Learner Car or First Car

My 17 year old son will starting with his driving lessons soon. I have promised him my Coupe, but told him he will have to wrestle it out of my gnarly hands in about 35 years from now!

Meanwhile, he will need a car to practice in, that then becomes his first car.

Does anyone have any suggestions of a cheap and reliable car? Something along the lines of the Fiat Cinquecento from the Inbetweeners would work for me. Any recommendations would be helpful.

I dread to think how much the insurance will be!

Skoda Fabia? Mine has been very reliable (1.9tdi, 2001 Model) and is cheap as chips to run. I'd imagine insurance would be fairly cheap too.

One of the apprentices at work has just passed their test. They ended up buying a Skoda Citigo because it was cheap to insure and reliable.

Seat Mii, VW up etc are all the same car but rebadged.

Punto Mk2 or mk2b

Cheap as chips to buy, easy to fix, parts readily available, cheap to insure (relative to some others), still pretty good looking in 3-door format and it's a Fiat, so he'd be "keeping it in the family"

Not that he'll want to mod it, but the 15" wheels from the Coupe will fit and seem to suit it well

Panda. Dirt cheap and Good fun.

I have sold a quite a few VW Fox's to first time drivers recently, probably because they are group one insurance (the 1.2's are anyway). They are very basic by modern standards - no electric windows or central locking, but that's what keeps the insurance so low I guess.
Panda's are a good shout, I think they are group 2/3. IMO they are an all round better car than the Fox, and 4 doors make them practical too.
All the above suggestions are good ones, although I think the Fabia with a 1.9 diesel might be a struggle to insure, so the 1.2 petrol would be the preferred route there?

No connection with the company at all, and I cant comment on the service in the event of a claim, but based on the feedback I get from customers, Diamond seem to be competitive on price for young drivers.

Stilo jtd 1.9 ..very lowinsurance group so worth a look
Also the 1.2 16v version is worth a look

All very good advice.

Thank you very much

I just bought my daughter a 1.2 2007 grande punto.
Got it for pennies and it's surprised me.

On the upside I now have a 2002 1.1 fiesta for sale with 11mo the MOt

We bought our daughter an 06 plate Pug 107.

I have to say I'm mightily impressed with the little beasty. It's basic, no frills motoring but it drives really well, is £20 a year tax and does 50mpg no matter how you drive it.

For various reasons (read having the land rover written off in an NFA) I've had to drive it a bit more than I was intending.

I was expecting to hate it but I have to confess I'm quite fond of it.