As some of you many know I recently passed my driving test 
And I was given a car by my mum :tiphat:
It’s a '94 (ish) Honda Civic, 3-door hatchback which is “okay” but I’d like to know what other options are open to me 
Being a biker I know next to nothing about what’s out there so if I make a list of desirables could you knowledgable bunch suggest some cars ? 
Budget : £1500 or so (about what I might get for this one)
Doors : ideally 5 door, need access to the rear seats for the kiddies - 3 door still an option though.
Style : Estate or hatchback - preferably hatch.
Size : not important (leave it!) - volvo estates don’t appeal but a people carrier could have its uses for practicality’s sake. Ideally a large on the inside small on the outside type
Performance : Civic is sluggish imo, works out about 100bhp/tonne so anything more would be good
Rear Wheel Drive - I’d love to have a rwd again, but not to the exclusion of everything else.
Suggestions welcome
You worry about 100BHP/tonne being sluggish and are considering a people carrier ?
I can highly recommend the Ford Galaxy 2.3 Zetec though, especially in Silver apart from it being in the same VED band as a supercharged RangeRover V8
A lot depends on how the insurance companies are treating you, do you get any discount as a new driver with bike experience ?
Money seems to go a long way these days
£1475 will get you a BMW 530 V8 manual in Autotrader with full service history.
insurance is a killer this year, will go down nicely next year though 
no discount for the bike sadly 
must admit I assumed beemers were well out of price range - 3-series could be good, 5-series seems a little overkill lol
I was looking at a car change (until discovering there’s really bugger all wrong with the one I have), and after much dithering about on web sites, looking at cars and reading reviews, I narrowed it down to the Renault Laguna :shrug:
I was seriously contemplating a newer Mondeo, but owners reports of excessive rust on 4 & 5 yr old models put me right off :eek:
I guess any car you choose will differ from others opinions of it, it all depends how you personally want the car to be.
I like large (ish) family cars that fit my budget, are comfortable (for me and the passengers), have decent ‘luggage’ space, minimal road/wind/engine noise, … and a CD player :lol:
I care not a jot about alloy wheels, sat nav, external air temperature sensors, parking sensors, electrically adjustable seats, or automatic rain sensing wipers :ghey: - and I’ve never had the desire to own a diesel either
I looked closely at the Jaguar X Type - it’s a Mondeo with a body shell :rolleyes:
BMW’s are 10 a penny, and IMO have overtaken the Mondeo as the new clitoris car :o
The Skoda Superb looks a cracking car, but out of my price range (unless ex taxi with 200K on the clock) :lol:
oh yeah, I was also looking at the MPV stuff, but performance and handling didn’t fit my ‘profile’
Stick with Honda, most reliable cars i’ve ever had.
Look for a vtec accord or if you like the civic but just want more power the vtec version of it is great.
Shame you want a hatch back or you could go for a prelude…197bhp on the jap import vtec’s and with a bit of tinkering easy to get over 200bhp and 150mph+ top end
In which case you’d definitely need one of those sat nav things that shows where the cameras are 
Gosh I must be getting to be an old fuddy duddy 
I know this is going to be boring.
100 BHP/tonne is plenty enough for a first car. Keep your cash out of the insurers hands until your NCD and age allow something reasonable.
You’ve still got your bike for fun so just use the car when its raining and you cba to get your gear on.