Her Indoors needs a good

[Chequered Flag Racing]

now that got your attention

she's looking for a fresh small to medium hatch to get about in

been looking @ the following 05 plate and newer, diesel but consider petrol

Polo Mk4
Citroen C3
Fiat Grande Punto
Suzuki Swift

a little bigger,

Ford C-Max
Citroen C4

if you run one of the above or similar post your thought's here

[jimmiprice]

The citroens are french so will drive ok when new but will dismantle themselves over time, gearsticks will also feel like they are connected to the box by elastic bands.
The fiat is much the same as the above, do you know fiat stands for Fix-It-Again-Tommorow.
Ford C-max wont be a bad car as the more modern fords are pretty well built, have you thought of Ford Fiesta around the 05/06 age ? They are a good car.
Dont know a lot about a Suzuki Swift apart from it will almost certainly have a horrible japanese esq interior with a digital clock that looks like it came from a 1980's casio watch.
Pick of that bunch for me is definately the polo, you should be looking at a mk5/6 on that sort of age. My mother had a 98 polo mk4 diesel from new until it was written off this year, other than usual exhaust & brake changes the car was as reliable as a swiss watch.........
What about an Audi A2 or Mercedes A class ??
Jimmi....

[Nick Goodall]

Have to agree about the Polo - such solid reliable little cars and well worth the few extra £££ over the Fiat, Citroen or Suzuki!

[bodgit]

my wifes got a second hand 03 honda jazz in september. She loves it .
plenty of room for my lad to drive when he borrows it and he,s 6ft 3 she got it because its cheap to run 45mpg and bullit proof machanics



19 of 20
1: Honda Jazz (02-08): the Honda Jazz is just the sort of car you want to fight off the credit crunch. Cheap to run, utterly reliable, exceptionally practical and versatile, it is officially the UK’s most reliable car.


Warranty Direct says: “With both the lowest rate of incidents and the lowest average repair cost of any car, the Honda Jazz proves that when something does go wrong on a reliable car, it’s not always expensive to fix. Most Jazz faults recorded were on axle and suspension – which is something that isn’t helped by the increasing number of potholes and speed bumps on UK roads.”

[peetbee]

Instead of the VW badge on the Polo why not look at the Skoda Fabia & Seat Ibiza equivalenta, often cheaper for the same car or higher spec for the your budget!

[RogerM]

Seat Ibiza .....

All the good bits of the Polo and better looking!

When Candice needed a new car we looked at all the options and there was no contest price / spec.

Dealers were brilliant (for the one small rattle that the car developed at about 1000 miles), car totally reliable for 3 years of ownership and when we sold it on it had lost far less than an equivelent Corsa or similar!

Would I buy another ........ in heart beat!

[Huw333]

Ok here's my bit for my company

I've not had experience of the C-Max but i know people who have them and are pleased with them. Sorry i can't be more helpful than that!

I've had two of the old shape (pre-2009) fiestas and had no complaints, both seem well built and never had any faults with them. I owned an 06 ST which was A LOT of fun! Also very nice to drive and had excellent handling, although at the time it was well publicised that all models of the fiesta had the best handling in their class. Only downside was the suspension was a bit hard for me.

My next fiesta was an 07 zetec-s TDCi. If you want a diesel then the 1.6 is the one to go for - reasonable performance and excellent MPG - My brother has had one of these for a few years and regularly gets in excess of 60mpg. I used to get 57-58mpg out of mine but that is more likely to be because it was new. The zetec-s had the same seats as the ST which i found very comfortable.

Of course they're are plenty of other fiesta models to choose from - probably the one for best value is the zetec climate (get one with the 1.6 TDCi engine) As it comes with quickclear windscreen and aircon as standard. You should be able to get the facelift model (10/2005 onwards) fairly cheap. The facelift also had extra sound deadening for the diesel engines. Personally i wouldnt go for the 1.25 petrol as i found it really slow and struggles on motorways (which i do most of my driving on) although its not bad for a town car.

I guess i could be a bit biased though

On another note my girlfriend has one of the base 07 grande punto models and to be honest i find it very 'cheap' feeling. Seems to be made of 90% plastic and has quite a bit of road noise. However it is comfortable and the 1.2 petrol engine isn't bad, probably because the car is so light. It also looks really good too - i've heard it been described as a mini Maserati!

[mark christopher]

Originally Posted by jimmiprice

Ford C-max wont be a bad car as the more modern fords are pretty well built, .
...

hmmm, as a ford master tech i see lots problem cars, some your lucky with, some your not

Originally Posted by Huw333

Ok here's my bit for my company

I've not had experience of the C-Max but i know people who have them and are pleased with them. Sorry i can't be more helpful than that!

