Three years ago I was quoted £4,000 for the S, and instead I settled for the insurance friendly cooper. TBH I didn't have any NCB, and its only now that I've reached over 25 years of age I can get a Cooper S for under £1,000 with 3 years NCB. It will depend largely on where you live, annual mileage etc (I do 20,000 miles per year), etc etc.
I would imagine if you can wait a little while (getting at least one or two years no claims bonus) it will help considerably with the premium. I wouldn't even dream of only insuring yourself third party - if you can't afford the comprehensive premium don't buy the car. However you can lower your premium by increasing the amount of excess you have.
In some ways (and I know this is slightly off topic, and certainly no reflection on your first post Chris as a driver) but I'm glad that I only started with 60bhp, because lets face it if you're young and paying for a powerful car you're going to want to use it which is why it is so expensive because young drivers + powerful cars on average aren't the best mix. A couple of years of motoring matures most drivers a lot.
