This month’s column was supposed to be about a new car I’d added to the fleet. In true Keith Adams style, I’d agreed to buy a car, sight unseen from the other end of the country, with the intention of becoming a tow vehicle to replace my slightly underpowered Volvo V70 Cross Country. But as often is the case with my world, there was a technical issue with the car that meant I had to leave it with the seller to sort, while I hot footed it back to Lancashire on Avanti West Coast’s finest. That’ll teach me. I’ll hopefully come back to that once its suspension’s stopped having a sulk and it’s back at my place in the next few weeks. But for now, I’ll instead ponder just how good first-time car buyers have it right now.
A friend of mine popped a surprisingly common question – he has a 17-year-old son who’s looking for a car to learn to drive in. It’s on a budget of less than £1500, needs to be reliable and cheap to sure. So, I started to look at 2005-2010 superminis, and in case you hadn’t noticed, there really are some excellent ones to have, which in many ways do a great job of ticking the modern classic box without even trying. The good news is that postpandemic, prices of small cars have started to fall back from some amazing highs, when anything capable of decent MPG was being snapped up in preference to using public transport.A friend of mine popped a surprisingly common question – he has a 17-year-old son who’s looking for a car to learn to drive in. It’s on a budget of less than £1500, needs to be reliable and cheap to sure. So, I started to look at 2005-2010 superminis, and in case you hadn’t noticed, there really are some excellent ones to have, which in many ways
But memories of lockdowns are finally fading, and that means there are some excellent cars to be had well within budget. Great news. But more than that, this generation of superminis remain just about simple enough to work on yourself, have enough safety features to keep any concerned parent happy, and aren’t weighed down with tech that by this point was creeping into larger cars.
My go to choice in this area is a Suzuki Swift. I have one myself (for nipping around the lanes), and it’s brilliant – revvy engine, excellent steering, and bulletproof mechanicals make these a perfect option. I’d been given this one and had planned to sell it to make a few quid. But after getting rid of its terrible ditchfinder tyres and putting some decent ones on, I found indecently fun to drive as well as genuinely useful. So, it stays.
That was my recommendation to my fr
