recommend a smallish car?

Tryingagainandagain

Hi

Looking for a newish car.

I'm looking for value for money and reliability. As I know nothing about cars I will buy from one of the many large local dealers - then if something goes wrong I can get back to them with any problems.

Fiesta or similar size, 5-door preferably.

A Smart car or Fiat 500 would be too small for me.

I look for good all round visibility - those cars with a small porthole instead of a large rear window make me feel very hemmed in.

I've always been very lucky with the cars I've had, mostly Fords, but they often had fewer features for the money.

I will do my research before I go to the dealers, but I'm interested in others' experiences/suggestions. (I'm going to assume that I will get all the safety features/aircon/CD or MP3 player kit with the car - I go with a list of my essentials).

However there are so many makes and models around that my head is spinning. I'm sure when I bought my current car many years ago that there were far fewer!

Could people suggest makes and models I should look at please?

worried_jim

Budget?
Number of doors?
Annual mileage?
Petrol or Diesel?
New or Used?
Children?
dogs?
Manual/ automatic?

janiebquick

I am a great fan of the VW Polo. Economical, reliable and cheap to insure.

Tryingagainandagain

worried_jim wrote: »

Budget?
Number of doors?
Annual mileage?
Petrol or Diesel?
New or Used?
Children?
dogs?
Manual/ automatic?

Five doors
Occasional child (not mine) and no dogs
Mileage is about average
The amount I spend will depend on what I get for my money and the condition/mileage etc of the particular car. I will shop around the dealers.
I do not want a new car as it may have to be parked at the station/supermarket/in busy streets at times and I find the first scratch/stain is the most traumatic.
I have driven petrol and diesel - petrol at present but if I find a car that suits and it is a diesel, provided it is reasonably economic it would be okay.
I drive a manual but would not rule out an automatic if the particular car I liked was one.


If I can get an idea of the makes and models I like in general, then I will sort out all these details.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Left field Daihatsu Sirion now getting older but good quality long lived cars, not high numbers sold so may need to travel to find one, tend to be bought by mature people so generally well cared for and usually low mileage.

Mainstream, its cousin Toyota Yaris, avoid automated manual (MMT) gearbox, early real auto in Yaris 1 was good, latest CVT box in Yaris 3 is good.

If you have a high purchase budget you won't find a cheaper to run car for general dodging about than Yaris Hyrbrid, very new though £13.5k about the cheapest.

yangptangkipperbang

You've already said it - a Fiesta ! I've got a 10 plate model - great little car.

gilbert_and_sullivan

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

You've already said it - a Fiesta ! I've got a 10 plate model - great little car.

''I look for good all round visibility - those cars with a small porthole instead of a large rear window make me feel very hemmed in''

Fiesta is the perfect rear porthole example of style over function, pity otherwise a very good car.

LandyAndy

Mazda2 is worth a look. Good to drive, good to look at, reasonably economical and very reliable. Mine has done 50k miles from new in just over four years and nothing at all has gone wrong.

OddballJamie

Fiat Pandas have good visibility and five doors.

Mr_Mink

LandyAndy wrote: »

Mazda2 is worth a look. Good to drive, good to look at, reasonably economical and very reliable. Mine has done 50k miles from new in just over four years and nothing at all has gone wrong.

You beat me to it. The Sport model has more kit than you'd expect, the engine is fantastic and the reliability is excellent. I've had a couple and am sorely tempted to have another one.

worried_jim

Mr_Mink wrote: »

You beat me to it. The Sport model has more kit than you'd expect, the engine is fantastic and the reliability is excellent. I've had a couple and am sorely tempted to have another one.

Isn't it a rebadged Fiesta with roughly the same windows that the OP doesn't like?