Best small car for long distance?

Ultrasonic

OddballJamie wrote: »

Ford seemed to do quite well with slapping an Escort badge on the back of millions of cars

Hadn't thought of that before .

kkgree1

My husband is doing a similar commute (circa 80 miles a day) in a Ford Fiesta 1.5 Diesel. Very comfortable and get reasonably economy from it - currently about 55mpg.

I personally wouldn't want a smaller car for such a journey - particularly the like of Smart cars, i10 or Aygos.

Horizon81

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!!

They did. The 2007- Yaris briefly came with a 1.8 engine (130bhp). It looked like any other Yaris to the untrained eye, certainly wasn't a performance hatch but had a bit extra power which sounds like what you want.
If you prefer a more entertaining ride/drive there was the old shape Yaris with a 1.5 - you can pick up a 2005 (55) for around the 3 grand mark. Not ideally suited to motorway cruising but certainly ticks the cheap small car with a biggish engine box. With both the cars above you should be able to negotiate a good deal because 99% of people who want a Yaris don't want the most powerful engined one.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Well i'm blowed Horizon81, i never knew that about the 1.8 Yaris.

Horizon81

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Well i'm blowed Horizon81, i never knew that about the 1.8 Yaris.

You and most of the population! They dropped the T-Sport badge and called it an SR, but the SR was available as a 1.3 as well so it became more of a trim level than a dedicated model. That said, the 1.8 SR was quite a handsome beast (if you're into Japanese superminis) and different from the 1.3 SR. Deeper front and rear bumpers than standard, sideskirts, chromed exhaust tip. Shame it wasn't particularly quick, despite the 1.8 VVTi, but as a small car with more power than your standard supermini I thought it might be right up the OP's street, especially considering the relatively poor residuals for a Yaris, owing to the fact few people want a bigger engined Yaris.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Horizon81 wrote: »

You and most of the population! They dropped the T-Sport badge and called it an SR,

If we'd have known about that we would never have bought the now sold C2 VTS Diesel, we would have bought theYaris 1.8 and LPG'd it instead.

Presumably not too stiffly sprung either which let the C2 down badly, concrete springs and 45 section tyres didn't make for any pleasure other than on a billiard smooth surface which can be counted on the fingers of one hand for the entire country.

I'm especially surprised because i used to deliver Toyotas by the hundreds and never knew about this little gem.

Live and learn eh.

DKLS

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....

Pretty nippy is not the term I would use to describe the i10, I had the misfortune to have one for a week after somone bumped mine it was the most horrific car I have ever driven it made a 2CV look like a Lexus.

Pulling away at the roundabout was a battle of nerves, 1st gear floor the gas and............... lots of noise but barely any forward motion. I rang the hire company and they swapped it for a Fiat 500 which was a world apart, same size engine but that felt nippy (as long as you drove it like a small italian car should be driven) and didn't feel like it was going to roll on each corner.

Tilt

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Not sure if we were on the same wavelength there? Hopefully the cars won't say Easy on the back, but if they did there might be a slight reluctance among their presumably mostly female customer base to buying one .

:doh: Ahh, gotcha! Must be me with my pure innocent mind! :whistle:

Tilt

tia86 wrote: »

Why can't they put a large engine in a small car just for me lol!!

My Punto HGT is a 1.8 and puts out 135 bhp. It's quite happy doing (AHEM!) +69mph all day long :whistle:

If you want a small car with performance, see the link on my earlier post. Or if you want a bit more, try this one (if your budget allows);

http://www.abarthcars.co.uk/uk/CMSUK/CarsElaborations/Pages/AbarthPuntoEvo.aspx

That will give you the best of both worlds...

DKLS

There was an Aygo at the Harewood Hill climb event, some mad sod had put a motorbike engine into it. It shifted like no city car should!