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My car will hopefully be getting replaced in the next few months, so started looking around.
Looking for something second hand, smallish, say Fiesta or Jazz sized, 5 doors, to be the main family run around leaving the estate for longer/bigger trips away. Reliability a key factor. Ability to fit 2 bikes in the back with the wheels off a definite plus point.
Has to be automatic for MrsMCTD
Looking for one 3-4 years old given the budget.
What do you know?
Skoda Fabia
Suzuki Swift GTi
Don't know about automatic ... that's for the Yanks only.
i have an 06 fiesta which has every thing really just not an auto. that's before they redesigned it and made it really small with poor visibility. i've had 5 bike frames in the back of it without the wheels.
[url= http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201106379493344/sort/priceasc/usedcars/transmission/automatic/quantity-of-doors/5/price-to/7000/maximum-age/up_to_4_years_old/model/fiesta/make/ford/radius/1500/page/1/postcode/gu11xx?logcode=p ]bit like this[/url]
Generally all small modern autos are hateful things with tiny engines and crappy cvt boxes. The best option is to buy a decent sized car with a DCT box.
Thanks for the thoughts so far
I suspect that small autos are unpleasant, but it's cheaper to swap the car than the wife.....
How about a Ford Fusion - ugly as sin and correspondingly cheap to buy. Plenty of auto ones knocking about and are often quite low mileage. Basically they are a micro MPV.
I am thinking about getting one as a cheap run-around.
Rather worryingly, the Fusion was quite high up my mental list.
Given my wife's record for being attracted to cheap and ugly things, that could be a winner!
😀
I have been watching a few on Ebay and recently a really tidy one went for £1800 - 35k on the clock, 2006, reverse parking sensors, air con etc. Pity I won't be in the market for one until September otherwise I would have bid on it.
They don't seem to get very good reviews, especially the autos....
"Toytown" K12 Nissan Micra?
Super reliable, efficient, well-made, nippy, slightly ridiculous looking if you don't care for that sort of thing?
My wife has a 2007 Jazz 1.4 automatic and she likes it a lot. With the seats down I can get my road bike in the back with both wheels on, so getting two bikes into it isn't a problem.
My daughter also has a Jazz and it's a 1.2 manual gearbox one - the auto box on my wife's car blunts the performance a little bit, but only to the extent that it performs the same as the smaller engined manual.
The reliability index seems pretty good here - no idea about the auto box though.
http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search/55
What is your budget? And why small? If it's fuel efficiency you want there are quite a few cheap Priuses around which are all automatic. Not that small though but pretty easy to handle.
Are you on commission?
mastiles_fanylion - MemberThe reliability index seems pretty good here - no idea about the auto box though.
That link says 42% of the problems are axle/sus related which tallies with my Dad's car. For some reason it kept getting through bearings/suspension bits. Wonder if there is an underlying design/geo problem.
Aside from that, it's a great utility car. Loads of room, and so ugly that you aren't worried about scratching it.
Yeah no car will be without problems and at least parts should be quite cheap (being based on the Fiesta) and the overall rating is pretty good so although it is an issue with some, it appears that, on average, it isn't a major problem.
And I agree about your last point - which is precisely why I am considering one.