[blacklineninja]

Hi Will, welcome to the site.

I started my driving career in a Peugeot 205, a 1 litre, but having learned to drive in a Vauxhall Corsa 1.7D (not turbo, either) it felt fairly nippy and handled like a demon.

I've driven the Corsa C (the 1.2 SXi) as a pool car at work, and it gave a good impression, and we've got a mark 1 Punto 1.2 Sporting which is nice too. Touch wood we've had no problems with it so far.

The problem you're going to be facing is insurance - they'll wallop you pretty hard until your 21, so what I would say is go for something cheap, cheerful and reliable until then, something you'll have fun in but won't cost you a lot and then move up to something tasty when your a bit older and hopefully have some no claims bonus built up.

Shop around for insurance - get a couple of internet quotes from quotedetective.com on cars that you've got your eye on to get a feel of how much each costs to insure, then when you decide on one start phoning and trying to knock some cash off. Adrian Flux and Hyperformance are good for young drivers - I've used the latter myself back when I had hair.

I would also advise that you'll probably end up having so many minor dings in your first year of driving (bumping kerbs, clipping wing mirrors and such) that you don't want to get anything too new either.

I was reading an article a few months ago about the cheapest cars to insure in the UK and top of the list was a classic VW Beetle. If you can get one in alright condition, they're pretty cool in a sort of retro surfer dude stylee - get a sound system in and some smart wheels and you're away!

I hope this helps, but this is a good forum so if you need any more information everyone will be more than happy to help you out.