Help me pick a first car

[EgoFalcon]

Originally Posted by flappist

The problem is that there is no such thing as a car enthusiast who is does not believe they are an EXPERT driver.

Not only are all car enthusiasts expert drivers but they don't even have to learn to drive or get any experience on the road whatsoever.

They don't need to learn how other people can do just crazy things or how fast an oncoming vehicle is going regardless of its size or shape.

They don't need to learn how different weather or road surface conditions may affect how their vehicle reacts.

They never misjudge anything even by a millimetre and know exactly what to do, for example, on a blind corner in the rain or into the setting sun when truck appears coming the other way encroaching on their lane.

They know exactly the limits of their vehicle in all regards and can judge exactly what everyone else is going to do on the road at all times.

All of those things are just instinctive........

Thats fair call, I shared a car for first 5 month's of my p's so my parents could see what type of driver I was before saying yes.

I can tell you I am not the best driver, I do make mistakes from time to time, I'm only human, but I would never put myself in a dangerous situation on purpose.

My dad used to work for BTR as an engineer and go to the test track in melbourne, one time they had a professional come down to teach them. First thing he did was ask and say "all the people that think there good drivers go to the right", so bunch of them did. "ok now all the people who didn't move are more then likely to be better drivers then the people who moved to the right". And doing the test, it showed. This example shows 'overconfidence' in all ages.

You can't say all people on there full licenses are great drivers, there are alot of terrible drivers out there.

I can beleive that alot of P plater's think they are invincible, they pass me everyday.

P platers are targeted, sometimes for the wrong reasons!

You can't really determine yourself if your a good driver, its everyone else that gets to decide.

[Windsor342ci]

Without getting too far off the OP. Just perhaps Ego that P plater are somewhat targeted more then most. Unfortunate situation is that wheather it was handful or wheather it was the lot of use, its be ruin for all of use now by idiots.
Fact is, its not about day to day driving that your fine at, its things you learn along the way.... I look back now and when I was 17 my ex lived in QLD and every 3 weeks Id drive there (before these laws were in place) in my XR6 and today I look back I realise 2 things.
a) Im lucky to be alive drive so many time alone with such little experience. and
b) Most of my skill I can confidently say was from those days of driving to QLD. Wheather it be dodging a oncoming truckie whos fallen asleep, witnessing a fatal accident only 90 minutes into my trip and having 11 hrs to keep going on my own in wet weather or other things. Im not having a dig at you mate. But in a few yrs time you will look back and realise how far you've come.

[Windsor342ci]

Also wanted to say, what a well spoken young man the OP member is.....
And IMO go the XR6....

[bigsta]

lucky you mate $35k for your first car Im assuming either your parents are quite well off or are really nice parents and you are a really good responsible son.

Ultimately mate follow your heart but unless your parents are rolling in the folding stuff i would spend 8-10K on an older car maybe a AU2 Fairlane, I really liked the look of these as the BF just looked like a falcon really, don't worry about it being too hard to park they really arnt and its best to learn to drive in a bigger car anyway.

The AU2 got rid of a few of the bugs in the AU the BF is a better car probably with a better interior but on the outside to me anyway it just looks like a falcon,

You can get the AU2 as low as $4K but around $10 you should get a really nice one and maybe even a rare TE50 version if you are lucky a mate of mine had a beautiful one of these he sold about 4 years ago for $17K it was number 25 from memory went to a lady in perth who brought sight unseen she already had 3 of them too.


this is nioce

http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/dealer/details.aspx?Cr=1&R=9275868&keywords=&trecs=6&__si d=12C649829C5D&__Ns=pCar_PriceSort_Decimal|0||pCar _RankSort_Int32|1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_ String|0&__Qpb=true&__Nne=15&SearchAction=N&seot=1 &__N=1216%201247%201252%201282%204294966138%204294 966463%204294966210%204294920334&silo=1011

Or screw it spend $50K and get a new mustang..

