Is Mercedes B Class The Answer ?

[Krikkit]

Ford S-Max/C-Max instead? Great, practical cars, can get a 2.5T in the S-Max as well.

[MDMA .]

allroad one said:

The Yeti is more of a Land Rover Freelander aized car.

the Yeti is actually smaller than a new A3 ( 4222mm v 4292mm ) but the wheels base is exactly the same at 2578mm. strange being the same, wonder why ?

[Matt UK]

Sounds like she needs a Renault Kangoo.

[Sheepshanks]

Zedboy1200 said:

My sister brought her '16' Jazz round Saturday. Much bigger than previous version and apparently sprightly...

OP's Mum has a 10K budget - although an early mk3 might just be coming into range. Old people are not getting on with new Jazz's tech stuff.

Wouldn't have said it was bigger though, never mind "much" - seems pretty well the same. IIRC correctly the boot is slightly smaller as they moved the rear seats back a bit.

[w201]

I got my mother to buy herself a W169 A class with the CVT and while it's not my choice of gearbox it is very smooth, same with the B Class, it's a smooth drive.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Recently discontinued A class and B class are worthy cars and great value in the used market. I'd have one ahead of the dreary Jazz any day of the week.

CVT has "avoid" written all over it. If you get a problem that's the end of the car - they're simply not worth fixing.

[V8RX7]

I spent a while looking up car sizes on Parkers (I have rounded off) and discovered that the camera clearly lies !

Her old A3 is only 4150 Long 1850 Wide and whilst she's happy to have a bigger car, the parking scuffs suggest it's not in everyone else's interests.

The B class is 2040 W which really isn't ideal - the B and C Max are even wider.

The Yeti is 1950 W

The Jazz is simply too slow.

The Note looks huge in pics yet is only 4100 L 1700 W so I've sent her to have a look - I suspect she'll hate the interior.

The Merc A class is wider at 1975 but only 3850 L so I suspect that will be the better compromise.

Thanks

[Sheepshanks]

I think some of those dimensions are with mirrors and some are without - most cars within the same class are remarkably similar widths.

Is the Jazz that slow? OK, it's not a ball of fire, but it's perfectly adequate. The CVT is OK to drive (the iShift from 2009 to 11 is terrible) especially as the engine needs revs, which most owners are reluctant to use in a manual. I can't imagine its performance is much different to an old A3 auto.

[V8RX7]

Sheepshanks said:

I think some of those dimensions are with mirrors and some are without - most cars within the same class are remarkably similar widths.

Is the Jazz that slow? OK, it's not a ball of fire, but it's perfectly adequate. The CVT is OK to drive (the iShift from 2009 to 11 is terrible) especially as the engine needs revs, which most owners are reluctant to use in a manual. I can't imagine its performance is much different to an old A3 auto.

I'll take another look to check - all the info was from Parkers so I'd hope it was consistent.

Yes - the 130 diesel has a lot of torque low down, I've no doubt a teenager could rev a yaris to death and make progress but it has over 30% less power too.