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First Car
(537 posts, started )
Quote from JTbo :But then his car choices would be only RWD Volvos and I don't know if he would be very happy from that

LOLLO yeah, i should have known , but if anyone on the planet can convince him to buy a Vovlo and move to Finland, it'd be you dude defo
Quote from The General Lee :My car has over 100bhp

A lot of people have been very silly here in this thread

Lol yer, either people have no idea how much insurance really is, they are taking the piss, or both.

Tbf my Fiesta had 90bhp which got me around town quick enough.

I'll tell you what, trying to get insurance on a 306 GTi-6 is proving hard for me despite being 20.
Quote from scoobyrbac :I think it is true...same way with a car or a truck since a truck is bigger it stands out more causing the insurance to be much higher than a car because its bigger than a car which makes it stand out.

That goes against any common sense, if you drive a truck about your going to be seen a lot more than a car, so people are far less likely to smack into you, surely?
Looking at the replies makes me think owning a car in UK must suck balls.

Nothing over 1200cc. That is like impossible in N.America. All I can say is take your time to choose wisely.
Quote from Bradracer :Yea, pass plus is a very easy way to get cheaper insurance

I mean my pass plus course was £70 (because TFL refunds £70 if you live in London) and that can cut your insurance premium by upto 20% depending on your insurer, of course.

Sweet, I'll have to get that done over the summer.

Bah, typical, people who don't need the refund are more likely to get it.
Quote from beefyman666 :Drop a 2.0 redtop Calibra in a Nova. Then you can call it a half decent car.

They aren't the best thing in the world to look at, but they're light, fairly nippy, cheap to fix, cheap to insure, easy to do up a bit.

It's a first car, you're not gonna have something super duper. Cheap and cheerful has to do.

gah he doesn't want a red top in there or anything with FWD that size and weight with that power in my nova i had a LET XE turbo and the toque steer on that after driving for 2 hours gave me sore arms. hes gonna be a new driver! jakq in the end its up you go for what u feel is rite and don't let others tell u otherwise its ur fist car it don't need to be the best in the world as long as you love it ,
as everyone will say no matter how crappy their fist car was there best car. I MISS MY NOVA LOL

and they do look goood!

here da spec of a mates nova pics taken off

www.novaload.net

Engine
Vauxhall C20XE 1998cc 16v
Lightened Flywheel
Mocal 13 Row Oil Cooler
Fuel Swirl Pot
Ashley Exhaust Manifold
Infinity Stainless Steel Three Box 2½ Exhaust System (Centre exit)
Modified breather in the cam cover
Twin 9" Tripac Electric Cooling Fans
SBD's TP208 Kit
MBE 967 Engine Management System
Tapered Throttle Bodies
ARP Rod Bolts
Wasted Spark Ignition
ITG Air Filer


Transmission
Quaife Close Ration Straight Cut Box
Final Drive Ratio 4.2
1st Gear 2.54 ~ 48mph
2nd Gear 1.76 ~ 70mph
3rd Gear 1.42 ~ 88mph
4th Gear 1.19 ~ 105mph
5th Gear 0.958 ~ 130mph
Quaife ATB Limited Slip Differential
Rose Jointed Gear Linkage

never hate a car till you have driven it your self
Attached images
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Jesus effin christ it was a joke about dropping a redtop lump in a Nova.

I know and we all know little Jack won't go for a Nova, even if it had a redtop in it or even if it was cheap to run maintain. Sorry to say but I think he would go for something more stylish (in his eyes), hell he even said so himself.
Quote from beefyman666 :Jesus effin christ it was a joke about dropping a redtop lump in a Nova.

I know and we all know little Jack won't go for a Nova, even if it had a redtop in it or even if it was cheap to run maintain. Sorry to say but I think he would go for something more stylish (in his eyes), hell he even said so himself.