[Brazen]

Im going to go against the grain here, but im doing so under the following assumption... the fact that your parents are spending 35 grand on your first car, I assume means that you come from a pretty wealthy background.


...If thats the case; depreciation, wear and tear, and parking bumps is less of a concern for you, than probably most other members on this forum.

With that financial security behind me, I would be buying the safest car which puts the biggest smile on my face. A brand new FG manual XR6 in your favourite colour would be the go!



PS you want to buy a Ford and you want to buy Australian so you get a 10 out of 10 from me. Many other young blokes in your position would be looking at BMWs or Audis, so good on you for wanting to buy something in honour of your grandfathers old car.

[EgoFalcon]

Originally Posted by ELIIXR8

Without getting too far off the OP. Just perhaps Ego that P plater are somewhat targeted more then most. Unfortunate situation is that wheather it was handful or wheather it was the lot of use, its be ruin for all of use now by idiots.
Fact is, its not about day to day driving that your fine at, its things you learn along the way.... I look back now and when I was 17 my ex lived in QLD and every 3 weeks Id drive there (before these laws were in place) in my XR6 and today I look back I realise 2 things.
a) Im lucky to be alive drive so many time alone with such little experience. and
b) Most of my skill I can confidently say was from those days of driving to QLD. Wheather it be dodging a oncoming truckie whos fallen asleep, witnessing a fatal accident only 90 minutes into my trip and having 11 hrs to keep going on my own in wet weather or other things. Im not having a dig at you mate. But in a few yrs time you will look back and realise how far you've come.

Things are a little different now, L platers are required to do 120 hours before allowing to go for there test (NSW and QLD). Experience does play the biggest role. All the points made are mostly correct but it doesn't always apply to some people. Some people do catch onto things quicker then other people. The thing that gets to me is that some people make there mind up on the spot because they see a p plater and think "well there's a bad driver" and end up trying to get around them asap, which may sometimes cause an accident.

No more rant, that's enough.

[bigsta]

what happened mate??

all this advice and no response...what do you think of what everyone said fairlaneman?

[hendoau99]

i recommend an au. you've enough money to buy a mint low kilometre series 3 fairmont or xr6. i'm nearly off my red p's and my au has taken me to some awesome places and never let me down.

[Ben73]

When I was 19 I bought A $35000 car, brand new. Insurance is $2000 a year.
I have had this car for about a year and I want to get rid of it already. The novelty has wore off and I don't think Ill buy a brand new car again for a long time.
2 year old v8 sounds good to me for my next car.

[boss54]

when i was 19 i bought my BA XR8 ute it cost me $2500 in insurance and i have no idea in speeding fines and fines for driving a high powered car. but back to the point i think you should get a RWD manual piece of junk for a first car.

[hendoau99]

agreed with the the piece of junk manual first car. i bought a hyundai excel twin cam with a 2'' straight through lukey exhaust for $350 with 9 months rego. the left side was full of bog so i bought 2 cans of white paint and painted it. lasted 3 years and i went through 3 engines. sold it because the gearbox was losing 400ml's of oil a week. heaps of fun though.

[kezzer]

My first car was/is a FG xr6!! Do not regret it at all. Still on p's, havent had an accident since I got her, just gotta use your head. Glad I didn't listen to people and jump into a Ba

[xisled]

Its funny how everyone is bringing up insruance. It would probally cost roughly the same to insure a xr6 fg as it would be to insure a eb falcon at 17 years old.

Oh wait the car will prob go into parents name anyway, and insurance wont be a problem.

Go for the fg xr6.

My advice is buy a fg xr6 because if you buy an older car your going to have to pay out for repair work. Why not have a new car when your young, I would. Since I have been 19 all my cars have been new, apart from my current car, but it is a GT.
BTW im 25 now.

[ebxr8240]

If a young bloke is after a first car ???
Imo it should be something like an old Rodeo, Volvo station wagon Lol etc...
They don't handle and you learn to drive...
Peer pressure won't allow this tho...

