Top Ten Cars for Teens - Cheapest Young Driver Insurance

There's no getting away from it. Car insurance for 17 year olds is expensive. The simple fact is, the youngest drivers on our roads are, on the whole more dangerous, owing to their understandable lack of experience behind the wheel.

But if you are a young driver, there are things you can do to help yourself. First off, do an advanced driving course, like PassPlus, IAM, RoSPA or Max Driver. By getting extra skills and experience, you'll be making yourself a safer driver and young drivers will save much more than the cost of the course on their first insurance premium.

Second, take a limited mileage policy if you can commit to driving less than, say 3,000 or 5,000 miles a year. This will save you money, and is a more convenient way of getting a discount than installing a "Pay as You Drive" black box into your car, which is just a high tech way of charging less for a limited mileage anyway.

Joining an owners club can drop your premium by up to 15%, parking your car in the garage will probably save you more than your dad, and fitting an alarm will bring down the premium too.

So far, so good, but there are some factors you can't, or are unlikely to change. You can't make yourself any older, and you probably don't want to move house just to get cheaper car insurance. So that leaves the car that you choose as the main factor in determining the price you will pay.

So what is the cheapest car to insure. We did some research and the result may surprise you.

The cheapest car to insure, for a teenage driver, is, by a country mile, the classic VW Beetle. Other classics have also done well, with the Classic Mini coming in 5th and the Renault 5 in 9th, but it's not just a list of bangers with respectable modern motors like the Vauxhall Corsa, Peugeot 106 and the quirky Vauxhall Agila all doing very well.

Of course, not all classic beetles are all that old - production continued in Mexico and Brazil right up to 2003, and some enthusiasts import these to the UK enjoying the classic Beetle styling and air-cooled power, with a few (slightly) more modern creature comforts. Check out mexibugs, for more details.

And you know where to come for classic beetle insurance!
And for young driver insurance too!

Here is the list of cars, you'll notice that almost all of them are low powered 1 litre engines - if you go for a more powerful car too soon, your premium will accelerate faster than your car, for example, if that Renault 5 at number nine were the turbo version, the premium for a bloke would be £4,000, so watch out. All the quotes below are for Third Party Fire & Theft Cover for a 17 year old driver living in a moderate-to-low risk area and assume the car is valued at less than £5,000.

Car model/engine size	Male	Female
(1) Volkswagen Beetle (old shape, up to 1600cc)	£932.00	£714.00
(2) Vauxhall Corsa 1000cc	£1320.00	£1052.00
(3) Peugeot 106 1000cc	£1320.00	£1055.00
(4) Fiat Panda 1000cc	£1323.00	£1058.00
(5) Austin Mini 1000cc	£1325.00	£1058.00
(6) Fiat Uno 1000cc	£1330.00	£1058.00
(7) Citroen Ax 1000cc	£1334.00	£1060.00
(8) Peugeot 205 950cc	£1334.00	£1060.00
(9) Renault 5 1000cc	£1336.00	£1060.00
(10) Vauxhall Agila 1000cc	£1336.00	£1060.00

Return of the Little Mouse

With all the launches of retro styled cars like the MINI and New Beetle over the last few years, you'll probably be feeling left out if you have a hankering for some of the other "peoples' classics".

While it seems unlikely that we'll get a new Morris Minor anytime soon, there is mixed news for fans of the 2CV, which has received a modern update that Citroen apparently like, although nothing concrete has been forthcoming as yet.

For Fiat 500 fans, though the news is excellent, with the new 500 due in 9 months. And unlike the 90's incarnation of the Cinquecento, this one will get all its styling cues from the Italian classic. Mechanically, though, components will be shared with the Fiat Panda and the new Ford Ka. You can find tons of classic Fiat 500 stuff here.

These eminently sensible cost saving measures mean that, unlike the MINI and Beetle, which have re-emerged as luxury hatches with a premium price tag, the Fiat Nuovo 500 will remain a true car for the people - the projected price tag is a mere £5000 - cheap enough to attract a whole new generation of young Topolino fans.

Fiat have put together a fantastic site, where you can play around with the design elements of the car, play cool games and competitions, and even try your hand at designing some sticker graphics - if your artwork is the best they'll stick it on a real car.

King's Lynn's finest

Opportunities in West Norfolk, is a jobs fair aimed at showing kids in their last year at school what prospects there are for them in the local area.

PDA and Wayne went on behalf of Flux, and they took along the Mental Mini, which you can still win.

Because Flux had the only stand with a £20k pimped ride (most of the others just had leaflets) a large crowd formed around the luminous orange glow. But it wasn't just PDA's permatan attracting attention, as the kids were trying to watch DVD's through the tinted windows of the Mini too.

The nice picture went into the Lynn News, which also featured this week the greatest reader's letter I have ever seen!

Lil Player takes over the MiniWorld.

The amazing pimped mini that I blogged about here, which you can win in our awesome competition, has made it onto the cover of MiniWorld magazine.

Matt of Ghost Concept, who built the car for us, is currently showing her off at the British Motor Show at ExCel in London's Docklands, and is due to take her to a host of other shows over the coming months including Mini in the Park. Make sure you get a look at this car if you possibly can, because it looks absolutely stunning in the flesh.

To stand a chance of winning this unbelievable Mini and a year's free insurance, just answer this simple question:

A gang of thieves used Mini Coopers as their getaway cars in which famous film?

a. The Lord of the Rings
b. The Italian Job
c. Independence Day

Text the word MINI followed by a, b or c to:

84808+

* Free insurance included up to the value of £500. + All texts charged at £1.50 each, plus standard operator's rate. Please read the competition rules for full terms and conditions.