Small Car Advice / Recommendations / Experience

Chopman

Chopman

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I bought a 2008 Ford KA several years ago for my daughters to learn to drive etc. and now my eldest has her own car the the younger one is planning to buy her own car - so I'm looking for any advice and experience from folks on here.

She wants something funky, cool and young (Fiat 500?) and I want her to get something safe, reliable, low insurance and cheap to run (Dacia Sandero?).

Any experience or comments on cars that we may both agree on somewhere in the middle - e.g.
Skoda Citigo / Seat Mii / VW Up
Vauxhall Adam
anything else..... ?
 
The other half has a Fiat 500 and, much to my surprise, it’s never broken down. The finish isn’t great and a few service bits have come up (one of the top mounts, the outer skin of the backbox) but other than that it’s been reliable. It has only done 40000 on an 11 plate, mind.
I always thought Fiats were rubbish but, like the the Renaults of the late 90’s, maybe they’ve improved.
Can’t speak for the other marques I’m afraid.
Good luck.
 
My 17 year old daughter recently passed her test and she has a Fiat 500. 12 plate with 70K miles. It's a nice little car. Looks funky and starts every time and a nice little runner. Very economical but not speedy (which makes me happy) so as a first car I think you could do a lot worse.
 
Both the wife and 19yr old daughter have Fiat pandas, ‘cool’ is not a word used for them but running costs and insurance are miniscule. The Fiat 500 is a panda with a different body so shouldn’t be much different but cost of buying is more because of the cool factor. Good luck
 
Thanks @Sjacko20, when I searched auto trader, there were quite a few pandas coming up - my old anti-fiat bias wasn't helping their cause, but sounds like you've had good experiences.
 
Owned an Up! from new for a year. Brilliant car. Like a tardis inside and comparable to much larger cars in the range. If I needed a run-around town car now I'd go straight to an Up GTI
 
Thanks @Surfrdan, can I ask what it was like out of town? She may need to do a run once a week to get to college and it may involve some motorway.
 
Chopman said:
Thanks @Surfrdan, can I ask what it was like out of town? She may need to do a run once a week to get to college and it may involve some motorway.
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Absolutely fine. Mine was a 75BHP variant (High Up!). I'm based in Mid Wales and it was fine on hills and NSL roads. Only ventured onto motorways a couple of times on airport runs but had no issues whatsoever.
 
Another vote for a Panda. I had one as a tow car for years, and the wife adopted it as her runaround. We covered over 100,000 miles, without fault.
Quite a fun drive too
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I've read that the 0.9 twin-air engine is good in a Panda, but there are less positive comments about the 1.2 engine which is the one that she would likely get.
 
Chopman said:
I've read that the 0.9 twin-air engine is good in a Panda, but there are less positive comments about the 1.2 engine which is the one that she would likely get.
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Think it depends where you read, the wife has a 1.2 as did I a fair bit of reading and from what I saw the 1.2 was more durable and simpler. No problems so far for her.
 
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