Who makes the best small cars?

[Ecosseven]

There is something very appealing about back to basics, cheap motoring. Some manufacturers have earned good reputations for designing and building small cars. So, in your opinion, who makes the best range of small cars and why? My vote would be for either Suzuki or Fiat.

[trickywoo]

Suzuki for me.

I have a Swift (it isn't) but its reliable, cheap to run and easy to work on if something does need mending.

[FoundOnRoadside]

Fiat? Hmm...maybe in some other parallel universe.

Got to be Nissan, Micras seem impossible to kill.

[TotalControl]

Daihatsu, Toyota, Honda.

[Deluded]

Define best.

Fiat make entertaining little eco boxes but they aren't exactly reliable. Better than some but they are cheap because they use cheap components which do fail eventually. Quite often in some cases.

[Rufus]

Depends what you want a small car for but Renault do some crackers.

[Vitorio]

FoundOnRoadside said:

Got to be Nissan, Micras seem impossible to kill.

wouldnt want to be found dead in the parking space where a micra once sat while its mistress popped into the shop for a pint of milk though.

I personally like Fiats, although i'm currently working on reducing one to a pile of bits because the mountainous backlog of maintenance the previous owner neglected to do finally caught up with it.

[Deluded]

Vitorio said:

wouldnt want to be found dead in the parking space where a micra once sat while its mistress popped into the shop for a pint of milk though.

I personally like Fiats, although i'm currently working on reducing one to a pile of bits because the mountainous backlog of maintenance the previous owner neglected to do finally caught up with it.

Exactly what I've been doing with mine since I bought it 2 months ago...

[Captain Muppet]

Hotwheels.

[/thread]

[Vitorio]

Deluded said:

Exactly what I've been doing with mine since I bought it 2 months ago...

Your punto? mine's a cinquecento, and while i initially thought i'd had a bargain with just a gone headgasket, it turned out there were heaps more things that needed replacing/fixing, so i decided it wasnt worth the extra money.

So i'm parting it out and saving up for an mx-5

[Speedy1995]

Peugeot had some brilliant pocket rockets in the 90's with the 106 and in th 80's with the legendary 205 but seem to have lost the sporty image (and grate handling )in favour of a student companion one i.e the 107/C1/aygo .

[Twincam16]

Fiats are fine so long as they're maintained, as per any car.

And they do make the best small cars, not least in part because they're not obssessed with creating 'big car premium feel' in the way that so many of their competitors are, resulting in an overstuffed sofa of a car that's tricky to fit in the back of and see out of.

[CtrlAltDel]

Most Nissans look ghastly and aren't they in bed with Renault these days (?)- so don't even have reliability going for them.

FIAT is not a bad shout actually - I rather liked the Grande Punto but unfortunately they ruined the styling with the 'evo' facelift.

[welaye]

CtrlAltDel said:

Most Nissans look ghastly and aren't they in bed with Renault these days (?)- so don't even have reliability going for them.

FIAT is not a bad shout actually - I rather liked the Grande Punto but unfortunately they ruined the styling with the 'evo' facelift.

Yes, we are "in bed" with Renault but its more a case of renault nicking the platforms and reliability of Nissan IMO. I'll point you to the Clio post-2006.

I'd go for SEAT Ibiza, I've heard very good things although I haven't actually driven one. Stay away from Vauxhall.

[300bhp/ton]

My vote would be with Caterham or maybe Lotus although the Evora is bigger than other recent offerings.

[Prof Prolapse]

CtrlAltDel said:

Most Nissans look ghastly and aren't they in bed with Renault these days (?)- so don't even have reliability going for them.

Micras are tough cars mate even the newer ones. Theres very few known faults, outwith throttle bodies / TPS sensors (cheap and easy fix).

We've had a k12 in the family for about 7 years and I personally have been trying to kill it unsucessfully for 3 years. It has cost us somewhere in the region of £150 in 5 years.

It also uses bugger all fuel, and has more loading space and handles better than most utilitarian vehicles that cost significantly more.

Both the k11 and k12 are great for what they're designed for. Unfortunately they just have no soul (actually I'd argue that isn't true for the k11).

[ewenm]

I reckon Kia and Hyundai are rapidly catching the established players.

[Prof Prolapse]

300bhp/ton said:

My vote would be with Caterham or maybe Lotus although the Evora is bigger than other recent offerings.

Yeah Caterham and Lotus were my first thought as well when it came to "cheap, basic motoring".

Then I read the bloody post.

[300bhp/ton]

Prof Prolapse said:

Yeah Caterham and Lotus were my first thought as well when it came to "cheap, basic motoring".

Then I read the bloody post.

Reckon Caterham still nails the op.

Basic - check
Cheap motoring - check

Op doesn't specify purchase price. That said a Caterham classic is not overly expensive, has cheap fuel costs, low insurance, low car tax, very strong residuals and generally are cheap to run and maintain.

[Twincam16]

ewenm said:

I reckon Kia and Hyundai are rapidly catching the established players.

Not much fun though, are they?

To my mind a small car needs to have that sense of sheer joy in its simplicity. Light weight so it has the potential to shift a bit once it gets going, small, low-powered but revvy petrol engine that you thrash to get the best out of it. Styling that's not trying to be 'posh', but nor is it trying to be overly dull either. The Italians have a knack of making functionalism and utilitarianism look neat and chic. The Koreans don't.

Oddly enough the new VW Up (I refuse to add that bloody exclamation mark) is a delightfully simple small car, and feels more Italian than it does German. Only problem is, the engine needs so much thrashing that at motorway speeds I found I was getting about 20mpg.