Supermini for under £1500?
Discussion
I've been assigned the unenviable task to find a female friend a supermini for under £1500.
She has absolutely no interest in cars, does everything possible not to reverse and if she absolutely has to, takes bloody ages and her normal driving isn't exactly quick.
Her main criteria for what she wants from this new car is that it must be more comfortable than her old 1.1L Citroen Saxo on longer journeys, as economical as possible, petrol, manual gearbox, cheap tax/insurance, reliable and small. Other than that she's left it entirely to me to decide what to get her. Once she's done with the car she will most likely give it away like she did with the Saxo, therefore resale value is of little significance.
Adding to those criteria, I would like it to have a decent spec, so leccy windows and air con would be a bonus, under 100k mile example, rust resistant, so no Ford Ka etc and I think it would be best for it to have good all round visibility to help in any reversing situations. She has a very quirky personality, so I'd like to find her something a bit more of a left field choice than the usual Corsa/Fiesta/Polo de facto boring selection.
Best I can think of currently is either a Toyota Yaris, Fiat Panda, VW Lupo/Arosa, Honda Jazz (if in budget and possibly too big) or going slightly against the reliability box a Citroen C2 or Fiat Seicento Sporting. Have I missed anything obvious?
She has absolutely no interest in cars, does everything possible not to reverse and if she absolutely has to, takes bloody ages and her normal driving isn't exactly quick.
Her main criteria for what she wants from this new car is that it must be more comfortable than her old 1.1L Citroen Saxo on longer journeys, as economical as possible, petrol, manual gearbox, cheap tax/insurance, reliable and small. Other than that she's left it entirely to me to decide what to get her. Once she's done with the car she will most likely give it away like she did with the Saxo, therefore resale value is of little significance.
Adding to those criteria, I would like it to have a decent spec, so leccy windows and air con would be a bonus, under 100k mile example, rust resistant, so no Ford Ka etc and I think it would be best for it to have good all round visibility to help in any reversing situations. She has a very quirky personality, so I'd like to find her something a bit more of a left field choice than the usual Corsa/Fiesta/Polo de facto boring selection.
Best I can think of currently is either a Toyota Yaris, Fiat Panda, VW Lupo/Arosa, Honda Jazz (if in budget and possibly too big) or going slightly against the reliability box a Citroen C2 or Fiat Seicento Sporting. Have I missed anything obvious?
Edited by 458bhp on Thursday 27th August 12:32
Ok, managed to get a top 6 that she would be happy with:
In alphabetical order:
Arosa
C2
Jazz
Lupo
Panda
Yaris
A search on autotrader/ebay has revealed a decent looking 1.2 Panda close by so that's my first port of call, a 1.0 Arosa and two C2s; A 1.1 petrol and a 1.4 diesel.
I know of the weaknesses of the panda and arosa, but the C2 I know nothing about. Will have to do some research.
In alphabetical order:
Arosa
C2
Jazz
Lupo
Panda
Yaris
A search on autotrader/ebay has revealed a decent looking 1.2 Panda close by so that's my first port of call, a 1.0 Arosa and two C2s; A 1.1 petrol and a 1.4 diesel.
I know of the weaknesses of the panda and arosa, but the C2 I know nothing about. Will have to do some research.
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