as we dont know what the budget is, it's a bit difficult to suggest anything, but hearing stories from the young lads at work even a cheap car with a small engine will cost an arm and a leg to insure, costing more to insure than you pay for it, it's a bit of a nightmare trying to buy anything these days, being a new driver your son will need something with cheap insurance, so we are talking about something small, like a Peugeot 106, Renault clio, citroen saxo, ford fiesta/ka, Nissan micra
whether the other guy's think they are simple and straight forward only time will tell, but every car has its + and - points, check out the insurance costs before you buy anything, only buy a standard car, ie not lowered with big wheels, and a trendy big exhaust, the insurance companies dont seem to like it, if you dont tell them
there was a website, maybe parkers.co.uk where you can find out what insurance group a car is, and then find all cars in the same insurance group, but they may have change it now
tommy :D