(no subject)

[wellinghall]

Can anyone recommend a car that meets the following criteria?
- small
- four / five doors
- up to £7,500
- up to three years old
- fuel efficient, kind to the atmosphere, and economical to run
- reliable.

I'm thinking VW Polo, Hyundai i20, that sort of thing, but I'd like more recommendations, anti-recommendations &c.

Comments

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I've been very happy with my Ford Fiesta, and would certainly suggest investigating as I think it fits your criteria pretty well. I have a 2005 1.25 ltr - the date is only material in terms of the model, as it has v. low mileage and has spent most of its life in a garage. The only think I'd change would be that I'd consider the 1.6 if buying again as the main burden of my driving is longer distance, for which the more powerful engine would be valuable.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I plain forgot about the Fiesta! (Looking up the Hyundai i20 on the Top Gear website, I see that the "buying tip" is "Hard not to be tempted by a Ford Fiesta.")

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I had somehow forgotten about the Ford Fiesta; thank you!

[meglorien.livejournal.com]

I drove a Ford in America and hated it. I didn't think it was reliable _at_all.

But then again, different models are different, and this was a van type car.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Shame you're after four or five doors - that really restricts you if you want it to be small too. If it wasn't for that, I would have said something really nice like a Mini or a Fiat 500.

I don't know anything about the Hyundai. The Polo is probably a safe choice as long as you avoid the ridiculously underpowered three cylinder 1.2 litre engine (fine so long as you never have to accelerate onto a motorway from a slip road...). So if you go for a Polo (or the equivalent Seat Ibiza which is broadly speaking the same car, but possibly a bit cheaper or better specced) make sure you don't get one of the three cylinder engines. According to wiki, there is a VW group four cylinder 1.2 engine which doesn't seem to be any where near as asthmatic. The 1.4s and above should be fine.

Something a little bit bigger that might fall into your price range - Honda Civic. Also consider Toyota Yaris, but not the stupidly tall ones designed for people wearing stovepipe hats which I can't imagine handle at all well. My Dad loves his Honda Jazz, but he's old and doesn't know any better. I had one once as a courtesy car and it handled so badly at speed it scared me. Anyway, you're far too young and hip to drive a car designed for OAPs.

If newness is more important than specifications or performance, for that money, you'll be able to get an almost new Fiat Panda. This is one of Top Gear's favourite cars (in fact James May owns one). Small, but five doors.

Personally though I'd avoid buying a car that early in the depreciation curve.

You could also use my patented spreadsheet method to calculate real costs of ownership:
http://philmophlegm.livejournal.com/93091.html
http://philmophlegm.livejournal.com/93204.html

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

Cor, I looked at your chart version, and D-:

And oh yes, I remember now, that's why I haven't bought a new car to replace my million year old (OK, nearly 16) VW Polo.

Which I will most likely replace with... oooh, another polo, exciting and status symbol or what?!? Oh, yes, "or what" :-).

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Of course when I did that spreadsheet I had a job with a salary and a £5,500 allowance for not having a company car. So I had a choice of company car for £5,500 a year (which would have been something boring like a BMW 3-series) or about £7,000 for a 911, which seemed like a no-brainer. The 911 I ended up buying was quite a bit older (but still the same model) and a coupe rather than a cabriolet, so it cost quite a bit less than I was originally budgeting to spend. (Although having said that, I did end up spending a multiple four figure sum on the in-car hi-fi...)

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

How's the job hunting going?

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Not sure if you saw this post or not:

http://philmophlegm.livejournal.com/262298.html


The short version is that I stopped looking for another job and simply turned my one day a week working for Clare Associates into five days a week. I'll do a more detailed post in time for our official relaunch (currently being delayed by having to work for clients, which is the best reason).

I'll be living off the redundancy package for a while though.

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

While I'm busy disagreeing with people, the high-roofed version of the Yaris is actually very useful for tall people (and those like me who aren't particularly tall but do have long backs), but they haven't sold them in the UK since about 2005, so (a) they're only available at nearly a decade old and (b) there's a premium on the price because availability is limited. I used to have one (great for moving K's loom between here and Cornwall), and the handling was fine, although the performance is only moderate and the height does nasty things to the fuel efficiency at speed.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this and for your other comments - very helpful.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

I was about to suggest a VW polo, then I read further and saw you were already thinking of it :-)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

All recommnedations are useful - thank you!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I have an antirecommendation: Skoda Fabia. Had one as a courtesy car. Cheaply finished, felt lightweight and tacky, not as fuel-efficient as that sort of car should be. Nasty handling. REALLY loathed it.

