ideas for first car
 

Im now 17,(its been 2 years) i getting in 2 months my licence and i will be starting to work so im think to buy a car im a car enthusiast and i have work in some on my friends cars , my preference will be car under 2L due to some taxes in greece
I want something small in terms of size, efficient, cheap to mantain ," that is kinda fast"
• opel corsa d 1.7 cdti
• ibiza 6L 1.9 tdi
• polo mk4 the facelift one 1.9 tdi (my favourite one)
• e36 1.8tds (worse my opinion)
• fiat stilo and punto the 1.9 jtd
• opel astra gtc 1.9 cdti (jtd)
• golf 5 gen 4 motion 1.9 tdi
Be free to say anything and your preference,
Most of you notice all options are diesel its because fuel is cheaper to buy(-0,35€ per L compared to petrol) and the engines are more efficient and robust

The Polo would be my pick from the list - with that engine it'll be much quicker and potentially more efficient than the Golf.

I'm unfamiliar with the Ibiza though so can't comment there.

Have you also considered the Ford Fiesta 1.6 diesel? I'm running one at the moment and it's decent to drive. Factory rated at 90hp / 200Nm, however also tuned to 130hp / 300Nm on the same engine with minor fuelling and boost mods.

I'm sure similar things can be done to the VW's but it would depend on what is available locally.

If you are concerned about economy then search the site or users and see what vehicles in that range are getting the best results.

Cheers!

I mean ford fiesta mk5-mk6 looks nice but i have seen a lot reliability issues and i know its true ,those duratoq diesel engines are not the best thing when it comes to reliability its more efficient than the other options i have suggested ,thanks for the suggestion

Im a tdi fanboy......the golf has a bunch of issues which are easy to fix, but still leaves it parked while you scrounge parts, and additionally mediocre aero. The computer system invades everything. The polo has more opportunities to play with economy.

I can't speak for the European market, but broadly speaking, BMW and Fiat rank near the bottom in total cost of ownership and maintenance, while VW group is typically in the lower half (model dependent), and Ford and Opel are only middle of the pack. None of these would be my choice for a first car, but if I needed to pick among them (and without being personally familiar with most of these), I'd steer clear of BWM and Fiat especially. They can be fine cars, once you have lots of time and money to put into them. I certainly didn't at 17.

Im looking at older models from my experience opel is the most reliable and then its vw , next if gonna buy a petrol car i have more fuel cost , and less reliability (not always) only thing will be cheaper its taxes in terms of tuning i can say petrol is always a better solution but diesel is decent for some decent number's with good efficiency
I dont expect to put a lot money buying the car, and tune it
Those are 1-5k range cars or less
I just want a reliable car i can maintain cheaply,tune it easily, and" little fast " now my options are really reliable even fiat, bmws ones those engines last only gearboxes are kinda @ss

I know nothing about Greece, energy prices, taxation, etc... but I'd be looking at a used EV for lower operational costs and low maintenance; only if there is easy access to charging at home.

it's just me, but if I was stating out again at 17*, I'd be looking for something with no doors and windows. They're just complications.

I'd look for a dead Myers Manx (or a clone) and do a home brew EV conversion.

https://evcentral.com.au/wp-content/...2-1024x576.jpg

edit: *You won't be young very long, take my word for it, take the chance while you can.

Most likely, nowadays the Corsa with the Isuzu-designed engine might be the hardest to find replacement parts at a reasonable cost.

Maybe the most conservative option would be the Fiat Punto, which probably would be my choice.

Let me give you some clue about greece and cars in general,
first fuel prices : chepeast is lpg 0,9-1 euro per l then its diesel which is 1,3-1,6 euro per l then its petrol with 95 octanes is 1,7-1,9 higher octanes are + 0,1 per l (octanes are diffrent in eu )
taxes : are based of car year and emissions for some cars (new cars) in older vehicles are based of year and discplacent and we have some a weird tax called luxury tax ( bad translation ) if a car is over 2l you need to pay 300 euro more if its 2,3 L you will need to pay 400 something euro and it goes...) so people are wise for what they will choose this why we dont got any american cars due to discplacemnt
car prices used market: overpriced lets say 2k-3k more than average market in each car i will give examples
subaru wrx mk2 10-15k
diesel corsas 1,3 5-7k ( efficient thats why they are so high)
smartfortwo 2-3k
lancer evolution 35-45k
audi s3 8p 10-18k
good looking cars are ovepriced especially if they are german

average cars in greece based of my view :
Toyota yaris
opel corsa c-d
opel astra g-h (vauxhall)
hyundai atos
skoda octavia mk1-mk2
peugeot 206-207-106-208
every cheap small displacemnt hatchback
golf 3-4-5
audi a3-a4 8l,8p
seat ibiza 6l
seat leon mk1-mk2
seat toledo (leon gen)

cars people love in greece (most tuned , best ones)
peugeot 106 rallye
audi s3 8l-8p
ibiza cupra 6l
octavia mk1-mk2 20vt
audi tt mk1-mk2 1,8 20vt and tsi
corsa d opc
astra h opc
civic ep3 typer r
corolla 1,8 vti
peugeot 207 rc
impreza turbo wrx or sti
golf 4-5 gti
bmw e30-36 318is
seat leon cupras
fiat punto gt ( especially first gen)
alfa romeo mito 1.4 turbo

so this is greece , we are kinda limited but yea

'Watts' the situation with electrical vehicles?

