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New smallish car

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bspittles
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New smallish car

Post by bspittles »

My wife's Hyundai i20 is coming up to its third birthday, so we'd like to replace it, preferably with something smaller.

All we can find is a Kia Picanto and a Hyundai i10. Both come in at £12k or so, which is top end of what we'd like to spend.

Only real criteria is an automatic gearbox and a boot big enough for a folded wheelchair.

Any other suggestions?

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murf
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Re: New smallish car

Post by murf »

Are you buying new?

Why not get something a year or so old? From a dealer with a warranty is safe and cheap enough. Can get something of a bit higher standard at under 12k I would have thought. Seat Ibiza???

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Tacalabala
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Re: New smallish car

Post by Tacalabala »

Have a look at a new Ford KA, very pleased with mine and under your budget.

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Re: New smallish car

Post by bspittles »

I can't see a new KA in automatic?

Mind you, all the car manufacturer's websites are sh1te nowadays...

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Tacalabala
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Re: New smallish car

Post by Tacalabala »

bspittles wrote:I can't see a new KA in automatic?

Mind you, all the car manufacturer's websites are sh1te nowadays...
Oh sorry, I didn't realise they don't do it in automatic. That's stupid, they must be missing out on sales there! Have you had a look at a Suzuki Swift? I know a girl at work who was so impressed with her friend's one that they car pooled in that she brought one as well, I think they do come with automatic transmission.

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Re: New smallish car

Post by bspittles »

Tacalabala wrote:
bspittles wrote:I can't see a new KA in automatic?

Mind you, all the car manufacturer's websites are sh1te nowadays...
Oh sorry, I didn't realise they don't do it in automatic. That's stupid, they must be missing out on sales there! Have you had a look at a Suzuki Swift? I know a girl at work who was so impressed with her friend's one that they car pooled in that she brought one as well, I think they do come with automatic transmission.
Nearly £16k for a Swift auto :-(

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Re: New smallish car

Post by bspittles »

murf wrote:Are you buying new?

Why not get something a year or so old? From a dealer with a warranty is safe and cheap enough. Can get something of a bit higher standard at under 12k I would have thought. Seat Ibiza???
We did think about that, but then we'd want to change every two years instead of every three.

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Re: New smallish car

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bspittles
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Re: New smallish car

Post by bspittles »

From reports we've read, the Up, the Seat Me and the Skoda Citygo all suffer from the same poor automatic gearbox (as do Suzukis, we now know).

This morning we test drove a Suzuki Ignis and Celerio, both of which had a manual gearbox that had been automated. Very good for the MPG, but terrible when pulling into traffic and you suddenly lose power because the car has decided to change gear!

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, much appreciated :-)

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bluenosey
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Re: New smallish car

Post by bluenosey »

How about :-

1) Ford Fiesta - very nimble, come in a variety of colours. Work colleague has one. 1 litre engine, very nimble, deep impact blue, ST Line Spec. Smart.

Failing that

2) VW Polo - WIll be pricier but you get VW quality. Perhaps a 1.2 match ? Blue motion engines are very good on fuel economy.

Also

3) Renalut Clio. Nice styling although I don't know much about it and finally my old car :-

4) Vauxhall Corsa. Again, I had the 1.4 SRi "spec" and it's quite big for a small car. Lots of different colour variations and went like a dream for 4 years.

Personally I would aim to go for something between 6 and 12 months old, so at least you get the remainder of the warranty and then you don't get hit by the depreciation aspect when you buy a brand new car.

However, if you want a new car, I would really consider leasing. Again, quite a few of my work colleagues go for this.

Only other advice would be don't go diesel, as there's a lot of info know about diesel's damage to the environment and I can see diesels being hit somehow, although only a hunch.

Have just spent six months trying to get the car I wanted, so I know it can be tricky :?

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Tacalabala
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Re: New smallish car

Post by Tacalabala »

Agree with BN, you can't really go wrong with a Ford, parts easy to come by, they never seem to die if you look after it and they are easy to drive. What did it for me with the KA was the fuel economy, it seems to be quite good for the range of cars I was looking at. Like BN said, you can get some great near new deals if you are canny, mine had 40 miles on the clock so they knocked £2k or so off the value which the dealer had to shoulder, not me... and they had to bring it down to Essex from Sheffield for me :wink:

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unc.si.
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Re: New smallish car

Post by unc.si. »

re BN's post, an alternative to the Polo would be a Skoda Fabia - pretty much the same car but might get a bit closer to what you want to pay. can't see you getting anything as good as the Hyundai for the cash though tbh without going nearly new.

re the Vauxhall Clio - had an Auto box Astra as a hire car in Belgium a couple of months back and it had the worst gearbox I've ever had the misfortune to endure. Thought it was going to stall coming out of an underground car park and it generally had a far different opinion to me of when it should change gear.

Not sure if its just a problem that small engines have with auto boxes or whether the Vauxhall one just isn't very good.

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Re: New smallish car

Post by bspittles »

Cheers Unc, I suspect they've changed the gearbox for small autos to improve the MPG figures. It's very frustrating.

Unfortunately, the cheapest automatic Fabia is £15,925 :-(

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unc.si.
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Re: New smallish car

Post by unc.si. »

Have you looked at Car Wow (think thats what they're called?). Was looking for a car for auntie a bit ago and they had some good discounts - auction site in effect - dealers bid to give you the best deal.

Didn't get as far as getting one so not sure if I could have got a better deal myself (elder daughter learning to drive so sticking with the focus for a while longer) but the discounts offered looked good - something like 3.5k off a 17k car I think.

You're probably right about the mpg on small auto's. unfortunately official mpg and emission figures seem to be higher priority than actually being good to drive for city cars.

Mine's got an Eco mode for max mpg, but its not great to drive around town so only really use it on long Mway trips. Quite a neat way of getting high mpg figures for the sales blurb but letting you put it into normal mode so that you can drive the thing without it feeling like a milk float.

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Gaarg
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Re: New smallish car

Post by Gaarg »

bspittles wrote: 03 Jun 2017, 17:45 My wife's Hyundai i20 is coming up to its third birthday, so we'd like to replace it, preferably with something smaller.

All we can find is a Kia Picanto and a Hyundai i10. Both come in at £12k or so, which is top end of what we'd like to spend.

Only real criteria is an automatic gearbox and a boot big enough for a folded wheelchair.

Any other suggestions?
My wife's Hyundai Grand i10, bought six months ago. I can say that as a woman - the car is very good. Under the criteria you described, it fits perfectly! Recommend :roll:
Last edited by Gaarg on 16 Nov 2018, 02:55, edited 1 time in total.

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Billy Whiz
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Re: New smallish car

Post by Billy Whiz »

Hyundai offer great value for money. You can get a top of the range Hyundai for several thousand less than a bottom of the range Ford. And they're good cars too. We've had our i20 for four years now and I can't fault it. I know you've got an i20 yourself but I just thought I'd say that!

ben771williams
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Re: New smallish car

Post by ben771williams »

I agree with the previous speaker, the Ford KA is very good. My wife has the same one, no problems, very easy to drive, as well as wear-resistant parts, not expensive to maintain and smells gasoline. If you buy this car you will stay with it for a long time in ownership. I say with complete confidence.

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