Another what car thread

[RB Will]

Hi all.

The sis in law has finally agreed with everyone else in thinking her Punto is crap. So being the car person of the family I have been tasked with making a shortlist of replacements.

Criteria are

Cost about £5000 (obviously will be used but try not to make it too old)
Be reliable
Be economical
Have a large boot. She is an OT and needs to be able to fit walking frames and stuff in the boot (can have a smaller boot if rear seats fold as she never takes passengers in the back)
not be much bigger than the Grande Punto.
Must be comfortable as she and her hubby get back ache driving the Punto.
I think that is all the vitals.

So far I have come up with

Nissan Cube
An older BMW 1 series
Suzuki Swift (my OH has one she can have a go in)

I came up with a few small off roaders too but apparently they are a no no.

[madal]

pic of sister in law .so we can see what car she will look good in ...

focus derv..

[RB Will]

madal said:

pic of sister in law .so we can see what car she will look good in ...

focus derv..

She is 5'7, blonde and a size 8. Are you thinking Focus MK1 or Mk2?

[300bhp/ton]

RB Will said:

Be reliable

Time and time again people post this same odd requirement. As though sometimes people actually ask for "unreliable" cars


WTF does reliability actually mean? All modern cars are reliable to a greater or lesser degree. So it's either not a requirement, or you are meaning something else entirely.

And for the record, any abused, mistreated and not looked after car can be unreliable, be it German, Italian, French or Japanese.

[Codswallop]

300bhp/ton said:

Time and time again people post this same odd requirement. As though sometimes people actually ask for "unreliable" cars


WTF does reliability actually mean? All modern cars are reliable to a greater or lesser degree. So it's either not a requirement, or you are meaning something else entirely.

And for the record, any abused, mistreated and not looked after car can be unreliable, be it German, Italian, French or Japanese.

All very ture, but from my experience at least, some cars are far more robust than others (ie. able to stand up to far more abuse before failing).

So while all cars may be more or less relaible if looked after, some certainly require more looking after than others.

Op, best generic what small car answer has to be the Fiesta. Reliable (groan), good to drive, and cheap/ plentiful parts.

[300bhp/ton]

RB Will said:

Have a large boot....

...not be much bigger than the Grande Punto...


...An older BMW 1 series...

eh? So you want big on the outside and small on the inside??? A TARDIS then. Good to see you are actually considering physics and reality as part of your decision making


For the record a 1 Series has a tiny tiny boot.


And for common senses sake, why does it need to be so small on the outside? Plenty of slightly larger cars, which not only will offered a much bigger boot, but will likely open up a wealth of newer better specced cars and likely be more comfy too if they have back issues.


Anyhow, a coupe of suggestions:


Chrysler PT Cruiser 2.2 CRD Classic 5dr (2004)
66,287 miles £3,999
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3324792.htm



Not actually much longer than a Vauxhall Corsa, but much bigger inside. In fact it has huge loading ability and has some clever ideas where the parcel shelf has like 6 different locations to either be used as a partition or a lower level shelf to allow better hauling ability.

The front passenger seat also folds flat so you can even load an 8 foot long blank into the car too!

The 2.2 engine is a Merc diesel, so reliable, robust and good on fuel (40-45mpg+). Not too slow either. It's not a sports car and should prove comfy enough. It's also funky, fresh and individual.



HONDA CR-V 2.0 i-VTEC SE Sport 5dr (2004)
67,996 miles £5,151
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3283390.htm



Not as big as you'd think, quite economical for a petrol. 2wd most of the time, but AWD should you need it in the winter months. The boxy shape means it has fairly good loading ability and the more upright seating is likely more comfy than most hatches.

Edited by 300bhp/ton on Monday 31st October 12:14

[300bhp/ton]

doogz said:

I was in a 1500 Swift the other day.

Cracking wee car, i really like them, if that's the sort of thing you need.

Don't they have a microscopic boot though?

[300bhp/ton]

doogz said:

TBH, i dunno. Didn't inspect it.

But it was something he was looking at, just giving my opinion of them. I like them a lot.

Not been in one myself, but seen/read positive reviews and they do look nice. A quite a bit of MINI in the overall shape IMO.


EDIT:

Seems you can't get a small car these days with a boot as big as a Pug 106 had

Swift:

[GreatGranny]

New shape Fabia are within budget. Would be ideal as long as they've sorted the wiring loom problem from the MK1.

http://www4.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[RB Will]

300bhp/ton said:

Time and time again people post this same odd requirement. As though sometimes people actually ask for "unreliable" cars
WTF does reliability actually mean? All modern cars are reliable to a greater or lesser degree. So it's either not a requirement, or you are meaning something else entirely.
And for the record, any abused, mistreated and not looked after car can be unreliable, be it German, Italian, French or Japanese.