I've not driven a Fiesta, but I've driven Ford Focuses & a Ka and they were both somehow nicerer than the horrid Fabia, while sensibly cheap and unfussy. Would definitely try a Fiesta.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

I have a Skoda Fabia (estate) which makes up in space what it lacks in perfoemance (I can't recommend the diesel version thoughm which is slow and klunky - albeit very cheap to tax and run).

And another vote for the Fiat Punto.

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

That depends on the diesel version you have; the non-turbo version is indeed slow, but the turbo-charged 1.9l engine comes in perfectly acceptable (100bhp) and slightly scary (130bhp) versions.

The other thing to remember is that while the trim isn't all that brilliant (though the newer ones are better than older ones), the Fabia is mechanically a VW Polo (literally; the only differences are in the body shell and the cabin trim), but with 10% (or more) knocked off the price.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this and for your other comment.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

It is surprising the difference that small changes can make. I have a rather ancient Saab 95 which people will say is basically a Vectra, but having driven both, I know which I prefer.

To be fair to the Fabia, my experience was with an entry-level specification one, I'm sure they must have other, better models. But I definitely felt the entry-level Focus was a more likeable car than the entry-level Fabia.

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

Whereas I rather like the Fabia (though ours is the mid-spec model, with added air-con) but found the mid-level Focus absolutely horrible in almost every way. Which merely goes to prove that people are all different.

I also actually liked the Fabia better than the Polo, although that was at least partly to do with there being slightly less headroom in the latter. (My seating position - very far forward and almost perfectly upright - is a bit unusual, and does rather limit the range of cars I can drive at all, never mind comfortably.)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that, bunn.

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

I have a Fabia, which seems to be pretty much the same to drive as a Polo except that the radio and heating controls are in different places, and it's rather cheaper.

It has a more powerful engine with better fuel consumption, and has more bells and whistles, but that might be because it's 4 years younger than our last Polo and a higher trim level (despite being cheaper). The gearbox is sometimes a bit slow to react off a standing start, so I tend to want more of a gap if turning into traffic, but that might be standard on new Polos too, for all I know. Handling and stuff is beyond my ken: it turns in the direction I move the wheel, is all I can say.

Getting into the important technical details: the boot seems a bit bigger, and it's a different shade of blue.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

My daughter now has the C3 we previously shared. Much roomier inside than you would expect, good fuel consumption and even reasonable boot space. Also, it just keeps running!

I have a Corsa provided by work and I wouldn't recommend it - neither would the other person in my office who has a similar one.

On the other hand, we have had Skoda Octavias as our main car ever since they were first imported, and if the Fabia is anything like them it will be well built, high spec for the cost, an never give a moment's bother.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your comments.

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

CRI got a Hyundai i20 as a rental car a few months ago and really liked it - fuel efficient, not overengineered (nice straightforward, user-friendly displays and stuff), good to drive, and apparently quite good torque for a petrol (could hold it on a slight slope with bite but no gas, type thing). I believe my friend tuxedo_elf's family have leased i20s long-term as well and liked them.

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

(I learned to drive in a diesel Fiesta (well, a succession of three more or less identical ones) and liked them, though have no point of external reference. Driving instructor said he could get 70 mpg from them under good conditions with careful driving. One of them did have squeaky brakes in cold, damp weather, but they didn't seem to be problematic. I suspect they're an ideal learning-to-drive car as they're relatively hard to stall and quite forgiving of my driving, and didn't seem too noisy, and the displays were pleasant enough. Seemed to be quite a bit of room in the back as well, though I never sat there myself!)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks for both your comments.

[thecatsamuel.livejournal.com]

I have a Hyundai Getz (the previous version of the i20). I do a pretty low mileage, but it is 9 years old and still running perfectly, is very economical (both fuel and servicing costs) and has been 100% reliable. When the sad day comes that she needs replacing I'm going to go for the i20.

Am prejudiced against Ford fiesta as I had one with an intermittent fault. Much hassle, no sense from the garage and got rid of it after it conked out in the fast lane of the M5. This may be only *one* Fiesta but wouldn't risk another!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

A wider survey sample than just the people who a) know you b) read your livejournal c) drive d) can be bothered to reply and e) can get on LJ at the moment would be this year's JD Power survey, which looks at three year old cars:
http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/jd-power-survey-2012/the-results/263078

Back in the day, the car in the userpic won this three years running!