[kezzer]

If anything kids on p's should be encouraged to buy newer/safer cars. Considering their inexperience behind the wheel and likelihood of an accident you'd want them to be best equiped to walk away alive.

$36k is nothing when your risking serious injury or death.

Go the safer car.

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by kezzer

If anything kids on p's should be encouraged to buy newer/safer cars. Considering their inexperience behind the wheel and likelihood of an accident you'd want them to be best equiped to walk away alive.

$36k is nothing when your risking serious injury or death.

Go the safer car.

pfffft...... $36k not everyones bum **** $50 notes........

[blockhead83]

35K wow, thanks dad
I'm with the get a crappy car for your first car camp.

My first car was an XF fairmont ghia, thought It was awesome with it's star wars dash and LSD. When I look back now I cringe at the way I used to drive in that thing, lucky I didn't hurt myself or someone else.

Had no money but I had a gregorys and the way I thrashed it, it was usually broken down once a month and after about 18 months ownership I could change a diff centre in 2 hours. I think it's the life skills of old bomb ownership as well as developing your driving skills before you have an expensive car to damage.

Honestly if I was spending 35K on a car for my kid I'd buy them a VW Golf or something euro with a diesel and heaps of airbags and 5 star crash rating.

but if you want a ford, get the fairlane it's a little different and every man and his dog is belting around in an XR6 these days.

[Powdered Toast Man]

It's not that the BA/BF Fairlanes have a bad reputation it's more they have no reputation as they look like stretched Falcons. Actually in most tests they rated dynamically the same as the Falcon, just boring to look at.

Get the "lane if thats what you want. Personally I wouldn't buy one unless it's V8 equipped, LWB cars just have to be IMO

If I was a P plater nowadays I'd be looking at something like a Focus or Golf or Mazda 3. More practical, cheap to run, easy to park etc. Of course thats with 13 years of driving under my belt. When I was actually an 18yo P plater my first car was a V8 XA coupe. Practical car that one

[ebxr8240]

Originally Posted by kezzer

If anything kids on p's should be encouraged to buy newer/safer cars. Considering their inexperience behind the wheel and likelihood of an accident you'd want them to be best equipped to walk away alive.

$36k is nothing when your risking serious injury or death.

Go the safer car.

Yep what 0 to 60 times can they do ???
Plenty of kids killed out this way ..
Cannot always rely on ABS etc...

[kezzer]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

Yep what 0 to 60 times can they do ???
Plenty of kids killed out this way ..
Cannot always rely on ABS etc...

What does that have to do with anything? Getting to 60mph a second quicker is more likely to kill you??? You crash at 150-200km/hr in any car and you're dead.

If a kid has the hoon mentality, he's going to hoon in either car.

Driver attitudes are hardly relevant. If anything a newer 36k car he'd treat better. Who knows?? Not really relevant. I'd still rather crash in an FG then an EL.

besides, half the time its other idiots on the road. Want to reduce the p plate road toll? Get them into safer cars instead of banning them.

[MexicanBatman]

me personally if mum and dad LOL gave me 35k

and i really had to buy a car it would be some cheapo thing and i'd buy a whole stack of motorcycles, ok maybe not a stack but i can think of 3 real nice bikes i need that'd cost me about 30K maybe 32-33k if i couldnt get them cheap enough, then buy an ex taxi with rwc done!

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

Yep what 0 to 60 times can they do ???
Plenty of kids killed out this way ..
Cannot always rely on ABS etc...

My mate on his Red P's has a old Triton with a 0-100 time of 22 seconds...... He still drives like an idiot and Its a wonder he still has a licence/has not crashed.

Flys around bends. It would be safer for him to drive as fast he does/as close as he does to cars in front, in a Brand new XR6, at least it handles, has better brakes, airbags, ESP and all that other stuff.