Hi,

My younger brother is turning 18 in the next couple of weeks and has decided to ditch his motorbike in favour of a car.

He has been offered my nan and grandads Kia Pride 1.3 About an R Reg, EW, RCL as a free car. But being the ungrate ful little git that he is, he has thrown it back in their faces.

Someone has Persuaded him to get out a loan (bearing in mind he is an apprentice earning £80 a week, no guarantee of a full time job) to get either an old mini, a VW beetle or a Ford Capri.

Is it just me, or are all these three choices more like novelty cars rather than the real thing?

1. Mini, he is verging on the 6 foot mark, they aint exactly reliable or cheap.

2. VW Beetle, coming from one of the most over-rated companies in the world, i believe these are prone to heavy rusting and bad electrics.

3. Capri, Fix Or Repair Daily??? Every 40 year old has owned a capri, are they still legends, or washed out wannabe cars?

My opinion is, if he must get a loan for a car, he should get something reliable and sensible.

I am going to try and persuade him to keep the kia for a year, but does anyone have any info on the cars above regarding reliability, what to look out for and prices etc.

Shame i dont have the AX to sell him anymore

dont know much about kia's, i love capris but wouldnt get one unless had loads of money to restore it as they are well old and will be full of rust. same for the beetle, rush city.

beatles are heavy on insurence dunno about the others

Beetles can now be insured on classic insurance. only available to over 25's

Capri Lazer's are a worthy investment as they are kinda hard to get hold of now - Oh and a peice of p!ss to work on, if he's to get any a capri would be the daddy