Survey shows Ford is the most popular first car UK-wide

Ford Fiestas and Escorts were the top two first cars in our survey, and it may be a bit of a shock but the earliest models of these are now firmly in the classic lane. Escorts in particular have seen a surge in popularity, and you can find some absolutely pristine examples of the MKI in collections today.

The Mini also made an appearance, both Austin and Rover. A car that epitomised British style for a decade and more, it’s no surprise that the Mini still makes top ten classic car lists. The Clubman, which many think of now as a BMW-manufactured car, was originally the 1970s re-imagining of the Mini, and in our survey most people who had a Clubman as their first car are aged 55 or older.

Of course, we also saw a few Beetles, and a smattering of Morris Minors, Abarths, Westfields and Alpines, no doubt all with entertaining first car ownership stories behind them.

Yorkshire was the region where drivers were most likely to have had a Ford as a first car, with 31% of people saying they’d had one. East Anglia followed close behind at 27%, and Scotland, the East and West Midlands, and the South East (excluding London) all came in at a solid 25% of first-car Ford owners.

Conversely, Ford was the least popular as a first car in London, where just 10% of Londoners saying their first car had been a Ford. London tended to favour BMW most highly, with 14% buying a Beemer as their first set of wheels.

For drivers now aged mid-forties to mid-fifties in our survey, the Ford Fiesta came top, with 16% of drivers this age having had one as their first car. The Ford Escort came second at 10%, but this trend was reversed with the 55+ age group, with 13% having had one as a first set of wheels, but only 6% having had a Fiesta.