Small, plush, nippy, economical. Does it exist?

[ph9]

I'm wondering if there's a small car which can soak up potholes in town, and is quiet/refined on fast A roads and motorways. Also, a decent bit of grunt to take hills in its stride at motorway speeds, and to be able to accelerate to merge with faster traffic, and overtake on A-roads. By economical I'm thinking of a genuine 50mpg or better. Good steering and handling for B and single track roads would be a bonus. I drove 800 miles the other day (North Scotland to Yorkshire and back) , and although it's not something I'd do every week, I'd like a wee car which could comfortably cope with making good progress on those longer drives.

I'm currently running around in a Mk1 1 litre Yaris which is quite a good compact size, and it is quite comfy, The spongy seats filter out the harder knocks, even if the car itself might not ride as smoothly as a Jag! I've managed to eke out a genuine 52mpg from a tank, although that was when driving really smoothly and with economy in mind. Performance is lacking, and noise is a bit tiring at faster speeds, and it's not really fast enough for anything other than steady driving. The steering and handling aren't exactly confidence-inspiring either.

I was looking at smaller cars (a Mk1 Citroen C1 for example) but reading between the lines of some reviews, I think they might lag behind the old Yaris in most areas other than fuel economy.

A lot of the newer 'small' cars seem to have grown in size (the newer Yaris and Clio, for example seem to be a size or two larger than the same models from the early 2000's), and they don't really appeal to me.

Would something like the Audi A2 tick most of the boxes? Or the Toyota iQ, or an old French car? Diesel or petrol? Or resign myself to the fact that I'm not going to find a grown up wee car?

[MuscleSaloon]

French and Diesel .. comfort, 80 mph cruising ability, 50+ mpg.

[Pistonheader101]

New golf gti fits the bill quite well

[Willy Nilly]

I had a Citroen Cactus for a few weeks last year as courtesy car, the ride and handling were very good I thought, it had enough power in a diesel sort of way, in that i had loads of mid range, but I never got it stoked up to see what it had top end, it was doing 58 or so mpg.

Glad to get my Jazz back though, but it did seem quite firm in comparison.

[MuscleSaloon]

Pistonheader101 said:

New golf gti fits the bill quite well

Nice, but not sure it will soak up the bumps and have the comfort chairs of something French.

[kieranblenk]

Mk3 Renault Clio 1.5 diesel Initiale? Might be hard to find one but they're meant to be quite luxurious for a small car. Failing that I've heard good things about the Up/Citigo/Mii trio and the Hyundai i10 Premium SE.

My Fabia Monte Carlo has quite a compliant ride and is fairly refined for a smaller car too.

[ZX10R NIN]

Not sure what your budget was but here's my suggestion:

Clio 1.5dci Initiale

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[ph9]

Thanks very much.

The Cactus and Golf are bigger than I was thinking about.

The Clio might be a good choice. I think the Mk2 Clio is my favourite Clio in terms of looks, and the Mk3 is bigger and uglier, but the spec of those Initiale diesel ones looks really good. Do they suffer from many problems, and are they prone to rusting?

[Johnny5hoods]

Nippy and economical don't often coincide to any significant degree. Depends on your definition of nippy, I suppose. But, certainly, enough grunt to easily overtake and 50 MPG is a big ask. You could look at one of the quicker diesels, but they're not making much sense nowadays. Some would say they never did...

I have found that driving an engaging and compelling car (quickish, at least, and fun handling) costs money. There are always people trying to do it on the cheap. But, at the end of the day, they'll end up compromising in at least one major area. Quite a way back, I spent nearly nine years driving a Citroen ZX 1.4i. Didn't like it much, and I asked myself at the end of the nine years what on earth I thought I was doing. I've got one life. I spend a considerable chunk of it behind the wheel, and I'm a car enthusiast. Sat down and asked myself some very hard questions, and resolved, there and then, never again to drive anything I didn't care for.

Fun and quick is never really going to happen at rock bottom prices. Now I make sacrifices in other areas of my life, and drive what I want. Of my last four cars, the most economical was a diesel (0-60 8.4 seconds) and that gave a real world MPG of 38. Economy or fun. Choose today which side of the line you wanna be on, and nail your colours to the mast.

[Basil Hume]

Depending on budget... Mini and high spec Fiat 500 spring to mind.

I have a 2012 (R56) Mini Cooper and it seems to meet all the criteria you set. It'll do over 50mpg on a run and is, for the class of 3.5-3.7m cars, quick and luxurious enough.

I had Mk1 Clio 16V and Williams, a Mk2 172 and Mk3 197. Cars seem to have grown a lot since the day of the Mk2 Clio and I found it quite hard to find a truly compact, quick and reasonably well spec'd car at that sort of size. Most moderns around the 3.5-3.7m length are now very basic.

[ZX10R NIN]

ph9 said:

Thanks very much.

The Cactus and Golf are bigger than I was thinking about.

The Clio might be a good choice. I think the Mk2 Clio is my favourite Clio in terms of looks, and the Mk3 is bigger and uglier, but the spec of those Initiale diesel ones looks really good. Do they suffer from many problems, and are they prone to rusting?

There are no problems with the 1.5dci & on the higher powered models (which the above are) you get a 6 speed box which makes them more relaxed on the motorway & with shorter initial ratios nippy down an A road.

These Clio's won't be suffering with rust so if you view one that is then walk away.