Some news for you!

[jcochrane]

So, shall be trying to book a car for a test drive this Saturday - a Skoda Citigo with a 1.0l 60hp engine, and possibly another one with a 75hp engine if possible, so I can decide whether I'd be able to deal with the 60hp engine or whether I'd have to have the 75hp engine.

The deals for them seem to be £800 deposit, then £123 p/month (10k miles p/a, 3dr Colour edition) or £135 p/month (10k miles p/a, 5dr Colour edition).

I'd rather have a 5 door model, but may settle with a 3 door, depending on how big the doors are.

I had a 60bhp version as a courtesy car not long after they came out. Given that it weighs next to nothing, I didn't find it horribly underpowered, although I did discover that you had to have the ICE on all the time as the lack of soundproofing in the engine bay made the three cylinder engine sound like a washing machine filled with M16 nuts.

I can't remember if I had 3 or 5 door. If you need to decant normal adults into the back seats then 5 door is the way to go, else go 3-door (and can be used as an excuse for not giving Great Aunt Edna a lift).

I also had one of theses as a courtesy car and agree with SD that the low power, on paper, did not bother me too much. A good pace could still be had out of the car.

[skodatezzer]

Re. dog transport. Would urge you to go for a suitable harness on the back seat (also a suitable seat cover to protect against muddy paws!). That's what I do with my canine companion because a) the most common collision is the rear-end shunt and b) your boot is also your rear crumple zone. She's too precious to risk.

[angus]

I'm impressed with your insurance quote. My daughter's last quote, as part of an Admiral multi-car policy, was £1000 for a 4year old Polo. That was just after she passed her test, still 17 but with one year's ncb

[Horse]

Re. dog transport. Would urge you to go for a suitable harness on the back seat (also a suitable seat cover to protect against muddy paws!). That's what I do with my canine companion because a) the most common collision is the rear-end shunt and b) your boot is also your rear crumple zone. She's too precious to risk.

Doesn't that mean that the most common collision is a front-end crunch too?





Unless you mean reversing into something


But, yes, dogs should always be in a belted-in harness.

[fungus]

My daughter keeps the rear seats of her Cooper S folded down to accomodate her German Wirehaired Pointer. The whole rear is covered by a taylor made vinyl type cover. She has a harness which is fixed by carabiner clips and straps to the cargo fixing points. The harness is a Sleepy Dog which is American made. It is by no means cheap, costing over £100, but she researched very thoroughly, and this one came out tops.

Nigel.

[TheInsanity1234]

I also had one of theses as a courtesy car and agree with SD that the low power, on paper, did not bother me too much. A good pace could still be had out of the car.

I took a 60hp out for a test drive, 4 up, (parents, myself and a sales advisor), and the hardest thing to adjust to was the lack of a foot rest. The engine was amazingly smooth, and I was honestly impressed with how nicely the car pulled us around. There was no indication of there being a lack of power, but then the Yeti has 104 hp and a kerb weight of 1.335 tons, whereas the Citigo has a power rating of 60hp, and a kerb weight of .865 tons, meaning the power to kerb weight ratio for both cars is somewhere in the reigion of 70ish hp per ton. That's probably why the Citigo doesn't seem like it lacks power, because it has more than enough power considering the weight of the car!

I'm impressed with your insurance quote. My daughter's last quote, as part of an Admiral multi-car policy, was £1000 for a 4year old Polo. That was just after she passed her test, still 17 but with one year's ncb

The insurance will be about £680 per year, and that's before the 10% loyalty discount we got on our policy, and also before the multicar discount on my premium too!

Re. dog transport. Would urge you to go for a suitable harness on the back seat (also a suitable seat cover to protect against muddy paws!). That's what I do with my canine companion because a) the most common collision is the rear-end shunt and b) your boot is also your rear crumple zone. She's too precious to risk.

I wasn't keen on the idea of putting a full size labrador into the boot of a Citigo anyway... I'll be getting a 5dr model so it's much easier to load Labradors and friends into the back!

I just wanted to get my replies done and sorted, I'll tell you about the car I've got later today!

[fengpo]

I may be late to the party but with go compare I know they ask if you have passed the IAM test. For the money I would advise doing the skill for life. In relation to your car choice, you will develop good planning for overtakes with the little engine.
I had a Peugeot 107 years ago, great fun that car was. Awesome on fuel, £20 lasts a good while.

Good luck let us know what you decide on

Conor

[waremark]

"let us know what you decide on "

"I'll tell you about the car I've got later today!"

Decided.

And £600 to insure sounds amazingly reasonable.

Enjoy, it's very exciting. And keep trying to drive as sensibly as you can.

