Dr Mike’s post brought back fond memories of the thrill of owning a fast car at a young age. The only possible spanner in the works was can I afford to ensure at reasonable cost?
The £600 I paid then is around £1150 in today’s money, so similar to you son’s £82 per month.
The modern hot hatch is far more powerful, faster but far safer. Looks from this sample of 1 that insurance is no more expensive now than it was then.
Very important to keep your nose clean though. I can remember how annoyed I was at being booked for speeding around a year later. M56 coming into Manchester. I was in a group of cars doing 85-90 just as the traffic had thinned. I slowed when I saw the following police car, so he pulled me over. I got 4 points, probably because I argued with him. You live and learn.
It was years before I had a truly fast car of my own, but I did have access to a few. My Dad had a works van, so he only needed his own car on Saturday and Sunday mornings - apart from those times, if he wasn't working, he was at the club. Everyone else pootling around in their mam's 1.0 Mini Metros at 17 (back in '92) - I driving my Dad's 2.8 Granada Estate almost any time I wanted.
I had regular access to the boss's company car at 18 - a Granada Scorpio Cosworth. As long as I drove him to and picked him up from the airport when he went away on his frequent trips, I had the car for my own for a few days to a week at a time. I took that thing up to 135mph on a quick burst on the M27 once, just to see what it could do. Then straight back down to 80.
My own first quick car was a Peugeot 205 1.6 GTI not long after I graduated.
It was coppers to get on someone else's insurance at 17/18 back then, and even at 23, that Peugeot cost about £320 to insure.
