hi, i'm just about to get a mk2 golf for my girlfriend who is 17, all other cars i looked at were over £2000 for her to insure, but a 1.3 mk2 golf is £816 and a mk2 golf gti is just shy of a grand, was going to give her my rover 623 as that was even less and that had around 170 bhp but at 285000 miles it blew it's head gasket. insurance doesn't make sense, i'm 23 a mk3 golf gti is £900 for me to insure a bmw 316 is £1100 or i could have a mk3 golf with a mk4 r32 lump dropped in with a turbo conversion for £700, my insurance is now dearer for me than when i was 17 for the same cars. whatever you do get make sure you put an older driver (35+) as a named driver and tell them they are the main driver, i save £435 by doing that, insurance is a rip off so i don't mind doing something like that to bring the price down, (i've never crashed or made a claim but lost my no claims bonus as an idiot crashed off the road 20 foot onto my property when i was out, they then drove off and to their credit notified their insurance company but as it was only a 1.1 fiesta worth nothing i told them not to worry about it, but because they had told my insurance company i lost my no claims) they can't invalidate your insurance either as it's your policy and they have no way of checking, just make sure that the person you put as a named driver lives at the same address. also a company called insure the box might be worth a look sometimes they are upto £1000 cheaper they put a tracker in your car and limit your miles to 6000 per year if you need more you can buy them and the cost is determined by the way you drive, also if you drive sensibly you can earn 100 extra miles per month for free. normally they give a better price through moneysupermarket though