[TheInsanity1234]

I may be late to the party but with go compare I know they ask if you have passed the IAM test. For the money I would advise doing the skill for life. In relation to your car choice, you will develop good planning for overtakes with the little engine.
I had a Peugeot 107 years ago, great fun that car was. Awesome on fuel, £20 lasts a good while.

Good luck let us know what you decide on

Conor

Oh, don't you worry about that! I'm planning on doing the SfL, and I think I've managed to talk my dad into buying that for me as a little present...

I don't think I'll have too much hassle in doing overtakes in the Citigo, it has quite a decent turn of speed compared to the Yeti! Outright power doesn't really mean anything unless you know the mass of the vehicle, and the Citigo is a hell of a lot lighter than the Yeti, so the power is probably about right for the weight of the car.

But I do want to get some guidance in how to assess the amount of time I'll have to overtake, because most of my overtakes tend to be done when I can't see any cars coming for the next 3 miles
But it does mean I have missed quite a few opportunities to overtake. Ironically though, I only overtake when there's no rush to get to where I'm heading. It's because when there's a time pressure, I get subconsciously stressed out, which affects my judgement in general, so I tend to just hang back and pootle along at however fast the car in front is going. However, when I'm not stressed, I'm more confident in my judgement of things, so I'll go for a few overtakes if I fancy it!

"let us know what you decide on "

"I'll tell you about the car I've got later today!"

Decided.

And £600 to insure sounds amazingly reasonable.

Enjoy, it's very exciting. And keep trying to drive as sensibly as you can.

I shall try to be sensible. Do not fear. (well, maybe a little quake in your boots might be acceptable... )

But yeah. The car.

It's going to be a Skoda Citigo SE L in the free red colour. It isn't the Citigo Colour Edition in metallic green that I wanted, but the colour edition would have to be factory ordered and it would've taken 12 weeks to arrive, which meant by the time I got it, I'd only be able to use it for 2 or so months before I'd have to go off to university. The SE L was already built, and it's on the other side of the channel at the moment, waiting to be shipped into England, meaning I could get it in 2 weeks.

Also, the basic colour edition was £130 a month, when I'd specced it up with the cruise control, spare wheel etc etc, it all came to £150 a month with a £1000 deposit., the SE L was £143 a month with a £1000 deposit. Bit of a no brainer in my eyes.

The SE L came with heated and electric wing mirrors, and all sorts of things that the Colour edition didn't have. But the most bizarre thing is the fact cruise control is an optional extra on both cars, but the SE L has heated front seats as standard! I'd rather have cruise control over a warm bottom any day, but never mind!

The SE L has the Greentec engine which meant the road tax would be £0.00 as opposed to £20 per year. It also has stop start, which is something I like on the Yeti, it means I don't need to switch the engine off myself when waiting for long periods of time! The other thing is, the insurance for the SE L was group 2E, but the Colour edition was 1E, which meant a £30 difference in annual premiums (as in, the SE L is more expensive to insure). But I reduce the premium by another £10 if I add my sister as a named driver (She's been a licence holder for 2 years).

The prebuilt SE L didn't have a spare wheel fitted from the factory, so I got the dealer to order one to be delivered and fitted to the car at the dealer, for £169. However, they had a SE L with a spare wheel fitted from the factory, but it was in silver which meant it had a £500 premium. So I chose the cheaper option (Also, the Yeti is in silver, so I didn't want my car to be the same colour).

The dealer also very kindly offered to throw in free rubber mats (incredibly useful in the Yeti) if I purchased the "return to invoice" insurance for £349. The mats were £40, meaning the insurance was only £309 in real terms, and apparently the car is delivered with £15 worth's of fuel in the tank, which is supposedly good for 150 miles, which is enough for me to get home from the dealer, and use the car for a week of commuting to 6th form. But this all means the cost of the insurance is only actually £294 for 3 years of cover which isn't a bad price for protection against me writing the car off and ending up with a huge finance bill to pay (which won't happen, as I'm a driving god ).

So, I've rambled on quite a bit... I'd best shut up now

[jont-]

The dealer also very kindly offered to throw in free rubber mats (incredibly useful in the Yeti) if I purchased the "return to invoice" insurance for £349. The mats were £40, meaning the insurance was only £309 in real terms

I suspect you could find GAP insurance significantly cheaper elsewhere had you shopped around. Dealers love these extras (diamondbrite/supaguard etc paint protection is another common one). £50 if that cost to them, mark it up to a couple of hundred then offer the punter a "discount" on it

Anyway, hope you enjoy your new car. I think until I passed 30 I never really found my insurance getting much cheaper, I just bought faster cars