New Car

[amolkarnik]

Wife needs a car. Need to find a small automatic hatchback thats not too pricey to insure. Needs to be reliable as well (guess that rules out the French, Vauxhall and Ford). Her driving will be largely country roads, doing about 12000 miles pa. Any opinions?

[Rodders_UK]

Forc Focus or Toyota Yaris mate

[Gord]

toyota yaris

[Stu]

i've always been a fan of the 306 personally, i had a 1.9 D Turbo Sports, and that was as reliable as the Lex is for sure!

Don't know if they made them in auto though.

Stu

[peter026]

toyota yaris

←

I concur :D

[Brettster]

i've always been a fan of the 306 personally, i had a 1.9 D Turbo Sports, and that was as reliable as the Lex is for sure!

Don't know if they made them in auto though.

Stu

←

You must have been Lucky Stu

my 306 did nothing but fall to bits and flood inside

was glad to see the back of that thing !!!

[mudzs]

i would go for a honda civic ,very reliable car with a great auto box or the yaris .would not rule out reno either they have come on a lot over the last few years

[Matthew_McNally]

I dislike all hatchback type cars - so no personal experience here.

but - the Honda Jazz seems to be well regarded

didn't it pip the IS the other year in JD Power or such?

[aquanuke]

I recently bought my little sister a 1.4 fiesta to learn in, there cheap to fix and pretty reliable. I think the pugs and saxos are pretty unreliable. JIMO.

[Parthiban]

I recently bought my little sister a 1.4 fiesta to learn in, there cheap to fix and pretty reliable. I think the pugs and saxos are pretty unreliable. JIMO.

←

U got a little sister who's learning to drive (as do i) but you also have an sc430 (which i dont) You're either a lot older than your sister or done very well for yourself :winky:

[aido]

What about waiting for that new little Toyota thing, think they said it's the Yaris replacement?

It was on show at Geneva and Zee was transfixed by the modded version!

[stevenage_saint]

THe new fiesta is a good choice, but personally I would go for the Jazz as i think it is a great car, then the Yaris.

[Zoot]

Worth considering the Seat Ibiza.

Spanish flair with VW German engineering.

WhatCar car of the year 2003 & 2004.

My wife and son have shared one since June 2003 with no mechanical breakdown after 25K miles. Weve got the 1.2 3 cylinder basic model, 45 to the gallon and cheap as chips to insure (relatively speaking). My son drives it hard during the summer up and down the motorway from the midlands to Cornwall and North Devon with surf boards on the roof.

I am sure larger engines are available with an auto box. Shame about the dealer though.

[Kazi]

Toyota Yaris are nice little cars. Get really good customer reviews in papers etc to. My sister is looking at buying one.

[lexus boy]

what about a golf?

[Fever]

Got to be a Yaris....my girlie bought one a few months back and its great...lovely to drive and very smooth...it's the 1.3 and it's very nippy for the engine size!!

[newport]

My old man just got a Daewoo Lanos 1.6 sx Auto 1998 5 door hatch 55k.

I was shocked its got it all Air con all electric and goes like hell.

he paid £1200 at a dealer.

But of course how long will it last ?? :shutit:

[aquanuke]

I recently bought my little sister a 1.4 fiesta to learn in, there cheap to fix and pretty reliable. I think the pugs and saxos are pretty unreliable. JIMO.

←

U got a little sister who's learning to drive (as do i) but you also have an sc430 (which i dont) You're either a lot older than your sister or done very well for yourself :winky:

←

Im 30 going on 18 :P My little sis was a late driver 24 now.

Still ive got the easiest job in the world, I make money in my sleep running websites and earning from advertising on those sites. Which is great cos' the more I sleep the better I do :)

[johnboy]

Deffo the Toyota Yaris, my Girlfriend has just bought an auto and its

great little car, my dads got one too the auto box is very smooth.

very reliable too.

[amolkarnik]

Thanks guys.

I drove the Mitsubishi Colt. Cracking car. very roomy and the 1.1 drives very well. Unfortunately they do the auto only on the 1.3 (poorly rated engine), the 1.5 petrol and the 1.5 diesel. Also the car is too new to find any cheapish used examples about.

The Yaris and the Jazz are the top contenders right now. There are a few Yaris' about so I reckon I could pick one up for about 6k. The Jazz auto is very hard to come by, their resale values are much higher and its a bit of a family motor.

Golf/Focus/Civic are not in the contention because they are slightly larger motors which is something we dont really need. That will mean more fuel, running and insurance costs. The Focus is very tempting and quite cheap for what they are, the Golf too expensive for what they are and the Civic too bland unless its a Type-R. My opinion anyways.

I have my eyes out a Ibiza, but the auto is available only on the 1.4 which is a dull engine (drove a rental 1.4 Polo manual in South Africa for 3k and it drove me mad. Cant even imagine how underpowered it will be as an auto).

I cant really bring myself to spend any money on a French car, so by elimination its probably going to be a Yaris. I will have to try out their 1 litre car with the MMT (clutchless) gearbox. meant to be very good and fuel efficient as well, if slightly underpowered.

[Zee007]

I bought my sister a Yaris and she loves it (so do I actually!).

Going to get my Mum one this year to replace her Fiesta.

Fantastic little cars - good on fuel and insurance and an excellent spec level.

[amolkarnik]

does anyone have any experience of the Yaris with the 1 litre engine? Just how underpowered does it feel and is it capable of motorway speeds?

[Zee007]

does anyone have any experience of the Yaris with the 1 litre engine? Just how underpowered does it feel and is it capable of motorway speeds?

←

Thats what my sister has - and it's absolutely fine on the motorway (She does London to the Midlands often)

[peter026]

does anyone have any experience of the Yaris with the 1 litre engine? Just how underpowered does it feel and is it capable of motorway speeds?

←

take a look at this link

http://www.peachorlemon.co.uk/cgi-bin/search.cgi

The above might not work so try this one

http://www.peachorlemon.co.uk/basic_search.html

Edited March 17, 2005 by peter026

[wills]

No got to be a honda civic - best in class, drove a yaris (1yr old) yuk, centre console speedo, not good on the motor way