I've had two of the old shape (pre-2009) fiestas and had no complaints, both seem well built and never had any faults with them. I owned an 06 ST which was A LOT of fun! Also very nice to drive and had excellent handling, although at the time it was well publicised that all models of the fiesta had the best handling in their class. Only downside was the suspension was a bit hard for me.

My next fiesta was an 07 zetec-s TDCi. If you want a diesel then the 1.6 is the one to go for - reasonable performance and excellent MPG - My brother has had one of these for a few years and regularly gets in excess of 60mpg. I used to get 57-58mpg out of mine but that is more likely to be because it was new. The zetec-s had the same seats as the ST which i found very comfortable.

Of course they're are plenty of other fiesta models to choose from - probably the one for best value is the zetec climate (get one with the 1.6 TDCi engine) As it comes with quickclear windscreen and aircon as standard. You should be able to get the facelift model (10/2005 onwards) fairly cheap. The facelift also had extra sound deadening for the diesel engines. Personally i wouldnt go for the 1.25 petrol as i found it really slow and struggles on motorways (which i do most of my driving on) although its not bad for a town car.

I guess i could be a bit biased though

fiesta defo good 1.6 goes really well, both diesels are citroen/pug units as is cmax 16 and 2 litre
fiesta still few old shape about new on run out models too

[General Accident]

Originally Posted by Chequered Flag Racing

now that got your attention

she's looking for a fresh small to medium hatch to get about in

been looking @ the following 05 plate and newer, diesel but consider petrol

Polo Mk4
Citroen C3
Fiat Grande Punto
Suzuki Swift

a little bigger,

Ford C-Max
Citroen C4

if you run one of the above or similar post your thought's here

Polo - good but overpriced and if you are crazy enough to use franchised dealer servicing they'll likely as not lift you leg and treat you like a peasant at the same time. As posted, I'd get a Seat or Skoda instead, you'll get a newer car for the money. Citroen C3, had one, felt bigger inside than out but chronically soft seats and at 2 years old with 15k on the clock it felt like it had done 10 times the mileage (although the engine was quite quiet). Fiat Punto, look how many there are for sale and at such seemingly cheap prices, what does that tell you huh. Suzuki Swift, the latest one most definately does not have a clock that looks like an 80's Casio - in fact the interior is very nice in an understated iPoddy sort of way. They can be a bit loud though depending on spec and due to the lamentable reputation the previous Swift had, depreciation can be hard but they are really nice to drive. Personally, I'd go in hard at a Ford dealer and haggle like made for the last shape Fiesta or Focus, there are still plenty of nearly-new about. Left-field choice, Kia C'eed, apparently you can pick up 18 month old ones with the balance of the 7 (yes 7) year warranty on them for almost half price, so circa £6000. Don't snigger, they are pretty good actually but again the previous reputation is putting people off.

[Huw333]

Originally Posted by mark christopher

fiesta defo good 1.6 goes really well, both diesels are citroen/pug units as is cmax 1.6 and 2 litre

Actually the 1.4/1.6 and the 2.0 diesels are all made at the Dagenham Engine Plant (where i work)

[Chequered Flag Racing]

Originally Posted by jimmiprice

The fiat is much the same as the above, do you know fiat stands for Fix-It-Again-Tommorow.
What about an Audi A2 or Mercedes A class ??
Jimmi....

here's the thread on car acronyms on o0ple
Audi & Merc will have a look but A2 maybe just a shade small

Originally Posted by bodgit

my old bag got a second hand 03 honda jazz in september. She loves it .

mentioned it to her but not kicked the tyres yet

Originally Posted by peetbee

Skoda Fabia & Seat Ibiza equivalenta

Originally Posted by RogerM

Seat Ibiza .....

kicked the tyres on the Skoda but not had chance to view a Seat

Originally Posted by General Accident

Kia C'eed, apparently you can pick up 18 month old ones with the balance of the 7 (yes 7) year warranty on them for almost half price, so circa £6000. Don't snigger, they are pretty good actually but again the previous reputation is putting people off.

to far to the left this one, but then weren't Skoda not that long ago


Anyone got experience with the Yaris or Coralla?

Pug 206 & 207 are out

[Southwell]

I drove a Skoda fabia and it was actually very nice, so a polo would be nice too. I also had a Jazz for a couple of weeks and that was very good too, got 40mpg with my heavy right foot, but id personally have the polo/fabia.

[bodgit]

If you go to
www.parkers.co.uk
you will get the review on any car you need. They will give you a non biased view pro,s and cons and you can get a valuation there too .
They also let you read car owners own personal reports so you can get joe publics view too..
Another good site is
www.kbb.com
In the jazz with the back seat flat the space is huge
I got a c-max 2.0tdci love it best car Ive ever had 53mpg on a 300 mile round trip on mainly A roads. Average weekly town etc 43-46 mpg over 180-200 miles and thats with the occasional heavy foot, and aircon always on.. but a swine to park as it is wide and can get shopping dings easily