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