My first car was a rover 214 and Ive still got it. Ive had it over a year now and had no problems at all. Rovers are much cheaper to insure than cars such as polo's and clio's. It was £1000 cheaper to insure my 1.4i rover that it would have been to insure a 1.2 polo. Also a rover 214 fits a 221 ti on the back seats and is the perfect shape car for a bike rack.
I think your right, I started with rubbish bikes and never realy made much progress with my riding. Then when i finaly got a decent bike I made massive progress with my riding. So having a good bike helps your riding skills in a big way