Which one of these cars?

Tilt

Horizon81 wrote: »

And going off topic a bit, what are people's thoughts on the Honest John site? They offer a half decent review for all cars, what's good, what's bad etc and give an overall rating. However I've just looked and they give the Grande Punto a 4 out of 5! The T&S has taken a shine to one but I'm trying to persuade her it's a bag of bolts.

o think what she will do when she finds out you were fibbing! :eek:

Horizon81

Tilt wrote: »

o think what she will do when she finds out you were fibbing! :eek:

Haha sorry to offend, I know you're the resident defender of Fiat. I'd have a Panda if I was looking for a car in that part of the market, but there's too many better Jap alternatives to the Grande Punto.

Tilt

Horizon81 wrote: »

Haha sorry to offend, I know you're the resident defender of Fiat. I'd have a Panda if I was looking for a car in that part of the market, but there's [STRIKE]too many[/STRIKE] a few [STRIKE]better[/STRIKE] Jap alternatives to the Grande Punto.

Fixed that for you!

chong168

I'm a owner of the new shaped Colt since they came out back in 2005. It's a very unique car because there isn't that many on the roads. Mine is a 1.3 3 door hatchback model. Ultra reliable and has no problems since day one. I've done a round trip around the UK in it and it was fun. The negatives I would say is that access to the back seats can be a hassle because the front seats do not slide all the way to the front. The B-pillers are thick and takes getting use to.

lil.smartie

I love my colt! It's a 1.5 turbo CZC convertible though! The 1.1 and 1.3 engines are great though, have driven both lots as they are also in the Smart Forfour's. I'd say the 1.1 is for mainly shorter journeys but can cope on a motorway but the 1.3 is better for the longer runs, both good on fuel too

Kate

Horizon81

As the OP I thought I'd come back to this thread. As it happenned we didn't end up with any of the cars I originally listed.

We test drove a Colt and the A pillar configuration was nothing short of downright dangerous plus there was a high pitched whistle coming from the LCD readout in the centre of the dash. Whilst not affecting every Colt, a quick google search found several others with the same problem. Indeed the owner just said it had done it from new, he just ignored it, even though you could hear it over the engine.

Skoda Fabia - I was never particularly keen on these. And the reports of cylinder head problems on that VW group engine (1.2, timing chain) was enough to put me off.

After a closer look inside the Note and Micra I just wasn't keen. Didn't seem particularly well made.

The Honda Jazz was (and probably is) the best choice of the cars I originally listed but they just hang onto their value so well. Our £4K would probably have just got a 2006 model rather than a 2007 like I was originally after.

I considered the Swift and Mazda 2 but again £4k wouldn't exactly stretch too far.

So then the moneysaver in me came out and I decided to widen the search. I just couldn't bear to spend £4k on a 7 year old supermini! And then I found a Suzuki Ignis at just a little over £2k on a 2006. Not the top of anyones list (including mine) but I went for a look with an open mind.

5 doors, remote central locking, electric mirrors, full sized spare (all missing on some of the cars above), plenty space in the rear for passengers, good boot space, fully stamped history, one owner, below average miles, fresh MOT. Very perky 1.3 VVT engine with about 94 bhp, same insurance as the Nissan Note. Sadly in the G tax bracket (£170 a year) but you can't have everything. So we picked it up a few days ago having spent half what we originally intended. Sure it's not as good a car as the Jazz but it's not bad at all, and it was difficult to find a bad word against it. At half the price for the same age car we thought it was worth a punt. Here's hoping for cheap and cheerful motoring out of it!