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My first was an all white stock Holden 1964 EH 149 saloon, $250, my wage was $120pw, no pics sadly. Like most first cars i wrote it off within 6 months while showing off & had a few drinks ..no drink driving laws back then

My second was an EH 179 Station Wagon, $350 ,my wage was $160pw, that was a beauty and went for 2 years before i upgraded to a 18 month old Holden HQ Waggon , $ 2600, my wage was 185pw,A new HJ Waggon was just under $6000 then

The main issue with a first car is to have big enough balls just to get something that is not super powerfull = get through 3 years of P Plates ..ALIVE... NOT Blow a heapload of your ca$h on car sound looks/performance, that would have got you into the property market years earlier

My first car back in 1966 was a pink Morris Major Elite...

See that prooves the theory as an http://www.classic-austin-morris.oldcla ... in_a70.htm would have been Cop Bait ,back then

My EH was in 1977 so a bit 2nd hand ... but not as old as my current ride ( SD Mitsubishi L300 8 seater 1985) that i got in 1997 & still have

I agree with most of the suggestions made so far: Don't go out on a limb; get something that is simple, reliable, and affordable.

My first car was a 1972 Ford Escort 1300 Mk1, just like the one in this photo (even the same "puke" orange). I think I paid $1200 for it.

Damn thing was so light, it would slip and slide all over the place at the slightest sign of rain. On the positive side, at least I could push start it by myself.

I've currently got a midnight blue 2000 Magna TH Sports which is the nicest car I've ever had. My last car was an old VK Holden Boganodore so it's a vast improvement. There's a lot of negative stigma about Magnas due to the fact that their resale value drops so rapidly. This is actually a good thing when you're buying second-hand because it means you can get a lot more for your money. Mine was only four years old when I got it, single owner, log books & I had an RAA inspection that couldn't find a single thing wrong with it. I love it! But it's a V6 & the price is more than what I'd recommend paying for a first car...

So presuming you'll want something that you'll enjoy driving, won't cost you too much to keep on the road & is reliable (until you get your second car). Four a four cylinder first car I'd recommend considering a Corolla. I know it's probably far from what you had in mind but they do win best small car award from both Wheels & the RAA just about every year. A lot of people who buy a Corolla just buy another one after it because they never want to drive anything else.

The advantages are they don't cost much to run or register, parts are affordable & readily available, you would not encounter a single mechanic who hasn't worked on a Corolla before & if you look through Google images some of them actually look really nice. You'll also find that there's a lot more more work on that particular car that you could do yourself.

There's some nice late '90s Eighth Generation E110 or early 00s Ninth Generation E120s models that you'd be able to pick up for a good price too.

My 1st car to was this one but in Lime green (got mine in 1990). Had no guts (having a 1300CC Mower motor as I called it) and I remember going around a corner in the wet and found myself facing oncoming traffic due to losing the back end.

My first car was a 1972 1300 Mazda coupe. I pranged it on my way to school one morning a week after I bought it. I drove that poor old car to the ground...

LOL! Once I was doing a right hand turn in pouring rain, and it turned into a 270 degree turn. Since I ended up facing my intended direction, I simply changed gear and kept going.
I reckon if you watched it from outside the car you could be forgiven for thinking I did it on purpose; all this, at the graceful speed of about 20 mph. But, I can tell you, that is probably the only time in my life that I wasn't sure whether to wet myself, or laugh my head off.

Just had a think about what I've had over the years...

1st - Morris Major Elite - The only vehicle I've ever driven over 100MPH!
2nd - HR Holden Sedan
3rd - Ford Transit Van with dual rear wheels
4th - 1971 Kombi Campervan
5th - 1974 Kombi Campervan
6th - Renault 12 Station Wagon
7th - 1981 Ford Station Wagon
Now - 1997 Daewoo Cielo

I did the driving on two wheels thing in my first car; in the Adelaide Hills, on one of the most treacherous roads near Cleland Wildlife Park, while it was pissing down with rain. My passenger & I both threw our body weight to one side to get the other two wheels back down. I hadn't been driving long so it was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life!