to drive, nippy (Less than 12 seconds to 60) and cheap on insurance.

I was thinking of a VTR, but it's a little bit chavvy, even if it is a first car. Although, all first cars are a little chavvy.

Quote from Bawbag :

On 5th gear a few years ago they had the ZR on and they wanted to make it into a track car, they actually called the suspension too soft and changed it, so it's not so bad that it would only be ok on a track, but the ride is quite stiff.

The car itself doesn't need lowered, any lower and you'll be planning your daily routes to avoid speedbumps which is kinda defeating the purpose of driving a car, if you can't go the way you want to.

I'd say get a polo or something, my mate has a 53 plate 1.2 polo, it's fast enough, though the low rev power was far more than my 1.4 golf...Typical VW inside, very nice finish, nice dials, A/C n all that shiz.

Depending on how you will do your insurance, whether you'll front or not, the differnce between a polo/corsa/clio to a ZR or 1.4 16v polo (Watch out for that, the standard 1.4 16v polo is group 10 because it has 100bhp, but the other models like CL etc are much lower because they only have about 70) is going to be quite a lot.

I'm dreading phoning my insurance to change to the ZR, screw paying for it as a first car.

And yea, 330BMW as a student, your havin' a laugh.

A ZR for me to insure will be £1700 :O

I know someone though who is a student with an M3 Evo, so a 330 MAY be possible

Quote from tristancliffe :

Plus it's already lowered from the original Rover, but with a bit more care, research and theory than any aftermarket kit.

Suppose. Just have to wait 6/7 months now until I can buy it.