As a parent I was shocked to discover that more than three quarters of us here in Blighty either buy their child’s first car outright or contribute money towards it.  According to the people at Moneysavingheroes.co.uk, £1500 was found to be the average amount given for a car purchase. It was also found that one in five parents received help to buy their first car. Didn’t happen in my case, but my parents helped in so many other ways, especially my mum, who didn’t tell my dad that I painted car parts on a rug, leaving some obvious overspray.  The bottom line is that parents want to guarantee that their offspring have the safest and most reliable set of wheels possible. As I have often explained, it’s all about the insurance – that’s the beginning and the end of it. Don’t think you can buy a cheap classic and sit back; insurance companies hate them, along with some diesels and less safe older cars. You will have to spend hours of your life getting insurance quotes, too. For the moment, though, let’s spend £1500 on something that is first-driver friendly.  A Volkswagen Polo. I’ve bought one of these for a teen and the 1.4 was actually pretty cheap to insure. So a 2004 1.4 Twist with 75,000 miles isn’t half bad at £1500. A one-owner, too. Then again, a 2004 Ford Fiesta 1.4 LX with 94k miles at the same money is also worth considering, because servicing will always be very affordable. Otherwise there is the Vauxhall Corsa, a 2007 Design with over 100,000 miles that is worth considering as a more recent alternative to the Ford.  What may be less reliable and less cheap to fix is a 2007 Citroën C3 1.4i Cool with a fresh MOT and proper service history. It even has a warranty for parts and labour, so maybe we’ll feel better about buying one of these. You could, though, consider a Chevrolet Aveo 1.2s. A 2009 with less than 80,000 miles is within the £1500 budget.  Probably the best example of a teen-friendly model would be a 2006 Toyota Yaris 1.0 VVT-I T3 with just shy of 100k miles. It has a service history and it’s a dealer part exchange, so they have an obligation to make sure that it is in roadworthy and warranty-worthy condition.  My advice for buying a teen a car is to do all the hard graft by checking out the insurance implications in your postal code. What is affordable in one area of the UK may be a bit pricey in another. This will be boring, but is more than worth doing – if you are a proper parent.  What we almost bought this week Cheap when new, even cheaper used. This 140,000-mile, 2013 Duster with full history is up for £2795. It’s described as being in good condition, but a few models delivered between January 2013 and August 2014 suffered rusty sills caused by poor paint application. Dacia repaired affected cars, so there should be nothing to worry about. Tales from Ruppert’s garage Innocenti Mini, mileage – 6801: All my cars seem to leak some fluid or other. It’s what they do. When I’ve been using The Italian Job on local errands I noticed there was a little dribble every time I stopped. It was pretty clearly water and at first I did think it was rather more serious. Even the seller didn’t think the cooling was particularly reliable. Indeed, when I first got it, escaping steam seemed to be an issue, and I did toy with the idea of a new radiator. At the moment all that happens is the dribble when it stops, but there’s no overheating or running a bit of a temperature. Bit like me in old age, really.  A reader writes The Innocenti: The best thing about writing for Autocar is making contact with you, dear reader. You ask the cleverest questions and you tell me interesting things.  Recently these have been Innocenti related. I have talked to a couple of owners and the man who serviced Lord Donald Stokes’s. Here’s an even bigger surprise posted to the Autocar office: this novel by reader Frank Kirtley. I’ve started it and I will let you know what it’s about, but for now it’s brilliant someone called a book The Innocenti. Glad to have some bedtime reading.  Readers’ questions Question: I’ve just bought a new Audi RS3 Sportback on a PCP. Once it’s run in, I plan to have it chipped. Who do you recommend for the work? Kevin Salter, Colchester Answer: If you don’t mind, we’ll avoid answering that since we’re not a tuning magazine, and in any case, there are many other things to consider when uprating an engine. Instead, it concerns us that you think you’ve bought your RS3. In fact, you’re renting it, and Audi Finance is your landlord. And just as some landlords don’t like you changing things in their houses, so Audi Finance is unlikely to appreciate you sneaking more horses under the bonnet. Ask permission, first. It’ll probably say no. John Evans Question: I’m interested in a nearly-new Infiniti Q50, but despite the dealer’s assurances, I’m worried about servicing, parts and the warranty in light of Infiniti pulling out of Europe. What do you think? Harry Jordan, Castle
Origin: James Ruppert: How to buy your kids a car