In terms of the lowest maintenance cost and lowest rate of failure, the Yaris would be top of the list. Not exactly a thrilling car to own, granted.

The easiest and cheapest to maintain cars are typically Japanese. Were it me, I'd keep an eye out for a diesel Mazda demio/2. I know Honda and Toyota both sell small turbodiesels as well, but perhaps not in your market.

Well taxation is extremely low , but people here are" poor" so we dont have a lot eletric cars besides some toyota , Hyundai hybrids or some evs i rarely see teslas but they cost a fortune for the greek average citizen

That should tip the balance a little, shouldn't it?

How about the Toyota Highlandet/Lexus LX400h?

For the Myers Manx I'm promoting there are essentially three build levels. First is the way they did it in the 1970s, a forklift motor and lead acid batteries. See Project Forkenswift from 2007 (Index in 1st post)

What changed is OEM pieces and parts -- motors, controllers and batteries. An example would be the electric axle from the Toyota/Lexus hybrid: ecomodder.com/forum: :cool: Hot-rodding the Toyota MGR

https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-f...7-100-0855.jpg

I got this far with this one, unit in the subframe, minus the motor mounts, controller, batteries, battery box, etc., & etc. It would just as well go into my Geo Metro.

The high end would be the way VW themselves do it, a complete eUP! drivetrain:

Greece is part of a Union, is it not?

Greece is part of a Union, is it not?[/QUOTE]

yea european union ! still we somehow manage to be horrible

You said you have worked on friend's cars. Do you have access to shop space?

Off-topically, my daily source for news commentary is from Greece/Cyprus, www.youtube.com/@AlexChristoforou.

edit: If you say a homebrew EV is off the table I'll shut up about it.

For my own first car, I did not buy what was the most rational choice. I got a high-strung Honda with an open top. It had a good reputation for reliability and fuel economy was what most considered "very good" where I grew up (around 6.7L/100km or 35mpg). I also looked at an MX-5 (which also have stellar reputations for reliability, but are worse on fuel) and a VW Golf, which was falling apart and had a ton of electrical issues. I picked the Honda, if I'm being honest, because it was the quickest and coolest, and I happened to be able to rationalize the choice.

Ultimately, you'll get what calls to you, and you'll learn from it. Your second car will be considerably different than your first, from the lessons you learn. This is ok. These are old, used, inexpensive cars, and none of them will set you back too badly financially.

I'll be curious to see what you pick, and how it goes.

I guess it might not be too hard to find a Fiat with the FIRE engine in Greece. Unless you're a die-hard dieselhead, and would consider a gasser, this would be probably the most cost-effective option. FIRE engines are almost Brazilian-proof enough :D


CRX Del Sol?

im neither diesel head or petrol head i love both -
in greece we got plenty of fire engines due to their low displacemnt they are good options i have seen some issues with 1.4 turbo ones, efficiency is decent i think bsfc is above average for their power output overall for a gas engines is fine i got only one friend who owns a fire its grande punto 1.4 turbo he have done some change some values to ecu- a downpipe- exhaust making 160 hp with 200k km idk he sayings its a trouble car so why not a diesel one with more efficiency ,only advantage might be cornering with petrol one :) thanks

not something crazy just a small garage with most basic tools

You only get 1 first car, so choose carefully.

What do you want your stories to be about your first car when you're old? Because it's your first, it will be prominent in your memories.

My first vehicles were whatever my dad let me drive in high school. First was a '69 Bug, then a 1985 Volvo, then a 1980 Dodge Ram van, then a 1976 CB750 motorcycle...

First car I owned the title to was a 1996 Subaru Legacy manual transmission. My fondest memories were in that car because I owned it so long, and adventured so many places with it, often offroad. It's a miracle someone else caused its demise.

Correct. It had a 1.6L 160hp naturally aspirated. I bought the car with 160k miles (260k km), and put another 100k miles (160k km), put almost nothing into it, and sold it for more than I paid. The car owed me nothing.

I can relate to that, even though I've been more interested on Diesel engines since '96 when I moved from Manaus to Florianópolis when my father got transfered (he's a former military), and so I started having more contact with people from Argentina and Uruguay during summer. Back in the day, most of the cars with Argentinian and Uruguayan plates that I used to see had Diesel engines, even some Brazilian-made cars which had Diesel versions available only for export. Due to the Free Port Zone in Manaus, even American full-size trucks imported from Miami were most often gassers, and cheap gasoline smuggled from Venezuela could be found at some fuel stations :D


I was considering the naturally-aspirated ones.