Your first car

It was to turn his Falcon into Australia's favourite used car.

Polites reckoned it was the first step in creating a blue oval carpark and a rise in demand for the then-new Falcon, as people would be drawn to the brand and eager to continue in the Ford family.

But he failed.

The Holden Commodore is still Australia's favourite starter car, decades after the original VB Commodore created a legend when Peter Brock drove it to victory in the Repco round-Australia trial.

New figures from Bankwest show Holden is still the first choice for a first car in Australia, with both men and women. Nearly a quarter of all men have a Holden as their first car, with 16.1 per cent of women also buying into the brand.

Ford is second, at 15.5 per cent for men and 13.7 per cent for women, reflecting the huge job still faced by the company in getting to terms - will it ever make the leap? - with the car still regarded as 'Australia's own'.

There are no real surprises in the Bankwest information, as Toyota was third and Mazda took fourth with both men and women. Men then favoured Nissan, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi and Mini while the female choices are Mitsubishi, Nissan, Honda and Hyundai.

Bankwest spokesperson Adrian Bradley says men prefer a car with a bit of grunt like a classic V8 Commodore, while women go for a more fuel efficient four-cylinder Toyota.

"It's probably no surprise a lot of blokes want a car you can hear before they actually arrive," he says.

Bankwest went to a company called Brand Management for its research and, after talking to 1250 people, discovered 60 per cent of people save and pay cash for their first car. But 21 per cent get help from their parents and a lucky 3.7 per cent get it as some sort of gift.

The average spend on a first car with 21-30 year olds was $9973, but the figure drops dramatically to $5214 for baby boomers in the 51-60 age group, who probably bought their first car more than 30 years ago.