Need to consider a motor for my mum now dad is dead!

[bernhund]

My Dad popped his clogs earlier this month and I like to find a small, reliable, efficient, low road tax car for my Mum, perhaps later in the summer. Cost wise I thought £5k top. The current car is a Renault 'somethingorother' estate which my Dad swore blind was a great car, except it was always being repaired. There's absolutely no point in her driving this thing around for much longer now she's on her own.
So, at 75 what should she be driving? (cue jokes please..I won't be offended!) I think the really small cars like the Citroen C1's, Smart's etc are just a bit too small. I'm thinking Fiesta sized or similar.
The main point here is that she will have little money now, so fuel economy, tax and reliability are the most important factors.

[bernhund]

Interesting that the Jazz crops up so many times. I've seen a lot of pensioners driving them, so perhaps that says something. I'm also getting the impression that the low emission motors like the 500 Twin Air & the Hyundai i30 are not so cheap on fuel. Anyone else noticed that?
I did talk to my Mum about the Renault and she is concerned that it will keep costing.

Can I also point out that this is not about my Dad. I merely stated in a casual way he had died, and, as I was not looking for sympathy but comments on cars, chose not to labour the point. In my family we deal with death with a sense of humour.

[bernhund]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

greggy50 said:

Honda Jazz

Surprised of the nature of how you have mentioned your Dad passing away however bit disrespectful imo

Agree on Honda Jazz, disagree on disrespectful. Everybody has different ways of dealing with situations like this, and if this is his way and it helps him handle it, then it's none of my business. Might not be my way, but there you go.

Thank you Twig. Why people feel the need to comment off the topic is beyond me. 'Popped his clogs' is a term I learnt from my Dad!

Do we know what the servicing costs are like at Honda?

[bernhund]

Troubleatmill said:

Hyundai i10 or equivalent Kia

Just had a quick look on 'What Car' at the little i10 and the write up's are very good.

[bernhund]

i10 is sounding better all the time. Probably long warranty too. My Mum won't be looking for anything exciting, just a town car that's easy really. Occasionally she would whizz up the A21 from the coast to Sevenoaks, but it's mainly 60 mph when there's no congestion.

[bernhund]

Just been talking to a relative of my wife who owns an i20 & her husband an i10. She loves them both & says the i20 barely gets used because the i10 is so easy to jump in and go.