First Car?

[Harding91]

Well hi i guess, I'm Dan.

Been on the forums for a few months now, browsing and reading a fair few threads, decided to register today.

Basically I'm 18, had my license about 8 months now and just managed to find a job so i can afford to get a car on the road.

I've got two options :

A. Put my Cougar on the road, (2.5L x Pack) Insurance is going to be about 3500+ a year

B. Buy my friends escort he's getting rid of, Its a 1995 Escort 1.3L Mk3 3 Door with about 120K On the clock.

Advantages to both as i love the cougar to bits but the downside being the cost of petrol/insurance.

Mate only wants £100 for the escort and they're no major problems with it, could probably use new wheels a new exhaust etc but nothing that NEEDS to be done, it's Taxed and Mot'd. Only downside i can see is 120K Miles is a fair bit for a little 1.3L Engine?

As for fixing it up etc im studying motor vehicle at college so im capable of doing most things myself and the stuff im not i know people who can.

Anyone had a Mk5 Escort or anyone who could give some input? Really tempted to buy the escort off him when i get payed next month

[BriC175]

Buy the escort, or something similar. It's understandable wanting something more sporty / interesting than your average first car - why not look at a tidy replica of some sort of car. My first car was a tidy Renault 5 GT Turbo lookalike. Really looked like the real thing and was great fun. Something like that would make a good first car

[Harding91]

Yeah I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy the Escort the only thing slightly worrying me is the mileage.

I wont sell my cougar i love it to much, my dad gave it to me because he didn't want to sell it. I'm going to wait until i build up some NCB etc until i put the cougar on the road

[flattotheboards]

If I were you I would buy the Escort and if it turns out to be a bag of bolts you could sell it on or worst case scenario scrap it you would get £50 back from that.

[Evangelion]

Definitely buy the Escort, you could do a lot worse. I had a Mk 6 a few years back, nothing wrong with it at all. Put a nice set of alloys on, lower it a bit, few little personal touches and you'll have a reasonable first car to build up the old NCB.

Don't forget to post photos on here!

[anonymous-user]

£100 for an MOTed car that runs, I honestly wouldn't care about the milage. Drive it untill it dies and then scrap it, virtually free motoring.

[madrob6]

I had a mk5 escort, it was a 1.4 CVH (which the 1.3 isn't). It rusted, rattled and was generally crap.

The difference is I paid £1000 for mine and you're looking at one that's a mere £100 and has less miles on the clock than mine did when I bought it. Get it bought and build up some NCB and experience in a car that doesn't matter if you prang it and won't be the end of the world if it dies.

Welcome to the world of disposable motoring

[beano9]

champ54321 said:

£100 for an MOTed car that runs, I honestly wouldn't care about the milage. Drive it untill it dies and then scrap it, virtually free motoring.

If you look at from this point of view - you would be mad not to take your friend up on his offer!

[pmanson]

Don't worry about mileage... My last 5 series had 195k on it when I got rid and the MX5 has 191k on it at the moment.

Change the oil on a regular basis and it should be fine.

The only issue with bangernomics is to know when to stop spending money on it and just give up and scrap it. If you're handy with spanners you'll be fine (if you're not you soon will be)

[patmahe]

beano9 said:

champ54321 said:

£100 for an MOTed car that runs, I honestly wouldn't care about the milage. Drive it untill it dies and then scrap it, virtually free motoring.

If you look at from this point of view - you would be mad not to take your friend up on his offer!

This would be my thinking too, just don't spend lots 'doing it up', drive it, service it (which you'd need to do to any car) etc... then when it eventually dies it will only have cost you £100, its a no brainer in my opinion

[bazking69]

Is the Cougar seriously a option given the insurance?

[Harding91]

bazking69 said:

Is the Cougar seriously a option given the insurance?

Probably not but its hard to say that, i love the car so much

When we lived in our old house we had fields/lanes round the back that we owned so i was allowed to drive it around on private land

But yeah the insurance really isn't worth it unfortunately

And yeah im going to speak to Steve about the Escort once he gets his 306 sorted.