Best small car for long distance?

jaydeeuk1

I've done several long jaunts in my Toyota iq 1.33, even smaller than an aygo, but feels a lot bigger in the inside. Will cope with 75 miles easily. I have leather, but I'm told the cloth seats are comfier (mine are fine though). Get the 1.33, not the 1.0 litre, much better on motorways and the like due to 6 gears and long gearing. Can tootle along at 60mph and get over 55mpg, or do what I do, and blast along past white van men and 2.0 deezul mondeos at 85+ and still get near 50mpg.

And the turning circle is hilariously small, you can park in spaces no other car can, other than a smart car. You can pretty much touch the rear screen from the drivers seat too. I loved mine so much, I ended up buying it after my PCP ended rather than hand it back.

Downside is the tiny 32 litre tank, there isn't exactly a boot (mine has an umbrella in it, and a can of deicer!), and the fat front face is susceptible to stone chips (probably due to how quick I drive though). However it is still my main 'family car', fitting myself, wife, kid and pushchair in.

CFC

kfw wrote: »

My small car - Hyundai i10 1.2 (75bhp) is great on the motorways, it's pretty nippy, has air con, cd player mp3 connection etc. I don't find it too noisy and I get great MPG at 70mph. Easy and quite fun to drive. A big plus is that is has a spare wheel! not a can of foam repair. I've driven from Kent to Leeds many times and it performs very well. Chain driven engine too, so no cambelt to worry about....

Same here. I love my i10.

Having said that, OP you are a high milage driver and thus more likely to be involved in an accident. You will be safer in a bigger car if you are in an accident. Why not go and have a look at the i10, and while you are in the dealer, take a look at the i20 or i30 and sit in them, just to see what you think?

tia86

mgdavid wrote: »

TBQH you possibly ought not to drive at all.

I was expecting an unhelpful response like yours.

Not sure how you quote others - thanks for the suggestions about the IQ and i10 - these seem to be the sort of thing I am looking for and I appreciate all the genuine and helpful comments people have posted

CKhalvashi

kfw wrote: »

My small car - Hyundai i10 1.2 (75bhp) is great on the motorways, it's pretty nippy, has air con, cd player mp3 connection etc. I don't find it too noisy and I get great MPG at 70mph. Easy and quite fun to drive. A big plus is that is has a spare wheel! not a can of foam repair. I've driven from Kent to Leeds many times and it performs very well. Chain driven engine too, so no cambelt to worry about....

I drove an i10 from Batumi to Baku (over 450mi) last year, and have to say that even doing it in one go, it was a nice car to drive (and better than some Mercs I've done the same journey in). I haven't driven a manual one, but this was the 1.2, with a 4 speed Auto. It coped well with 2 kids and luggage for a car of its size.

I had a Fiesta 1.4 TDCi in the office last week, and had to say that whilst I didn't appreciate it having a clutch (I prefer my Automatic cars), it was responsive, reasonably fast and had 5 doors.

CK

Imp

forgotmyname wrote: »

Any car these days will be capable of going the length and breadth of the country. But how do you find the seats? Can you sit there for several hours without getting a numb bum?

OP, how comfy the seats are is really the only question. Any car built in the last 20 years is more than capable of driving all day long. People who say you need a big car for long miles are normally just looking for an excuse for their status symbols.

Ultrasonic

Imp wrote: »

People who say you need a big car for long miles are normally just looking for an excuse for their status symbols.

People who suggest say a Mondeo or an Octavia over an Aygo for long trips are hardly doing so from a status symbol point of view!

CKhalvashi

Ultrasonic wrote: »

People who suggest say a Mondeo or an Octavia over an Aygo for long trips are hardly doing so from a status symbol point of view!

I'd say this was even the case with my two S-Maxes and even my latest car (XF Sportbrake)

I'm driving to Milan and Geneva frequently at the moment, and after spending 12 hours in a car, it's nice to not feel tired at the end of it. Just to give an outline of my driving, I've put 44000 miles on my latest car since September.

Whilst I've loved driving the Fiesta for the pure economy for a few days, I certainly couldn't live with it on a day-to-day basis; not only because it's too small for my needs, but also because it's too noisy for doing long-distances on a constant basis. My car is still averaging 50mpg (900-1000 miles to £110 of fuel) and has a lot more power and refinement. 15mpg more out of a small car isn't worth it for me; I've spent most this week in London, but 3500rpm against about 1800 is still going to mean the larger car is more efficient on the motorway.

CK

funkycoldribena

tia86 wrote: »

Thank you for all the comments so far, I know I am being difficult. Why can't they put a large engine in a small car just for me lol!!

Fabia vrs 1.9,Fiesta st 2.0,Corsa vxr,A class 210,etc

Cowgirl13

I regularly do motorway driving and if your looking for a small car I would recommend a Peugeot 207 or 208 diesel. I got 600 miles to a tank ( £50-60) which I felt was economical. It was comfortable and very easy to park! Its not as small as an AYGO, but personally having driven cars that size such as a Seat Mii on motorways I felt a bit intimated when I went past lorries and couldn't get the car to go near 70mph! Also if you went for a slightly bigger car you'd increase your confidence in parking because you would just get used to doing it. Not sure if this helps xx

Ultrasonic

A problem with the Hyundai i10 suggestions above would seem to be the fuel economy, which isn't great going by the data at Honest John (real world average 46.3 mpg for the most economical version):

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/hyundai/i10-2008

If you're doing 18,000 miles a year then the difference in fuel cost between a petrol doing 45 mpg and a diesel doing 65 mpg isn't insignificant (£686 per year at current fuel prices local to me).