SPEC MY MUM: Small ECO reliable car!

swinnie

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VW Up / Skoda Citigo / Seat Mii are all the same car
Toyota Aygo / Citroen C1 / Peugeot 107 same story
Ford Fiesta
Ford Ka

Will easily find something in that budget. All come with variations of 1l 3cylinder engines that return excellent mpg figures.

I've owned a 2009 Aygo, have regular use of 2015 Fiesta, driven a 2014 VW Up, 2015 Aygo and a 2012 Ka. All are good cars, with 1l engines and either exceeded or got close to book MPG figures in each.
 

Duke

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I had an Up for a week whilst the Golf was in for warranty repair and it was ok and about what you'd expect from a tiny car. I would probably suggest a Polo or Fiesta just to give a bit more room in the cabin and boot.
 

Gibbo

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Duke said:
I had an Up for a week whilst the Golf was in for warranty repair and it was ok and about what you'd expect from a tiny car. I would probably suggest a Polo or Fiesta just to give a bit more room in the cabin and boot.
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Fiesta and Up are favourites. Shall take her too check them out and she can just take the one she prefers the drive off.

VW Up all seem similar specification and the 75PS seems better choice as economy seems the same, can imagine the 60PS one can feel under powered.

Fiesta 1.0 seems to come in a lot more variation with a of Titanium for sale around 7k, if I remember is Titanium pretty much fully loaded spec car?
 

chaparral

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Gibbo said:
Fiesta and Up are favourites. Shall take her too check them out and she can just take the one she prefers the drive off..

Fiesta 1.0 seems to come in a lot more variation with a of Titanium for sale around 7k, if I remember is Titanium pretty much fully loaded spec car?
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Just a head up gibbo

Ford did an update refresh on the fiesta sometime in 2012


http://www.parkers.co.uk/ford/fiesta/
Mid-life refresh in 2012

After four years on the market, Ford gave the Fiesta a makeover. Despite being few in number, the changes made a significant visual impact, especially at the front, with a corporate hexagonal grille – with a whiff of Aston Martin about it – and tweaked lights front and rear; various models featured LEDs for the first time.

Inside, the SYNC voice-activated multimedia system made an appearance, along with Active City Stop – Ford’s autonomous emergency braking system designed to prevent low-speed accidents.

The Fiesta also became the first Ford car in Europe to feature MyKey, a system that allows parents of teenage drivers to limit both the car’s speed and the volume of its audio system. It’ll even mute the stereo if a driver’s seatbelt isn’t worn.

Each driver has a key which is programmed to tell the car to initiate or switch off various safety systems as required. This has the potential to not only keep younger drivers safe but to also prevent them from causing unnecessary noise pollution.
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Maccy

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My mum just got a relatively new Micra (65 plate), 8,000 miles, for a touch over £7k, 1.2 engine that wasn't bad, feels fine on a motorway and has bluetooth, sat nav, cruise control. £30/year road tax, cheap to run. Might be worth a look?
 

adam cool dude

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My friend bought an up brand new as a commuter car. I just find it horrid, it didn't even have central locking or wheel arch splash guards so will most likely rust out yet it had DAB!

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201701111215445?sort=price-asc&advertising-location=at_cars&make=SUZUKI&postcode=fy29el&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&radius=1500&aggregatedTrim=Sport&year-from=2013&model=SWIFT&page=2

Something like this 2013, 23k miles. Cruise, Xenons, Climate and very easy to use interior. "only" 50mpg but the miles she does will make any saving negligible. Super reliable that a turbo'ed ford could only dream of.
 

Adz

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I bought my mum (60 y/o, license 10 years, can't turn right at roundabouts, etc) a 1.0 Ecoboost Powershift Fiesta and she loves it. It's a nice relaxed torquey engine, it's very stable and planted on the motorway, it's just a nice happy small car for people who don't care much about cars. They're popular for a reason.

I did suggest the Polo but apparently VWs are "for old people".

Therefore +1 for the Fiesta.
 

Gibbo

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adam cool dude said:
My friend bought an up brand new as a commuter car. I just find it horrid, it didn't even have central locking or wheel arch splash guards so will most likely rust out yet it had DAB!

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201701111215445?sort=price-asc&advertising-location=at_cars&make=SUZUKI&postcode=fy29el&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&radius=1500&aggregatedTrim=Sport&year-from=2013&model=SWIFT&page=2

Something like this 2013, 23k miles. Cruise, Xenons, Climate and very easy to use interior. "only" 50mpg but the miles she does will make any saving negligible. Super reliable that a turbo'ed ford could only dream of.
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If it was for me, I'd buy that all day long, lovely looking sporty things.

But as my Mum will likely own this car for five years, that is £725 in road tax alone, plus the extra fuel consumption it is going to cost circa £250 more per year to run. I also suspect its not too tame on insurance group either which is an off putting thing about the Fiesta as that is 11E, her current car is 10 and an Up is only 1-5. 17" wheels also so consumables like tyres will cost more I imagine as well.
 

lordrobs

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Shame that the Polo is out of the equation as that really is a fantastic motor. I was very underwhelmed with the UP that I drove, Fiesta is a great car but personally I can't be doing with modern Ford interiors (Mondeo excluded) but that is personal preference.

If you are looking at city cars would she consider something like an i10? You are just dipping in to the new model territory with £5k.
 

Gibbo

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lordrobs said:
Shame that the Polo is out of the equation as that really is a fantastic motor. I was very underwhelmed with the UP that I drove, Fiesta is a great car but personally I can't be doing with modern Ford interiors (Mondeo excluded) but that is personal preference.

If you are looking at city cars would she consider something like an i10? You are just dipping in to the new model territory with £5k.
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Polo is not dismissed. :)

Do they have a tax free or near tax free model with a low insurance group that cost 6-8k used.

For my mum I'd rather sacrifice engine power for cabin quality and toys, would be great if there was a small city car that had good CD player, heated seats, heated screen, central locking, electric windows, satnav etc. Might be asking too much in a city small car, but interior and toys is more important than power, car only needs to be around 75PS but with 50+ city mpg and low insurance and £20 per year tax or less ideally.
 

joeyjojo

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Aren't you all splitting hairs talking about economy on a 2-3 mile journey? I can't imagine a VW Up is going to do measurably better than a Fiesta, Swift, Polo, etc. on an 8-10 minute journey.

I'd be looking at electric but that's probably just the big electric car thread talking. :p
 
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