OK She wants something that is less likely to go wrong. The Punto has been in for warranty work 3 times I think including 1 replacement gearbox and a fuel leak. And it has been looked after according to the service shedule.

300bhp/ton said:

doogz said:

I was in a 1500 Swift the other day.

Cracking wee car, i really like them, if that's the sort of thing you need.

Don't they have a microscopic boot though?

The boot is a bit small but it is very deep and the rear seats fold down so you can fit a big enough load in there. We managed to do a full on Ikea shop in the OHs.

300bhp/ton said:

eh? So you want big on the outside and small on the inside??? A TARDIS then. Good to see you are actually considering physics and reality as part of your decision making
For the record a 1 Series has a tiny tiny boot.

No I wanted small on the outside with a big rear load space. Isn't what you said the opposite of a Tardis? I know the 1 Series has a tiny boot but I presume the rear seats fold?

300bhp/ton said:

And for common senses sake, why does it need to be so small on the outside?

It involves women there is no logic no matter what I try to tell them. Which is why I said no small off roaders like the CRV you suggested [woman mode]they are just so big [/woman mode]

I do like the PT idea. I used to work for Chrysler and have spent many content and trouble free miles in them and I rate these more than people tend to give them credit for. Would have to be a diesel as the petrols were terrible engines.

I know you are upset that someone parked near to you but don't take your anger out on me just because you misread my post. I normally like your contributions to these threads.

[Snowboy]

What about the JUKE.

I have heard that it's upright and high driving position makes it ideal for people with back problems as they don't have to bend down to get in.

Quite large boot too I think.

[RB Will]

Cheapest Juke is about £12k so over twice the budget.

[Dirty Frank]

A PT Cruiser? WTF?

[alfa pint]

1 Series Beemer has a pathetically tiny boot; I know you said it they don't have rear passengers very often, but you do want to be able to secure the load properly.

I'd be looking at something like a focus or a volvo v40 - reliable, comfortable, economical and actually not even that bad to drive, unlike some of the MPVs that you keep quoting.

Agree the suzuki swift is a cracking little car, but it's definitely not large.

[RB Will]

only suggested the 1 mpv? I think the Volvo will also fall into the "it's too big camp" with it being a 5 door estate.

I suppose an easier way to put this topic would be which small to medium sized hatch kind of thing is comfortable and wont fall apart more often than expected?

[300bhp/ton]

RB Will said:

only suggested the 1 mpv? I think the Volvo will also fall into the "it's too big camp" with it being a 5 door estate.

I suppose an easier way to put this topic would be which small to medium sized hatch kind of thing is comfortable and wont fall apart more often than expected?

You mentioned Nissan Cube in your op I think.

These look like a good use of space, my only concern would be parts for them, aren't most/all imports? Nissan UK is pretty poor at supporting past UK models, let alone JDM ones.


Is something like a Kia Soul in budget? My brother used to work for Kia so I've driven a few. They have love/hate styling, but make very good use of interior space. Bit like a PT Cruiser in some respects, again they are only about Vauxhall Corsa sized, but with more interior room.

Cheerful and funky interior touches and ok quality, at least on par with SEAT. They don't drive too bad either, just avoid the petrol, the diesel is a 1.6 turbo and is faster and smoother than the pretrol and offers up around 40% better mpg.

[SuperHangOn]

Berlingo

[GreatGranny]

RB Will said:

only suggested the 1 mpv? I think the Volvo will also fall into the "it's too big camp" with it being a 5 door estate.

I suppose an easier way to put this topic would be which small to medium sized hatch kind of thing is comfortable and wont fall apart more often than expected?

See my suggestion above re. Fabia.

[RB Will]

Soul is a good suggestion. I quite like them but £5k only seems to get the cheapest one available.
I like the Fabia too. Tried to get the OH to get a VRS but she is reluctant to spend the money.

The list as it stands is now...

Corolla
Cube
1 Series
PT Cruiser
Swift
Smart 4/4 (yeah I know its tiny but I didn't manage to break one in having them as loan cars at work for a couple of years)
Grand Cherokee (Fails spectacularly on most criteria but is by far the most comfortable things I have ever driven, especially the American market ones)
Civic
Soul
Fabia
Auris

I am purposefully avoiding anything French or Italian as according to stereotype they fall apart lots and from experience are horrible to drive like the Punto.

Edited by RB Will on Monday 31st October 14:40

[mikeyr]

Honda Jazz seems ideal for this job I'd have thought? Doesn't LOOK too big and believe they have good luggage capacity but hopefully someone who has owned one will comment.