Wanted. Small car.

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Mick F
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Wanted. Small car.

Post by Mick F »

We could be wanting a small car.
Sell the elderly Clio and sell the Fiat500 Twinair Turbo.

Wants:
Four doors plus hatchback - 5 door.
Fairly new - would consider brand new.
Powerful - 90 to 100bhp or more
DAB radio
Good visibility front, sides and rearwards.


Does not want:
Long bonnet
MINI
Fiat
Anything big and wide
Diesel engines
Fully electric
GTi or sporty etc.

Come on guys, help me out here.
I used to be a petrol head, but not for many a year, so I'm out of touch with all this.

Recommendations please.
Mick F. Cornwall
iandriver
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by iandriver »

Wife's VW Up ticks most those boxes. Think they do a 90ps version. Boot is only small, but an amazing amount of space in the cabin. I think there is a Skoda equivalent that is nigh on the same thing.
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old_windbag
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by old_windbag »

The skoda citigo as mentioned above is nice and low cost and they did uprate the engine power recently I believe again as above. The greentech variant that was the highest power when I was looking was 75bhp from a normally aspirated engine. Mpg figures were pretty good. I think the fiesta ecoboost 1.0( 100bhp or 125bhp variant ) is a good all rounder as small cars go( lots of torque being a turbo, plus quiet ). Low cost parts etc, mpg not at the top of the pack but driven well will return 45-55mpg. The equivalent corsa 1.0 three pot turbo may be worth looking at too, only just introduced when I was looking last year.

New to the market where 3 cylinder turbo's are concerned are the korean hyundai i20 and kia rio. I think the new smaller engines were introduced during last year( the models having existed with normally aspirated petrol and turbo diesels ). There was no second hand market when I looked but the warranties on new were good.

Worth checking honest johns true mpg to get a general view of real life fuel economy.
Bonefishblues
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by Bonefishblues »

Yaris hybrid.
old_windbag
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by old_windbag »

Oh a couple of others but ones I did not test drive or single out for my use but may suit your needs.

Nissan Note
Honda Jazz

I think there were limited engine options but practicality wise they were quite good.

Also the "new" model micra looks quite nice, they must have got the skyline design dept working on it instead of the awful designs of recent years.
Psamathe
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by Psamathe »

Do you really want DAB radio on your list of requirements? They are pretty cheap to buy (relative to the cost of a car). Maybe broaden to DAB radio OR standard radio fitting (DIN?) i.e. if it has a weird built-in job then DAB otherwise replacement is cheap enough (you could even use your CTC discount at Halfords!)

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Paulatic
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by Paulatic »

For all round visibility I Imagine you'll be the right age for a Jazz. My wife loved it when we looked at one. Think you can get a bike inside too.
We got a Skoda though :D Lovely 'dirty' diesel can give upto 70 mpg and even 35 pulling the caravan.
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Mick F
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by Mick F »

Thanks guys.
All food for thought, and Mrs Mick F is very difficult to please.

VW Up! looks good at 90bhp, though I've only seen them on the VW website.
Seen a Datsun Note, and not liked them. Too big and square. Lots of them around.
Honda Jazz ............. don't know yet, I need to look.
Toyota Yaris ditto.

We were down in Plymouth today, and called in at the Suzuki place. Looked at the Swift. Too big in the bonnet department, and too small out the back window.
We liked the look of the Celario, but they are all very underpowered at 68bhp. Had they done one with the 110bhp Swift engines, we could have been interested.

No way do we want a diesel.
We used to have a Peugeot 205 GRD back in the 1980s and we thought it was wonderful. 100,000miles on the clock when we sold it. I would often say that I couldn't understand why everyone didn't have a diesel. How wrong I was. :oops:
Smelly awful things as a cyclist, let alone as a pedestrian. I wouldn't have one in principle now no matter how economical and powerful they are.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Mick F
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by Mick F »

Yaris 1.5 110bhp
Why do they have small back windows all greyed out?
Screen Shot 2017-08-07 at 16.42.09.png
Sorry, don't want that.

I want ........ and Mrs Mick F wants ........... all round visibility.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Mick F
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by Mick F »

Psamathe wrote:Do you really want DAB radio on your list of requirements?
Sorry, forgot to answer this.
Future proofing.

The cars we have now have FM radios. In order to get DAB for when they switch off FM, cars will need new equipment. How can you fit a DAB radio in the same slot as the original radio?
Not all of them are the same standard size and shape as in the old days.

Our Fiat 500 from the publicity shots. (We call her Rosa) (All our cars have had names)
Note the shape of the sound system unit.
Rosa 3.jpg
Mick F. Cornwall
reohn2
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by reohn2 »

Our present car has "privacy glass" in the rear,we thought it a compromise when buying the car,in use it's a non issue we can see out with no vision obscurity.

FWIW,we like Fords,good experience with their cars and vans,and cheap to maintain with parts practically available from the corner shop,so I'll recommend a Fiesta
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bigjim
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by bigjim »

My, quite old, Yaris Verso has that privacy glass. Does not make any difference to vision from the inside.
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Mick F
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by Mick F »

Ok, I can understand that greyed windows are ok looking out.
Why have SMALL back windows?
Our Fiat500 is a horror to reverse as small as it is. The visibility is terrible out of the back.
Our Clio is absolutely fine, but it's a 2001 vehicle. I can almost drive it backwards as fast as I can drive it forwards. Once or twice, I've been looking for 2nd gear reverse!

I want to drive backwards.
Not just reverse park in a city/town environment. You can do that with the mirrors. Easy peasy.

I want to drive backwards,
We don't all live in towns and cities, Some of us live in places with narrow country lanes where we have to drive sometimes 100yds backwards to allow someone else to come through.

We have three options.
1. Keep the Clio we've had since April 2001 brand new.
2. Keep the Fiat500 we've had since Oct 2014 since before 1st MOT.
3, Sell them both, and buy something else as we don't need two cars any more.
Mick F. Cornwall
mr bajokoses
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by mr bajokoses »

Skoda Fabia
+ Visibility, no blacked out windows, plenty of power, good economy, DAB radio
- Tight fit to get a bike with mudguards in the back but it can be done
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Cunobelin
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Re: Wanted. Small car.

Post by Cunobelin »

Volkswagen UP = Shoda Citing

Citroen C1 = Peugeot 107 = Toyota Aygo

Hyundai i10 = Kia Picanto

Fiat 500 = Ford Ka


Most are these days simple cosmetic modifications onto same chassis
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