TBH I tend to use the Up! for local errands etc as its petrol and therefore better for short trips.
Safe, smallish car for new learner driver.
- Thread starter Samro
- Start date
I have to say having spent most of my car ownership days buying 5 year old 70k+ high end SAAB/Volvo it was a surprise to me when we got the i10 (good deal from my parents) and drove other small cars just how refined the driving experience was and the ubiquity of what I regarded as high end features like electric windows, auto wipers, etc had become.
It also makes me look at the bigger cars (and now van) and wonder quite what the extra money is buying us...
I think there is an argument that a boring mid range car is now using such well established tech that it's probably more reliable than the high ends and much better value for money.
It also makes me look at the bigger cars (and now van) and wonder quite what the extra money is buying us...
I think there is an argument that a boring mid range car is now using such well established tech that it's probably more reliable than the high ends and much better value for money.
Both my girls started their driving with a diesel Yaris. We still have two of them 10 years later. One has done 165k and the other 205k. Totally reliable, even the air con still works on the '58 plate highest miler. No cam belt, 65mpg. Just discs and pads (didnt change the rear shoes until 195k). Original clutches.
@wavey66. Slightly off topic but that post reminded me that back in the very early 1990s, I was serving in Cyprus and we had a little Mitsubishi which had a 3 cylinder turbo charged engine. It was mainly used as a beach car but on the road it was seriously quick for such a tiny thing. There was one particular stretch of road that I used regularly where a slightly humped bridge went over a dry river bed and if you floored it, you could get all 4 wheels off the ground (the M1 on the way from Episkopi to Akrotiri for those who know the place). Those were the good old days before I developed common sense.
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I was there in '74 as a child and pretty sure I would have covered that road in my Dad's Datsun 140Y. I don't think we ever got airborne in it though. We used to love Happy Valley and the golf course.....
Suzuki Swift. Reliable like nothing these days. Or Smaller Suzuki Splash / Alto. Best to go for 1.2 K12B engine - 35 quid tax and cheap insurance.
My wife is selling hers atm as she went for S cross - 2016 Swift for around 2.1k
My wife is selling hers atm as she went for S cross - 2016 Swift for around 2.1k
Sell it on here
Another vote for the Citigo (or Up). They might not be too cool but there are some cool colours and trim. Simple car and all you'll need in the SE version. VEL costs vary so worth reseaching if you find one that might be cool.
We did have a High Up! Which I really like but got shot of it as the windows would continually steam up. It was literally only usable if you had the aircon operating all the time. I recall searching the Web and it seemed to be a design issue with the heat reflective glass in the top the range model.
I'd have kept it otherwise as it was a fun little drive.
I'd have kept it otherwise as it was a fun little drive.
Another Yaris supporter here. It’s our only car, owned 16 years and all fine so far, but less than 40k miles. Insurance is ok for us, but I couldn’t comment on rates for younger drivers.
One reason we bought it was low emissions, of less than 120g/km CO2, so just £35 Vehicle Tax at current rates. The downside now is that different ’low emissions’ are important so it’s subject to ULEZ payments when we travel in London. That’s not too often so not worth changing it, but adding ‘low’ criteria is a bit annoying
One reason we bought it was low emissions, of less than 120g/km CO2, so just £35 Vehicle Tax at current rates. The downside now is that different ’low emissions’ are important so it’s subject to ULEZ payments when we travel in London. That’s not too often so not worth changing it, but adding ‘low’ criteria is a bit annoying
My wife tells me both our girls are worth it, and that we wouldn't have it any other way, she goes on to say....
Plus the fact my mother in law 'Nanny Chaos' has given us £4k to fund next years small car purchase for our baby!
That looks ideal! I bet it costs next to nothing to insure for a 17 year old too!
But, as BMW once said in 1985, "The quality of the product will remain, long after the price has been forgotten". It is very pretty though isn't it!
Sadly Honda decided to do everything properly and as a result the catalytic converter in a Jazz has lots of top value metals in it, more so than almost any other car, a fact not missed by the criminal fraternity. The love a Honda Jazz CC.
Many Hondas Jazz's have been written off by insurance companies because the catalytic converter has been cut out.
If I was looking for one I'd want to check that it's still there, too.
This is possibly the best possible choice of car on the grounds of economy and quality. Also this is possibly the cheapest and most practical suggestion this thread...... but I just couldn't! I have developed a weird and truly healthy hatred for the Jazz, which is an impossible hurdle.
Is it just the looks of it @Samro ?
