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bigger cars dont always mean significantly higher insurance, as they can be less desirable to steal, harder to steal, easier to repair, etc. the difference in insurance can be as little as £50, from my own shopping around a year ago. road tax is the same for any private car with an engine not bigger than 1549cc (reg pre-2001 - which any car available on a tight budget is almost certainly going to be).
fuel consumption is also comparable - there will probably be no more than 5 mpg difference between the cars available to rictus, so the extra cost of petrol is probably possible to overcome by driving sensibly and not using high revs all the time.
seriously, if you look about and do some proper price comparisons, you can find that a slightly bigger car can work out to be no more expensive overall than a smaller car.
as it happens, the only reason why i bought a 1.3 fiesta instead of a 1.4 escort or 1.6 rover 200 (both of which would have worked out at least £250 cheaper, and a lot more comfortable), was that my parents wouldnt allow me to have a car bigger and better than what any of my friends had, as they were worried i would become the taxi driver for the group of us.
actually cranker, when i was looking, there were hardly any of them about, so i was looking at 2k+ for one, which was a lot higher than other cars. though maybe thats just because they seem more of a city car, so you dont get them in the area around stafford so much?
Originally posted by 12wolgarston:
bigger cars dont always mean significantly higher insurance, as they can be less desirable to steal, harder to steal, easier to repair, etc. the difference in insurance can be as little as £50, from my own shopping around a year ago. road tax is the same for any private car with an engine not bigger than 1549cc (reg pre-2001 - which any car available on a tight budget is almost certainly going to be).
fuel consumption is also comparable - there will probably be no more than 5 mpg difference between the cars available to rictus, so the extra cost of petrol is probably possible to overcome by driving sensibly and not using high revs all the time.
seriously, if you look about and do some proper price comparisons, you can find that a slightly bigger car can work out to be no more expensive overall than a smaller car.
as it happens, the only reason why i bought a 1.3 fiesta instead of a 1.4 escort or 1.6 rover 200 (both of which would have worked out at least £250 cheaper, and a lot more comfortable), was that my parents wouldnt allow me to have a car bigger and better than what any of my friends had, as they were worried i would become the taxi driver for the group of us.
Sorry I assumed a by bigger ar you mean something over 1.5ltr. I still see anything under that figure as being a small car.
The fuel consumption can be a lot better on smaller cars, especially at low speeds around town.
Like I said, look for a car that screams "granny mobile" then buy it as it will be low insurance, or better still buy a car off an old granny, that way it will always have been cleaned as thats all old grandads have to do and will most probably have been serviced every year, as old grannies hate the thought of smashing into a molten fireball.
Buy a 1ltr Seat Arosa on a T plate (99) for around a grand. Great little cars for getting from A to B for the cheapest price available.