Well SWMBO has persuaded me to change her ageing Astra for something 2-3 yrs old. After years of pootling (?) around town in a nervous sort of way she's faced with a daily commute of 50 miles and isn't looking foward to it one little bit.
Her criteria are that it has to have good visibility, high encap rating, 5 doors and be easy to manouevre and park. Budget around £6K. Performance not an issue but a bit of quality wouldn't go amiss.
Shortlist so far includes Yaris and A-Class.
Any other suggestions ?
TIA
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Skoda Fabia.
Came second to Yaris in Supermini section of this year's J D Power survey, AND was one of only SIX 5-star cars in overall reults.
Personally, having compared the 2, I think the Fabia is better than the Yaris for these reasons:- better ride, better seats and speedo in front of you.
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I get lots of complaints about the Fabia 1.4 8v. And in terms of ease of entry and egress it doesnt even start to compare to the Yaris.
HJ
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Really?
My aged parents think it's wonderful.
I did not notice the "disabled" clause in the original question.
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OK guys - I knew HJ would endorse the Yaris
There's no orange badge to stick on a Fabia
How about some other suggestions ?
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I've been using a new diesel Fabia estate as a taxi now for 5 weeks. It's brilliant! I've had no complaints from elderly people regarding access, in fact because they sit more upright they seem to step out, rather than heave themselves out. It wouldn't be very good as a 'night shift car', because you tend to pick up more groups of 4 then, and it would be too small in the rear. As a 'day' car, it's very nimble, and easy to drive, once you get the hang of the throttle! A fast cross country bash shows up a very heavy front end; is the front suspension uprated to cope with the extra diesel weight? I suspect not. I've only 2 other complaints; the speedo doesn't show 30,50 or 70, because it goes up evenly, and the seat height handle is easily caught as I exit, altering the adjustment. Score 9 out of 10!
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The Fabia TDI is great! & it comes with lots of goodies too -ABS, ESR, on board computer, discs all round, adjustable steering wheel etc. I live in Spain & we have many "mountain roads" - Spanish speak for VERY twisty & narrow -and I find the PAS good. The ABS saved us from a nasty N340,("most dangerous road in Europe"),incident when an idiot driving instructor spun his Peugeot two cars in front of us thereby blocking the overtaking lane! Fuel economy is working out at about 5.2litres per 100 km & the performance & acceleration is excellent. A good choice
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PLUS the very latest VW PD engine - only now going in the new Polo.
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Yep & mine has aircon too! Cost 2,400,000 pesetas last year- sounds a lot but = 14425 of those funny euro thingys or about £9K at the then rate of exchange! Oh yes - the licence fee, known as circulation tax, (paid to your local Town Hall), is about £48 a year! Diesel is around 46 pence per litre!Eat yer hearts out UK! Cheers from Sunny Spain
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Yes, really. Gearbox failures. Soft engine mountings fracturing the coolant pipes leading to head gasket failures. No availability of spare parts.
HJ
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She willl be driving 50 miles to work each day would she prefere a smaller car as it may be more economic to run
1 Perhaps she should look at the clio diesal as it will get 80mpg and although its 9grand it will cost less to service (I guess about £500 over 3 years) a years free insurance (worth about 500) and would be worth I guess about a grand more when she comes to sell it in the future also there is the nice idea of a new car and three years warenty to keep to feeling a bit safer about it working in the morning
2 What about the peugeot 206 nice car except for a small foot pedal area
3 Ford Fiesta
4 Renault Megan it may cost less for a similar aged car but build quality can be a bit iffy
5 Citroen xsara diesal
6 Nissan Almera odd looks but excellent cars
7 Ford Mondeo sure HJ has somethign to sasy about them
8 Peugeot 406 nice car quite comfortable and economic as a diesal
I am not sure if you would be able to get an A class with lowish milage for its age for £6k although it is a lovely car to drive and it has the mercedes marque which looks great
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Clio: Nice car BUT 80mpg? Er, no. Is this the 55mph cruising figure? Maybe 60mpg. Is this the new DCi? I'd guess it'd go well. Not sure about Renault build (stepdad's Scenic needed a new starter motor at 90, yes 90 miles and a friend's Megane is very tappety at 50-odd thou.)
A Class would be good, isn't there an A170CDi? How much for a 2nd hand one though?
New Fiesta had got better rivals and its square at the back, maybe it'll catch on.
Megane, Zsara, Almera, Mondeo, 406... SMALL? No.
NEW PUNTO? Good looking, and its got that 'City' mode for its power steering. Yes they're unreliable but great to drive and you'll have a 3 year warranty if you buy a new one for £6000 from a car supermarket.
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Yep 80 to the galloin according to the trip computer and over 60 around town this is the new dci engine which is amazing in my mind (only wish i could gdet the free insurance on the 80bhp version. Hope I get a problem free version but it has to have a beetter warently than a second hand car which at best (except mercedes second hand warenties which can be extended to 3 years) if you do happen to get an mercedes diesel for 6k i would question why the cars have a high premium but are excellent in my mind the diesal will get 75 on a long run according to my dad when we went on holiday but he does drive slow. The best place to look for used a clases is the mercedes online website mercedesbenz.co.uk. The service we have recieved from mercedes benz dealer here in West Kirby in Wirral is excellent if only the diesal was cheaper I would be buying one right now.
The a class has a variable service indicator depending upon how it is driven so services can be as far apart as 26 thousand miles, driving 50 miles aday should mean that the services should be that far apart and they arn't that expensive
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There's No way I would EVER let my car go 26K between oil changes - 6K at the most and more frequently in hot weather. A small investment that is worth many ££££s in the long run.
As to the Clio - not "upright" enough - as SWMBO wants to be able to see as far ahead as possible - hence the choice of the elevated driving positions in A Class and Yaris.
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This report of mine might be of interest
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=i&t=22...4
Randolph Lee
Nantucket Island, U.S.A.
I live in my own little world, but it's ok, they know me
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