Yeah, chav trolley is big no no
all small fwd cars in england are chav trolleys u cant escape them its the culture you live in!
That's why you can get this around 1000 to make it go 0-100kph in around 7 seconds and you can get more from it too

It is chav trolley killer
Quote from JTbo :Oh yes, get some old boring person with you and tell him to give you money only if he think car is ok. defineatly best advice I have got

That's not always good advice... My dad had the option to buy a fiesta for 6000 EUR, or an Escort for about the same price. But he absolutely wanted the Fiesta. But I think I would have been better off with the Escort. The Escort was mint condition, mine had an accident (which of course was only visible later on) and had El Cheapo services, the air intake filter wasn't even original Ford..
Out of interest - What would i be likely to pay for a Volvo 360? I'm interested in just how "cheap" RWD can be :P
Volvo's are ugly 200sx is a cheap rwd car, But the insurance.. (not sure)
Quote from Takumi_lfs :Volvo's are ugly 200sx is a cheap rwd car, But the insurance.. (not sure)



200SX is WAY out of my price range to insure. As is almost all RWD cars...

Just put the Volvo into an insurance site, i've found that "Swinton" will let me have it for £1,653 a year doing 10k miles a year. Not bad for my name.

Better deal is Zurich - £1,905.41 a year fully comp, but it has £750 excess (rest have none).

EDIT - Noes. 2 Litre, RWD, "reliable" and fully comp for under £2k. There has to be something wrong with it!
Quote from Jakg :

200SX is WAY out of my price range to insure. As is almost all RWD cars...

Just put the Volvo into an insurance site, i've found that "Swinton" will let me have it for £1,653 a year doing 10k miles a year. Not bad for my name.

Better deal is Zurich - £1,905.41 a year fully comp, but it has £750 excess (rest have none).

EDIT - Noes. 2 Litre, RWD, "reliable" and fully comp for under £2k. There has to be something wrong with it!

But are the others full comp? If not they wont insure your car if you're in a crash, just what you caused damage to.
Quote from JTbo :That's why you can get this around 1000 to make it go 0-100kph in around 7 seconds and you can get more from it too

It is chav trolley killer

i used to own one so why you telling me and do u think its good for a first car? i dont! they are not that reliable cause of the age hard to get a good one i payed 100 pounds for mine lol but it needed alot of work and jakg its not easy to mod you need a bit of knowledge on cars to mod these , it has leaf suspension on the back so you need lowering blocks fitted and they aint no fun! the front i just chopped and dropped that lol had to make my own bucket sub frames, and thats as far as i got because the council towed it for no tax even tho it had a note on it saying mot on bla bla bla date i did get it back but it was like 3 months so shit got rusty i lost interest in drifting and yea. get something that u feel good with, go test drive them don't let us all tell you what to get then ur getting what others want and not what u thinks best. just got test drive a few and fall in love with one
Quote from P5YcHoM4N :But are the others full comp? If not they wont insure your car if you're in a crash, just what you caused damage to.

What do you mean?

I have no intention on claiming on the insurance at all because i NEED an NCB...

The quotes i was looking at until are all 3rd Paty, however if i decide to get the car insured (ie when i buy it) i'll check the price of 3rd Party, Fire & Theft as in the case of my bike it was only £20 more (which is totally worth it imo)

And don't worry, i have NO intention of modding my car. I don't have that much mechanical expertise (PC's are where it's at for me lol) and i dont fancy either running with invalid insurance or paying a hefty premium if the insurance company know.
Quote from Jakg :What do you mean?

I have no intention on claiming on the insurance at all because i NEED an NCB...

The quotes i was looking at until are all 3rd Paty, however if i decide to get the car insured (ie when i buy it) i'll check the price of 3rd Party, Fire & Theft as in the case of my bike it was only £20 more (which is totally worth it imo)

And don't worry, i have NO intention of modding my car. I don't have that much mechanical expertise (PC's are where it's at for me lol) and i dont fancy either running with invalid insurance or paying a hefty premium if the insurance company know.

