Can I do better?

[anonymous-user]

A female colleague has asked for my help in finding her a small, Polo-sized car for £2k (or less).

She'll be doing zero daily driving but wants a car for the odd trip to see family and for moving large stuff about that she can't get on her bike so something with a proper boot and folding rear seats would be good. She'd like something with a little bit of go in it too. Must be petrol btw.

My first thought was a Suzuki Swift. I'm not au fait with older hatchbacks so can anybody recommend an alternative?

Thanks in advance.

[Vitorio]

Seems like the obvious choice, a japanese hatchback is about as reliable/cheap/practical as it gets.

Stuff like a yaris, daihatsus etc.. are all fair play as well

[MikeDrop]

DrSteveBrule said:

A female colleague has asked for my help in finding her a small, Polo-sized car for £2k (or less).

She'll be doing zero daily driving but wants a car for the odd trip to see family and for moving large stuff about that she can't get on her bike so something with a proper boot and folding rear seats would be good. She'd like something with a little bit of go in it too. Must be petrol btw.

My first thought was a Suzuki Swift. I'm not au fait with older hatchbacks so can anybody recommend an alternative?

Thanks in advance.

How about, I dunno, say, a Polo?

Would be one of my first choices. But then I'm a fan of VAG. Any particular reason for petrol? The 1.4tdi lump in the Polo's are bombproof. Cheap on tax too.

[Blanchimont]

Grande Punto?
Look OK, built well enough and parts are cheap.
Plenty about for 2k.

[IanCress]

Skoda Fabia Mk1. Like a Polo, but a bit bigger.
Can be had with the 100bhp 1.4 engine which should be good enough for motorway use, if not particularly exciting.

[TurboHatchback]

How much go exactly? If I was to buy a small hatchback for £2k it would be a Clio 182 as I think they're great (had two) but maybe not quite what she's after.

[Charlie Croker mk2]

Suzuki Swift all day long - tough durable and low cost to buy and service but still very good to drive . Genuine Japanese quality . Try googling the other brands with the word problems on the end of the search term !

[Stuart M 1976]

Mazda 2 maybe. Boot space probably not as large as a Polo though.

[TooMany2cvs]

Does it make more sense to hire a car for her occasional use?

[Sheepshanks]

TooMany2cvs said:

Does it make more sense to hire a car for her occasional use?

...or lease a new Jazz?

[kieranblenk]

I can vouch for the Swift, ours is marvellous.

[anonymous-user]

TurboHatchback said:

How much go exactly? If I was to buy a small hatchback for £2k it would be a Clio 182 as I think they're great (had two) but maybe not quite what she's after.

Not that much! Something nippy as oppose to sporty. Having said that compared to a bike anything will feel fast.

Thanks for the suggestions so far, they are very useful.

Nothing wrong with a VAG car but my thinking was that you would get more for your money with something Korean/Japanese etc.

[anonymous-user]

TooMany2cvs said:

Does it make more sense to hire a car for her occasional use?

I think she'd like something to hand as she's often going places at short notice.

[Gad-Westy]

DrSteveBrule said:

TurboHatchback said:

How much go exactly? If I was to buy a small hatchback for £2k it would be a Clio 182 as I think they're great (had two) but maybe not quite what she's after.

Not that much! Something nippy as oppose to sporty. Having said that compared to a bike anything will feel fast.

Thanks for the suggestions so far, they are very useful.

Nothing wrong with a VAG car but my thinking was that you would get more for your money with something Korean/Japanese etc.

I think you're on the right lines. My experience of VAG cars at that sort of age isn't particularly positive. Yaris would get my vote. Loads around so should be able to be choosy. I guess the 1.5 T-Sport would have just enough go for most.

[StuTheGrouch]

kieranblenk said:

I can vouch for the Swift, ours is marvellous.

Another thumbs up. My wife had one and it was a brilliant little car (2007, 1.5 litre 3-door). It was a struggle, though, with one child as the boot is tiny (hence we no longer have it).

[M1C]

Another vote for the Swift.

Even the base 1.3 is a hoot to drive, the 1.6 Sport being really great as mentioned on here and lots of places.

The boots on them are small, though.

I'd recommend the 99-05ish Toyota Yaris too. Not as good in terms of ride/handling/steering set up IMO but still a good, solid car, funky dash.

My old 1.0 was like Jekyll and Hyde...totally gutless low down but an absolute machine when it was singing! (Yes, i know i'm talking about a 1.0 here, hehe)

[CS Garth]

StuTheGrouch said:

Another thumbs up. My wife had one and it was a brilliant little car (2007, 1.5 litre 3-door). It was a struggle, though, with one child as the boot is tiny (hence we no longer have it).

Put the kid in the back seat and your boot space is doubled

[StuTheGrouch]

CS Garth said:

StuTheGrouch said:

Another thumbs up. My wife had one and it was a brilliant little car (2007, 1.5 litre 3-door). It was a struggle, though, with one child as the boot is tiny (hence we no longer have it).

Put the kid in the back seat and your boot space is doubled

I prefer them out of sight

[brrapp]

Honda Jazz, 5 million grannies can't be wrong!

[Sheepshanks]

brrapp said:

Honda Jazz, 5 million grannies can't be wrong!

We've had three in the family and they are great - but, don't buy an old one. They have several issues that affect pretty well all of them - gearbox (both auto and manual), leaking seams on roof and a/c issues, to name but three off the top of my head. Honda brakes are known to be a problem on little used cars.