first car decision Carina, Almera, Micra

Volvoboy

i'm thinking on a first car i've sorted it with my mam that she'll put the car in her name and i'll pay for the insurance for me and her, it will work out cheaper.
i'm on a provisional
so far i've got three cars i fancy my chances on,

1994 998cc nissan micra, cheap and cheerful 1100E quote
1997 1400cc nissan almera, big and fast 1500E quote
1992-7 1600cc toyota carina, big and can pretend to be a taxi driver 1900E quote

so the q is, which will be the best for a 1st timer ie petrol, likeley to break down.

nissan micra 10 to a dozen and i'm a big fella i'd need a shoe horn to get in and out

nissan almera ive alway fancied them and there fairly pokey dont know much on them

toyota carina ive looked on a few webs about them and only 1 negitive reply in a 17 replys, and my mates da had one as a taxi till 320000k mls and on the original cluch.

Which one?!!

colm_mcm

have you considered a Corolla or Mazda 323? both with top reliability and as insurance-friendly as the Almera

Volvoboy

id be going with the corolla rather than the 323, ive looked but there are so many variants of the corolla most of them jap and harder to get meacnical parts. i think my cousin had to get a headlight bulb from japan which cost bout 20.00E with shipping etc

colm_mcm

there are loads of Irish Corollas around, and €20 for a headlamp bulb incl. shipping sounds like a bargain!

bazz26

Here is a nice tidy looking Corolla:
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=347659

damo605

If you're a big fella then definitely stay away from the Micra as the seats in it will break your back on a long journey!

unkel

damo605 wrote:

If you're a big fella then definitely stay away from the Micra as the seats in it will break your back on a long journey!

How big is big? I (6'2, 14 stone) have more headroom in a Micra than I have in my BMW 7-series

Also, I found the seats very good (for it's class) for long journeys

Volvoboy

How big is big?

6'4, 17 stone.

Anywhoo, ive done some looking around on the interweb, car survey and the like. and i'm taken with the 1.6 carina e was looking in the B&S and 96-97 models are going for under 3k so did my sums and i can afford it so what should i look out for on the mecanical side of things on one of these??


Many thanks for your replys

-VB-

colm_mcm

these are probably the most reliable car Toyota made, so that says a lot. just make sure the ECU light isn't on if it's petrol, it'll be guarunteed to be a faulty oxygen sensor. just make sure the car hasn't been used for heavy towing.
these cars are the nearest thing to bulletproof you're gonna get, but just use common sense, make sure all electrics work. no suspension noises etc.

Volvoboy

thanks cmcm

Wolverine_1999

You do know that Insurance companies will not insure your mother as the main driver and you as a named unless she is the car owner?

Also, some companies require that your mother owns the car for more than a year.

If your mother drives more than 1 car, she can only use the NCB on one car. Therefore bringing the insurance quite high even though she is a female driver. (She may have to do Ignition test for companies to even quote a price)

Con_316

I'd say out of those, go for the carina, it's the biggest, it a really good solid car, can fit a big lad like yourself, (i'd know, i'm 6foot 3 and 19 stone, so pretty high and pretty wide compared to your average japanese man who'll have tested a micra for size when they launched them). They not bad on fuel either if you dont drive with the pedal mashed into the floor. Pretty danm tough car, i've seen a good few with massive miles that still go and stop like they should.
If you like the idea of pretendin to be a taxi, then that's the car for you, unless you're in limerick, then you could use a megane instead because there's 4 of them as taxis, all saloons, 2 are blue, so whenever we out late in the GF's car (blue megane saloon), all the drunk people roamin round accost us lookin to be brought home..
Anyway, aside form my little anectode, if you can afford the more expensive insurance, go for the carina because it's way more practical and not as typical learner small crap car. Safer too. I know which i'd rather have a crash in out of them 3 if i had to.

Volvoboy

You do know that Insurance companies will not insure your mother as the main driver and you as a named unless she is the car owner?

well my mam will be buying the car (with my money)

Also, some companies require that your mother owns the car for more than a year.

Ooops, didnt hear about this

If your mother drives more than 1 car, she can only use the NCB on one car. Therefore bringing the insurance quite high even though she is a female driver. (She may have to do Ignition test for companies to even quote a price)

she's been driving for 20+ years and been insured on everything form honda accord sir-t's to mercedes S500


so hopefully this will account for something.:o