interesting 'shopping' car

[xcentric]

So I'm after a shopping/travel to the train station car, so that we don't dump miles onto either the Caterham or the Discovery. The question is, what. Budget is about £6k.

The thing is, we both enjoy driving, so a crappy car would probably not do it for us; it needs to be interesting. Now, it can be interesting in lots of different ways - excellent economy, electric, wild colour, luxurious, sporty, etc.

Currently candidates suggest I don't have a clue :-)

• Fiesta 1.0 ecoboost - cheap to tax, insure and good on fuel. Fun to drive, despite low power
• Mercedes S class - luxury personified. But might be large bills on the horizon, not so cheap to tax and run. Comfy though, esp with winter coming on
• Clio 182/192 - fast, fun. Relatively cheap to run. Noisy though, and high rev drone less good on longer trips
• Golf - which one? older GTI (about to get costly?), younger mid-range one?

less likely:

• Mini - had Cooper S and not overly impressed, most i the bracket are lower spec, so probably out
• DS3 - funky looking, but driving??
• Seat - couple around - possibility, I suppose, but doesn't float my boat
• Land Rover defender - about to buy a classic one of these, so probably don't need 2 (well, 3 if you include the Disco)

will be trading in a Subaru Forester 2.5XT - excellent drive, fast and fun, great in the winter, but a lot to fuel and tax.

suggestions of interesting cars welcomed. Note that it needs to be able to take 3 kids too, so the MX5 option is out. So are 2 MX5's.....

[xcentric]

if you know of a Golf R at £6k, please let me know :-)

BMW 120d an option, but as we had a 135i, and whilst it was ok it wasn't spectacular, am not sure it'll tick the right boxes - good practical body shape tho.

[xcentric]

station is 15 miles.

Maybe a third car would be more but we want the Disco to last a long while as it's expedition equipped and keeping mileage down would be useful.

There are other cars around too but they are classics, and/or about to be sold to pay for the Caterham. So another one is the way to go. Saab is an interesting choice I've never thought of. Keep the ideas coming.....

[xcentric]

might be worth saying that if I commute, it's M42, M6, M5 for 60 miles, and that happens once a week maybe.
So occasional longer trips possible too. But not compulsory in that car.

[xcentric]

now that DS3 is sufficiently funky.....

[xcentric]

hmm some good suggestions. SWMBO quotes likes the wafty barge idea so we're going to check out a few S class mercs..... if anyone knows of a good 320 with ~100k for ~£6k let me know!