The idea car for my wife - suggestions gratefully received

Lum

While I realise you're being sarcastic, an LPG car would actually be a good choice for this job if you're concerned that the trips are too short for a diesel. My GFs 16 year old 200SX actually works out cheaper to run than my "econetic" diesel Mondeo thanks to the LPG conversion we did to it.

Probably don't want an LPG Maybach though.

Loanranger

None of this boys' talk is relevant ... just tell us what colour car she wants!

Trust me, I'm a woman so I know about these things.:D

spendingmad

Honda Jazz - still a small car for parking around town but really easy for the oldies to get in and out of. Good MPG, ultra realiable.

Charlton_King

Just wanted to say thank you for all the feedback and I would still appreciate any further ideas.

Refining matters a little on the question of size... if it's any guide, OH has found the Saxo she's been using for the last couple of years to be fine. The new car needs to be no bigger, as there is no question of having to stow zimmers or wheelchairs.

On the matter of distances, I suppose the average trip between clients is only a matter of 3 - 4 miles and this tends, as I say, to be stop-start town driving. The excursions I referred to are two or three times per week and would be typically 20 - 25 mile round trips. The occasional long distance motorway hike would be needed for family purposes, as I imagine would be the case with most people.

We won't be buying new, as mentioned, but otherwise we are undecided as to what budget to allocate. I'd ask people to ignore this issue for the present and stay more with the fuel economy and general reliability matters.

Lum

How many trips a day are we talking here?

If a Saxo is big enough then I'd definitely recommend something like a Fiesta. The real question is petrol/lpg or diesel. If it's a lot of trips then probably still diesel is the way to go.

Have a look at what your local taxi drivers use?

Also does she claim mileage back for her work?

Charlton_King

Lum wrote: »

How many trips a day are we talking here?

If a Saxo is big enough then I'd definitely recommend something like a Fiesta. The real question is petrol/lpg or diesel. If it's a lot of trips then probably still diesel is the way to go.

Have a look at what your local taxi drivers use?

Also does she claim mileage back for her work?

We're talking five or six trips of the smaller variety daily.

Lum

Tough one to call but I'm going to go with a petrol engine, as not really enough driving in a day to properly look after a diesel engine. Get a reasonable size petrol like a 1.6 though. An LPG converted petrol car would definitely be worth considering to further reduce costs or maximise on your mileage claims though.

I'm sure others will have different opinions.

pinkneonmartini

Definitely a toyota yaris! I've got a mkI 3dr diesel, costs £35 a year to tax £50 to service £200 to insure & returns 55mpg. It's now 7 years old but i understand you can get the same economy & similar emissions from the new petrol models?

for better mpg returns & tax free motoring i'd take a serious look at the Seat Ibiza ecomotive. The new model is quite a bit larger than a saxo, but the previous generation was a bit smaller, plus you can't really go wrong with 75mpg and £0 road tax for £8k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201041370269113/sort/priceasc/usedcars/fuel-type/diesel/quantity-of-doors/5/maximum-age/up_to_2_years_old/model/ibiza/make/seat/keywords/ecomotive/page/1/radius/1501/postcode/sk96hq?logcode=p

Charlton_King

Bumping for any final ideas.