My brother has finally decided he wants to learn to drive at the age of 23, mostly because noone will even consider him for a decent job wiothout a lisence. He's planning on having propper lessons but wants to get a car to get extra practice in and so he has something to drive after he's passed his test, when ever that might be.

I personally think he should get something old and as basic as possible to make things more difficult so he'll be confident when he's sat in a brand new modern car for his test, and possibly something larger so he'll again have had practice at something harder than it actually would be on the test.

What sort of thing would you go for? he has a budget of £1k but I reckon he could get away with spending half that and buying a propper banger.

What cars did people on here learn to drive in?

My Daughter bought a Peugot 206 a 1.4 engine insurance was good she also got the price of lessons down by using the car for her lessons and test she paid £500 and still has it problem free running

I didn't realise you could have lessons in your own car. He really doesn't want to sit a test in his own car, not after what my 205 did when I thought I'd save myself £50.

The advantage of using your own car is that you dont have to keep getting used to changing vehicles.

I'd never really thought about that.

I'd get a peugoet 106, nice airy seating position with good visibility.

A nice one will only come it at £400 as well

My daughter used her mums fiesta to take her test and the instructor also took her out for lessons in it. She could not get used to his Fiat punto, which he changed for his old car. She passed on her second attempt. She found it best to stay with the same car.

Ive just bought my 17 year old Daughter a little car to learn to drive in, its a VW Lupo 1.0E mpi for £900, well built car, easy to drive, very very cheap on insurance, and its doing over 50mpg, very pleased with it

[Edited on 19/05/04 by PAUL FISHER]

He could build his own for £250. Was joking with my daughter today about doing her test in my MK.

Not my favourite car but a Micra might be a good choice, plenty of glass so easy to see out of, cheap and probably very reliable.

I've often wondered what would happen if you turned up for a driving test in a seven or something simillar, I've got a feeling they'd find some excuse to just fail you fro not providing an adequate vehicle.

I will pass these sugestions on.

With fear of being mocked, and bearing in mind I had ridden motorbikes till I was 25 , I learnt in a Robin....

Not as daft as it sounds for bikers, able to drive on your own on a bike licence.... had that for 2 years, then took the car test.

I also can't really see a rational excuse why someone could not take a test in a 7, you could actually argue that it takes more skill to drive one, not having all this ABS and other electronic aids that the modern car gives you, not to mention being more ' road aware' due to its size.

I would suggest something like an old Corsa or Micra, something manageable for parking.

If you can find a good one in budget, a Focus is worth considering.
I got one for the wife when she was learning to drive a couple of years ago, and she seemed to get on pretty well with it.
It was surprisingly cheap to insure too.

I learnt back in 1995 in a 1.0 Nissan micra. To be honest, it was the perfect car to learn in, although not the prettiest! I also had use of a 95 Vauxhall Cavalier, and an 88 Mini whilst learning, which soon got me used to 'jumping in & out' of other cars.

The base model Rover 25 is cheap to buy , cheap to fix cheap to insure and easy to reverse, same goes for the 45.
52 plate or earlier are better as they introduced a different alarm immobiliser unit on later cars.

[Edited on 11/7/12 by britishtrident]

I see a slight problem with taking a test in some of our cars.

Examiner: "Right, now please reverse round this corner"
Me: "Ah.... slight problem. If I get out and push will you steer?"

My girlfriend is learning at the moment, she's 22 and I thought insurance would be horendous. Pleasantly it wasn't too bad so we are looking at Ford Puma's. She thinks they are cute and I know what they can do down a twisty road

You might find because he is 22 he won't need to rag around in 1.0 Micra's, we can insure a fair few interesting cars for less than a grand. Also, insurance is cheaper as a learner bizarrely.

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Originally posted by BenB
I see a slight problem with taking a test in some of our cars.

Examiner: "Right, now please reverse round this corner"
Me: "Ah.... slight problem. If I get out and push will you steer?"

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I got my daughter a polo 1.9 SDi (the non turbo one). Its low power, but hard to stall and very cheap to run. Insurance is group 2. We got the saloon version as she wanted a big boot.
Learner insurance can be had for (pretty much) any car you own via halfords/marmalade for £80 per month as an add on to your current insurance- sounds expensive, but then you don't need to buy a car/tax it/fix it etc, and it may only be for 2 or 3 months.
Regards
Hugh

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Originally posted by austin man
The advantage of using your own car is that you dont have to keep getting used to changing vehicles.

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I had a 1 hour lesson and then the 1.5 hour test on my 17th birthday and passed with no minor/major faults in a Nissan Micra. And whilst I thought I was an alright driver back then after being legal to drive for 8 hours (), I think a lot of it had to do with the 1.0 L Micra being such an easy car to learn in.

They've got to be pretty good to insure too I bet.

Having said that, I would rather have what Paul has bought his daughter, a little VW Lupo is at least a gazillion times cooler than a Micra!

Thanks for the tips, I know a few people who can only drive one kind of car aswell and I though practicing in multiple cars was a bonus. I personally learnt to drive in a series of BSM corsas (Of which I always though the Corsa C's were muich better to drive than the D, but the D did have a button under the throttle that made it hold the gears longer) but I had my own 205 that I bought once I could drive but didn't have a license, I also had some practice in my dads Ranger and his XJ6, which bar parking was the easiest car to drive. I failed a test in the 205 because it threw a wobbly and get lighting up the hand break light, then was in neutral with the selector in drive on a hill start (only time it ever did this) then stalled.

Of the suggestions so far Focus seems to be a good one. I said I'd let him have a go in the eunos if he paid the issurance but he didn't fancy that. He said he doesn't want something too small, he didn't specify why.

The DVLA recomend that you don't take you test in a convertible citing visability which to me suggests they wouldn't let you go out with the roof down, which is a shame because the visability is just incredible.

I learnt and took my test in a Morris Marina TC.. then I sat in with my mate while he self taught himslef and took his test in a 3500 Rover!

The last test I took was in a 38 tonne Daf combo

Pug 106, the mk1 version with a 1.0 engine.

Then my first car was a shed of an escort, and I put my fair share of dings in that too

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Originally posted by morcus
The DVLA recomend that you don't take you test in a convertible citing visability which to me suggests they wouldn't let you go out with the roof down, which is a shame because the visability is just incredible.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Ninehigh
Pug 106, the mk1 version with a 1.0 engine.

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