Requesting suggestions for superminis to test drive

bigjl

weeowens wrote: »

Go with the new Jazz. Other than internal storage it is a great car for what you need. The auto is more economical than the manual plus there are some good deals on nearly new at the moment. I bought one in December. It is my 6th Jazz in 14 years.Any questions you want answering I am happy to answer for you.

How does the new Jazz compare to the old Jazz?

Loanranger

We have a Polo automatic. It's a GTI. Very good. Covers what you require I think.

neilmcl

An alternative to the Fiesta would be the Mazda 2, which is built on the same platform I believe.

There's a review of the auto here - http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/road-tests/mazda/mazda-2-2015-15-automatic-road-test/

Idomeneus

ElefantEd wrote: »

We recently did a similar analysis (though we were looking at cars 3-4 years old. We eventually went for a Nissan Micra - decent leg room, high mpg (50+) reliable, £20 road tax, quiet at a constant speed, though noisier when accelerating (though this may be just compared with our other car, a Leaf). Easy to drive, so far anyway! Definitely not sporty, interior is fine, ours has a computer for displaying mpg etc, and an MP3 player port which is nice.

The old Micra was a little too small for us, but I don't know whether the new Micra is bigger. We would be thinking more along the lines of the Note although the press reviews of the Note that I have read are not very good. Still, it might be worth a visit to our local Nissan dealer.

Idomeneus

weeowens wrote: »

Go with the new Jazz. Other than internal storage it is a great car for what you need. The auto is more economical than the manual plus there are some good deals on nearly new at the moment. I bought one in December. It is my 6th Jazz in 14 years. Any questions you want answering I am happy to answer for you.

Yes, in the end, we might still go for the new Jazz.

I agree with you about the interior storage; it is a lot less than in the Mk1 Jazz. And up to 5cms leg room for the driver and 7cms depth in the boot (from the sill to the backs of the rear seats) have also been lost in the new Jazz compared to the Mk1 Jazz. And there are a number of other things that we were disappointed about.

Idomeneus

F1F93 wrote: »

If you're considering a vw polo, also consider the SEAT ibiza or Skoda Fabia.
...
Both come in estate forms with a cavernous boot for a car of its size.
...

We have already visited our local SEAT and Škoda dealers and viewed the Ibiza and Fabia. We were a bit put off by the Ibiza because there is only one model in the whole range that comes with an automatic transmission (unless I have missed something in the specs) and also because the interior looked a little too "plasticky". We might test drive the Fabia though.

We are not really interested in estates. When we travel, we like to be able to store everything in an enclosed boot. Household insurance and travel insurance policies generally cover theft from a car only if your belongings are stored out of sight in an enclosed boot.

bigjl

neilmcl wrote: »

An alternative to the Fiesta would be the Mazda 2, which is built on the same platform I believe.

There's a review of the auto here - http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/road-tests/mazda/mazda-2-2015-15-automatic-road-test/

Is the Mazda fitted with a CVT or Torque Convertor box? Or Powershift?

The styling of the Mazda is quite nice, not sure how successful the facelift of the Fiesta was.

If the Mazda is half as reliable as a Fiesta then it s a good shout.

I know a couple of people that have used a Fiesta for commuting duties for many years without problems. One does a 80mile daily commute in one and has done so for nearly 8 years since he bought it new. He does 12 hour shifts mostly so only 3 or 4 days a week. But still a significant number of miles. Knowing him it gets one service a year at the same time as the MOT, but being mostly high speed sections of the A13 with about 2/3 miles of stop start at each end I suppose its use isn't harsh.

bigjl

Have a look on YouTube for car reviews done by CarBuyer, they seem fairly comprehensive.

Don't discount Korean cars though, but if you want Honda Fit and finish then Toyota would be your only alternative, the Polo is overpriced, I do like the look of the Ibiza but as you have said there are limited models in Auto it's a non starter.

CarBuyer actually specifically check during their reviews if there are lots of oddment storage.

Idomeneus

Loanranger wrote: »

We have a Polo automatic. It's a GTI. Very good. Covers what you require I think.

Yes, our local Volkswagen dealer only allowed us a very short test drive in an automatic Polo, probably because it was a brand new car and not a demonstrator. But the drive was quite impressive. The dual clutch automatic gearbox (DSG) is beautifully smooth. And the interior finish is also impressive.

A nice little feature which the Polo and the Peugeot 208 have, but the Ford Fiesta and the Honda Jazz do not have, is the digital display between the rpm dial and the speedometer dial which displays your speed in mph or kph, the latter being very useful for driving on the Continent. I have difficulty reading kph values on the speedometer dial because the figures are so small. But this feature is not really a major consideration.

The Polo has a smaller boot than the new Jazz which is more of a consideration for us.

neilmcl

bigjl wrote: »

How does the new Jazz compare to the old Jazz?

Very well by all accounts. All the reviews I've seen have been positive.