First car

Jean Claude Vaaldamme

Jean Claude Vaaldamme

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So a question. When you get your kid a first car. Do you go for the excitement of giving them their first car as a surprise and you choose it. Or do you rather get their input and buy something they would like?

Reason I ask. a year ago a was looking for a town runabout, but found that for the same price(used) as these small cars like Swift, Picanto, Brio etc(used) you can get a much bigger and comfortable, Jetta, Honda CRV, Tiguan etc. Now when I was young I would have like one of these bigger cars where you could load your friends and stuff in comfortably rather than a small little thing. But Then that's me. Don't want a kid to feel he got an old mans car.
 
Growing up, I was given a second-hand Ford KA, one of the cheapest cars available at the time. Thinking was, when you ding-it, ding-it because you will.
 
My son and I have been talking about different types of cars for a while now. Flashy vs dependable, three-door vs five-door and so on. This way, I can get his input about which models he likes and why.

Jean Claude Vaaldamme said:
Well in an ideal world I would not even ask this question. Would just buy a Polo. They not to small, comfortable and look good.
But living in SA a Polo and most Toyotas in not on the cards.
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I already told him no VW or Toyota.
 
Jan van Riebeeckstad said:
If it's a guy get him the ultimate pxssy magnet, a golf GTI.
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The back seat is where all girlfirends of swift/tiggos/i10 owners end up at!

Just get swift, it cheap and runs on fumes basically.

Rememeber to check safety ratings of cars, grand i10/scarlet has 0 Global Ncap safety rating
 
Gtx Gaming said:
The back seat is where all girlfirends of swift/tiggos/i10 owners end up at!

Just get swift, it cheap and runs on fumes basically.

Rememeber to check safety ratings of cars, grand i10/scarlet has 0 Global Ncap safety rating
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Safety is overrated. (Jokes)

My first car was a 1990 VW Fox with a big rust hole in the boot. I got it for R16k but the way I washed and polished that pos you would think it was a fancy super car.

Back then safety was non existent.
 
DarkStarMonday said:
I never got given a car, I had to work for mine.

I was allowed to use the parents car, which was fine.

Kaknbetaal boetie !!
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Me too.
Problem is we don't have family in the city we live in. So me and wife is pretty tired of 18 years driving kids up and down daily to school and all other stuff. So must we do it another 3-4 years while he study? If he has a car he can also help drive his sister around.
Have not definitely decided to buy one, just thinking of it.
 
Jean Claude Vaaldamme said:
Me too.
Problem is we don't have family in the city we live in. So me and wife is pretty tired of 18 years driving kids up and down daily to school and all other stuff. So must we do it another 3-4 years while he study? If he has a car he can also help drive his sister around.
Have not definitely decided to buy one, just thinking of it.
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I would buy him something small, not too expensive.

Think about the fuel price, how they use it and how much they use it.
 
Crowley said:
My son and I have been talking about different types of cars for a while now. Flashy vs dependable, three-door vs five-door and so on. This way, I can get his input about which models he likes and why.


I already told him no VW or Toyota.
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Well I am not really a car guy and I don't think kid is either. But when I was in school I got a resiesfiets and all my friends had BMX's.
Now my resiesfiets was way better for everything we did 90% of the time, just not offroad. But if parents asked me I would have said BMX.
And VW its only Polo thats a problem, rest is fine. Have driven many and never insurance asked for a tracker.
 
Do your homework before just buying a car, and especially double-check when buying second-hand (Safety, Insurance for a young driver, Hijacking risk, accident damage/modifications, etc.). You should be able to roughly gauge whether your kid is responsible and capable enough to handle a "bigger car".

On a side note, start your kid off small because there is no worse feeling than having a nice first car and having to downgrade when it comes to buying your own
 
DarkStarMonday said:
I would buy him something small, not too expensive.

Think about the fuel price, how they use it and how much they use it.
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Well definitely something light on fuel. Problem is, many of these smaller cars are not that light on fuel, especially some older used ones.
If you get a diesel or 1.4tsi petrol in those older bigger cars you get more or less same fuel consumption as many small cars
 
Any excitement will last for a week or two. I suggest talking about it first. A good car will last ages if maintained properly

I still have my "first" car after 15 years and it's going strong, no need to replace it. Glad we had the discussion before purchasing.
 
S.Claus said:
Do your homework before just buying a car, and especially double-check when buying second-hand (Safety, Insurance for a young driver, Hijacking risk, accident damage/modifications, etc.). You should be able to roughly gauge whether your kid is responsible and capable enough to handle a "bigger car".

On a side note, start your kid off small because there is no worse feeling than having a nice first car and having to downgrade when it comes to buying your own
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Well he is definitely not getting something fancy and expensive. Here is my problem.
Looking at say a Suzuki S Presso or I10 it just looks so dodgy if it would be in an accident. I would rather see the kid in a older Jetta/Golf 5/6
 
Jean Claude Vaaldamme said:
Well he is definitely not getting something fancy and expensive. Here is my problem.
Looking at say a Suzuki S Presso or I10 it just looks so dodgy if it would be in an accident. I would rather see the kid in a older Jetta/Golf 5/6
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I am looking more at Suzuki Swift / Hyundai i20 sized cars.
 
Suzuki Swift gets my vote.

They seem like solid, reliable and cheap to run cars and everyone I have spoken to with one has sang its praises.
 
Is there an actual will to drive? I mean this generation seems to not want to drive. Niece has her license, used my Clio for a bit, but dinged it, so I sold it.
Her boyfriend doesn't want to drive, most of her class don't really seem to want to drive.
 
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