Should I buy?

[Charlie666]

Looking to buy a 1.5 Yaris VVT-i T Sport (02 plate) for my first car. Going for about £1200, almost done 100,000 miles. Probably one of the best cars I've found for insurance at my age especially considering the engine size and output.

Has anyone on here owned one of these models previously? I know Toyota are renowned for reliability but just wanted to check they didn't have any common faults before I buy.

thanks

[alan333]

Sound expensive to me for a 15 year old car.  You could probably pick up a 10 year old (or less) Focus for the same money.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Hello Charlie - welcome to Toyota Owners Club.

Moved to the Yaris club.

[monkeydave]

5 hours ago, alan333 said:

Sound expensive to me for a 15 year old car.  You could probably pick up a 10 year old (or less) Focus for the same money.

a 10 year old ford wouldnt be holding up as well as a 15 year old toyota though

[Charlie666]

Unfortunately a car like a focus would just have too high insurance. The Yaris comes in around £1300 for my insurance, focus of similar engine size would be a lot more.

[alan333]

There's a few 1.3 Yaris on auto trader, 05-06 plates, for around the same money.  

[cacafulla]

I personally would buy a MK1 1.0 Yaris for a third of the money you are planning to spend, saving also some money in your insurance.

In a couple of years time you can put your driving experience and your money into something bigger, more powerful and with better handling. Believe me, you can have plenty of fun with the 68 Hp of the Yaris, as it is easier to take a low power car to the limit. My first cars was a 1996 1.2 Corsa with a whooping 45hp and it was sooo much fun! I was always flooring it!

And yeah I know a plain 1.0 Yaris is not as cool as a hot-hatch but it does the job, and will save you lots of money!

[mickburkesnr]

My first car was a 1996 Peugeot 306 1.9 Turbo Diesel, cost £600, and cost me £1,500 to insure for the year. That was nearly £1,000 cheaper than a 1.2 Clio.

Second car was a 1999 Honda Civic 1.4 Auto, costing me £1,900. Hateful car. Regretted ever getting rid of the Peugeot.

Since then, the only car that's been super cheap to insure fully comp is the 1998 Toyota Corolla that I have. £260 for the year, with 8 years no claims.

Something said to me years ago was look at the car you want to buy, see what's around. See their condition etc. Anything with bumps and dings will cost you more to insure. And they were right, Corsa's are chav mobiles with every panel dented. Same with the Clio. But you hardly saw any 306's written off or anything, hence the "cheap" insurance price.

If I had to do it again, I'd look at family cars. Something like the 306, Corolla, I wouldn't really go for the Yaris - especially a sport!

You've all the time in the world to start driving, so there's no rush in finding the perfect car for you to drive, run and insure. 

[cacafulla]

Also, nowadays insurance prices are also based on too many factors, like your postcode or you job title! Too many pointless statistics saying that if you are an administrative assistant you have more chances of being involved in a accident than an assistant administrative (i just made this up but it is as ridiculous as that! I just managed to bring down my insurance by £50 by just tweaking my job title!)

But young drivers always have to pay a tone of money for their insurance, regardless of any other factor... And driving a sporty car just means paying even more!

 

[Madasafish]

On 5/18/2017 at 11:07 AM, cacafulla said:

I personally would buy a MK1 1.0 Yaris for a third of the money you are planning to spend, saving also some money in your insurance.

In a couple of years time you can put your driving experience and your money into something bigger, more powerful and with better handling. Believe me, you can have plenty of fun with the 68 Hp of the Yaris, as it is easier to take a low power car to the limit. My first cars was a 1996 1.2 Corsa with a whooping 45hp and it was sooo much fun! I was always flooring it!

And yeah I know a plain 1.0 Yaris is not as cool as a hot-hatch but it does the job, and will save you lots of money!

Agree 1000%