If by any chance you're in a crash (which you caused, back end someone for example) and you have Third-party then your company will only pay to fix the other peoples car, but not yours. Full comp means that they will pay to fix everyone else's car and your own. You can hope not to be in a crash but you can't predict the future.
I know that, thus why i was so happy to find fully comp for just £200 more. The bad news is that with the Fully Comp i have £750 excess, so i'll be fairly screwed either way. The odds of me having an accident where i live involving another car is fairly low, and tbh like i said i dont think i'll claim unless it's a big accident as as a young driver i really need an NCB.
Well if you caused the crash the other person will claim through their company and they will get in touch with yours, so it still goes down on your record.

I mean I have no intention of every crashing (I want the same 30odd years my dad has as he only pays £50 full comp), but it is nice to have that safety net, just in case it happens.
Try also to look around your family, friends, etc. if anybody is trying to sell their car. I got a nice deal on a Pug 306 (Diesel) from a coworker of my dad's. The thing is a dream, been driving it for the last four years. I had it insured in my name (which was expensive but not UK expensive) but the insurance has dropped about 30 percent since then.

I have a friend driving a 1.5 Citroen Saxo Diesel which is dirt cheap to maintain. But hey everything depends on your budget eventually.
As with all cars that were low end of price scale when new, also small Volvos have had bad service history and many have abused to death.

Thing is pick one in good nick and you can have lot of trouble free motoring.

Yes, parts availability is decreasing, but for 1-2 years to get your no claims up, I would say 340 1.7 or 360 is rather good to start with and with those you can learn some basic mainentance as technology is very simple in those.

Also Jakg, check out volvo300mania friendly community, mostly active members are Brits that are very helpful, also techincal section contains almost everything you migth need, if you need to know something else just ask there

For example there you can get some gaskets that you can't get from Volvo anymore, we try to keep these car running as long as possible

One of members has been working at Volvo when cars were made and has also involved prototype testing of these cars, so lot of knowledge available too.

At least it won't harm to test drive such car, see how it feels for you, note also LPG possibility, one user there converts cars for LPG (as profession) and as you know it pays itself back quite quickly
Seriously JT, do you honestly think a Vovlo will be a good first car for Jak ?

Nearly £2,000 insurance with a £750 excess, that's shocking. And lets not get carried away with the RWD thing, it's not a BMW is it.
Even you'll agree that a standard Vov is setup for comfort and not performance, the suspension is so soft and the body roll is so excessive it's like driving a bouncy castle.
Honestly, when we had one i was hard pushed to tell it was RWD, by comparison it made my FWD Clio feel like an F1 car. Granted the springs can be stiffened up and various other tweaks can be done to it to improve the handling. But would that cause problems with the insurance if anything unfortunate were to happen ?. And parts aren't as easy to get hold of over here as they are in Finland i suspect.
Also, it's a big heavy lump of a car, and it's built like a tank, so it'll be safe, but he'll be lucky to get 25mpg out of it, especially if it hasn't been looked after, and petrols damned expensive over here these days.
And another thing, it's not exactly a chick magnet either . Is it ?

I know how passionate you are about your old Vov's, and thats good, but, perhaps they're best left to old farts like us, who'll appreciate a nice comfy seat, and don't have to worry about chatting up birds and looking cool

The best thing to do Jak if you really do fancy an old Vov is take one for a test drive and see what you think, then compare it to others, like a Fiesta or Clio for eg.

Incidentally, have you put a quote in for a Fiesta or Corsa ?
When after 1998 Focus I test drove 360 it felt finally like a car and not like some weird thing on wheels.

It is just on illusion that soft suspension would not have grip, it has more than stiff.

Bloody hell, on track day I have cornered same pace as LanEvo IV, sure on straights it was 'tad' quicker, but anyway, it is only psychological false illusion you are having now, certainly feeling if it is RWD or not has nothing to do with suspension stiffness

Best first car that any coming car head can get for such low price, it is wolf in sheep clothes when in proper condition.

My insurance is 500€/year without any bonuses, I pay loads less though

First Car
(537 posts, started )
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