Car for 21 year old learner

[Lindsayt]

We are looking for suggestions for a starter car.

This is for a 21 year old on a provisional license.

The idea is that instead of him taking more lessons, myself or the wife will sit in the car with him as he learns.

When he passes the test, we'd give him the option to buy the car from me and to take out insurance in his name.

He works 20 miles from home, so the car will be racking up about 12,000 to 14,000 miles per year.

The intention is to use the car for 2 more children to learn in over the next 2 years, as they reach the age of 17.

So we are looking for manual gearbox, that will represent cheapest total ownership costs - give or take a bit. Initial cost, insurance, fuel, road tax, servicing and repairs.
IE willing to pay a couple of hundred extra quid per year of ownership to get something that it is a bit nicer to drive and be in.
We are realistic and realise that there's a reasonable chance the car will be crashed or pick up a few parking dings in the next year.

Any suggestions? Either general make and model, or specific examples of cars for sale?

I have already come up with a couple of recommendations, that I'd prefer to keep to myself for now. But I have a very open mind on this due to the nature of used car buying...

[terrybooth]

Depends what you want to spend of course. Fiestas, Hyundai i10/i20s?

[Fretless]

Fiat Panda. They run forever and are easy to handle.

[savvypaul]

All boys driving or for girls, too?

[Vinyl-ant]

I worked in the motor insurance industry for a long time, and the advice I always gave was the first gen Ford ka. Those went up to about 04. Gen 2 had a 1.25 16 valver and went up to about 08. Small, nippy, cheap to buy and insure for a learner and cheap to fix. Fiesta, corsa Punto et AL are all more expensive to insure
Watch for rotten sills, dody throttle position sensor and blocked heater matrix. Bottom arms can be nasty but most will have been done by now.
A replacement tps is not dear, a replacement matrix is about 50 quid, new sills welded in about 100 quid a side.
It's an old Kent crossflow motor so not much to go wrong, tappety sounding ones can have the tappets adjusted to quiten it down.
Good on fuel, brakes are crap and always were. Better pads help and are cheap
And it's nice and forgiving to drive, and will go exactly where you point it. Gearbox is actually an mtx75 sierra unit so is bulletproof and has a really nice shift rather than stirring a bowl of porridge to find a gear.

[Hannes-Gregor]

A Fiat Bravo Diesel is a bit bigger, so more comfortable and save, consumes about 5l/100km, is cheap to buy used and lasts nearly forever. Mine has now done 290000 km and an end is out of sight.

[zebbo]

1st generation Ford KA is great but a rust bucket. Nissan Micra is bullet proof but they too can rust pretty badly. We've had a couple of Corsa C 1.2's and they have proved 100 % reliable and rust free, great little cars.
Personally, I wouldn't even consider trying to teach my own kids to drive though, especially once they start getting a bit more confident - it will end in tears! Tried it once, never again.

[TheMarlin]

Fiat Panda

[savvypaul]

I would get something that they (and their friends) will be happy enough to be seen in...

[Lindsayt]

The oldest 2 are boys. The youngest is a girl.

I'm trying to make this a heart following head decision and to get the cheapest car give or take a couple of hundred per year. With the give or take being that it's justifiable to spend a bit more on a vehicle that's nicer to drive and be in.

There's also a preference for lower initial / up-front costs due to the oldest son expecting to pay for it as his wages come in. He has no savings, so it'll be initially funded through the bank of dad (a portion of my redundancy money from last year).

The 21 year old initially wanted to buy a brand new £19,000 VW Golf as his first car. And to pay for it with finance. I think I've talked him out of that madness.

6 months ago I thought that there was no way I'd teach my children to drive. But then I read something where someone had basically taught themselves to drive by watching youtube videos and finding out what maneuvres he had to do in the test and by getting his mum to sit in the car with him. He didn't learn anything from his mum. She just sat there for legal requirements. He was of the opinion that driving lessons are a rip-off and a bit of a con.
This is something that my family is looking to put to the test.
And it'll be something to laugh about down the pub "Hey, I passed my driving test and didn't have any lessons at all."
Edit, so part of the secret to this may be to say "I'm not teaching you to drive. You've got to teach yourself. I'm just here for legal requirements and to try to help avoid any accidents". The oldest has already had some lessons and says he was making good progress.
The younger 2 are capable and confident at learning things.

I can do basic servicing and repairs. Oil and filter changes, starter motor replacements, brake pad and disk replacement etc. A clutch change or timing belt change might be a bit of a bigger job than I'd be happy to take on.
For first car ownership it'd be nice if I could get my children to do some basic mechanical tasks. Get them off to a good start for the rest of their driving lifetime.

I'm also tending towards a diesel, due to the impression of better longevity from them. Plus the real world mpg's. But still have an open mind on this - for the right petrol car.