Reccomend me a small car

[Mr Moofo]

The wife has a Mini Cooper Clubman S - which as a 2008 model has become a money pit. In the last 3 months new clutch, new timing chain, new water pump. 2k on a 2.5k car !!

Its time for a newish one. Parameters :-
The cooper s was totally wasted on her, she never revs above 3k before she changes gear.
It will be an urban car with the occassional motorway trip to the London mecca of Chingford.
It will never be driven above the speed limit - and hitting 60 mph will be a rare event. It can be of low BHP
It cannot be French, or have a french engine, or french running gear. Or be a Vauxhall
It needs parking sensors (though she ignores these and hits things anyway) - out of the last 3 cars she has had, two have been reversed into bollards in Tescos carpark in the first 5 miles.
No more than 5 years old
Needs to fit a pointer in the back - two people and the dog will be its max carrying load.
It will do about 3k miles a year.

The suggestion is that we should sell my car and get a small sensible car that we can both drive. That isn't happening (and she won't drive my car as it is "too big")

A Fiat 500 was a dead cert until I have read about reliability / electric/ clutch issues

Any suggestions?

[Slenver]

Not a specific answer, but for anecdotal reference, we have a Fiat 500 and it's been great.

2017 reg bought 2 years ago with 17k miles, now done 75k. Nothing's really gone wrong aside from general wear and tear.

Just worth adding

[Mr. Dazzle]

Honda Jazz in bingo player gold

I generally start with "Petrol and Japanese" and go from there in this context

[Ditchfinder]

Suzuki Swift

[gremlin]

I generally start with "Petrol and Japanese" and go from there in this context

+1

How small? I have a Toyota CHR. It's pretty good.

[KungFooBob]

I bought the wife an Toyota Aygo, they were on 0% PCP at the time.

It had apple/car play, a reversing camera, lane departure warning, loads of tech for such a small car.

3 pot 1000cc motor, managed mid 50ish mpg.

We sold it to buy were a diesel Volvo V40 when her commute changed and she was doing lots of motorway miles.

[Rockburner]

The wife has a Mini Cooper Clubman S - which as a 2008 model has become a money pit. In the last 3 months new clutch, new timing chain, new water pump. 2k on a 2.5k car !!

Its time for a newish one. Parameters :-
The cooper s was totally wasted on her, she never revs above 3k before she changes gear.
It will be an urban car with the occassional motorway trip to the London mecca of Chingford.
It will never be driven above the speed limit - and hitting 60 mph will be a rare event. It can be of low BHP
It cannot be French, or have a french engine, or french running gear. Or be a Vauxhall
It needs parking sensors (though she ignores these and hits things anyway) - out of the last 3 cars she has had, two have been reversed into bollards in Tescos carpark in the first 5 miles.
No more than 5 years old
Needs to fit a pointer in the back - two people and the dog will be its max carrying load.
It will do about 3k miles a year.

The suggestion is that we should sell my car and get a small sensible car that we can both drive. That isn't happening (and she won't drive my car as it is "too big")

A Fiat 500 was a dead cert until I have read about reliability / electric/ clutch issues

Any suggestions?

Budget??

TBH if it's mostly very local driving then would an electric runabout be suitable? I'd imagine most of them would make it to Chingford and back...

[Mr Moofo]

The wife has a Mini Cooper Clubman S - which as a 2008 model has become a money pit. In the last 3 months new clutch, new timing chain, new water pump. 2k on a 2.5k car !!

Its time for a newish one. Parameters :-
The cooper s was totally wasted on her, she never revs above 3k before she changes gear.
It will be an urban car with the occassional motorway trip to the London mecca of Chingford.
It will never be driven above the speed limit - and hitting 60 mph will be a rare event. It can be of low BHP
It cannot be French, or have a french engine, or french running gear. Or be a Vauxhall
It needs parking sensors (though she ignores these and hits things anyway) - out of the last 3 cars she has had, two have been reversed into bollards in Tescos carpark in the first 5 miles.
No more than 5 years old
Needs to fit a pointer in the back - two people and the dog will be its max carrying load.
It will do about 3k miles a year.

The suggestion is that we should sell my car and get a small sensible car that we can both drive. That isn't happening (and she won't drive my car as it is "too big")

A Fiat 500 was a dead cert until I have read about reliability / electric/ clutch issues

Any suggestions?

Budget??

TBH if it's mostly very local driving then would an electric runabout be suitable? I'd imagine most of them would make it to Chingford and back...

Budget 8-9 ish
Electric - hmm. Turning on the Smart TV and using it has been a 2 year battle. Remebering to plug a car in may be a step too far. I would probably stick at petrol as A) I am not a great believer in the electric revolution B) I dont want to be paying out 10k on new batteries c) She will forget to plug it in and it will be my fault. She panics if the range of the car is less than 50 miles - living in that zone will probbaly finish her off

[gremlin]

I'd be tempting to go Aygo (no rhyme intended). Cracking little cars.

[SSS]

Kia Picanto

[Cousin Jack]

I'd be tempting to go Aygo (no rhyme intended). Cracking little cars.

Yes, I drove one recently and they are small but good.

[Count Steer]

Toyota Yaris. Sounds like it fits the bill, bigger than the Aygo, decent boot space etc. (There's a non-plug-in hybrid version that'll return 70+ mpg but dunno if it'll be in budget).

[gremlin]

Toyota Yaris. Sounds like it fits the bill, bigger than the Aygo, decent boot space etc. (There's a non-plug-in hybrid version that'll return 70+ mpg but dunno if it'll be in budget).

I specifically chose Toyota as I wanted a hybrid. They've been banging them out for years, so I figured they'd have it fairly much nailed down. Mine tells me that urbans runs are around the 65-75mpg mark. I love using the B setting on the autobox for downhill stretches and scavaging as much free juice as possible. How middle-aged is that?

[MyLittleStudPony]

My first thought was also Yaris hybrid.

[Pirahna]

I'm going to recommend the last car we had before leaving the UK, an Up! GTi. A surprising amount of fun in a small car.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Toyota Yaris. Sounds like it fits the bill, bigger than the Aygo, decent boot space etc. (There's a non-plug-in hybrid version that'll return 70+ mpg but dunno if it'll be in budget).

I specifically chose Toyota as I wanted a hybrid. They've been banging them out for years, so I figured they'd have it fairly much nailed down. Mine tells me that urbans runs are around the 65-75mpg mark. I love using the B setting on the autobox for downhill stretches and scavaging as much free juice as possible. How middle-aged is that?

I once filtered to the front of the queue and pulled up next to a stereotypical looking old lady Yaris driver.

Said traffic lights were those ones where it rapidly narrows down to one lane again, so you gotta get away smartish to be in front before you have a close encounter with a kerb stone. Light goes yellow and then green and I duly give it a bit to nip out in front...

Old lady in the Yaris fucks off the line sharpish and pulls ahead of me

Those Hybrids get off the line well quick There's no clutch and no gears (sorta) so they just fuck off

[gremlin]

I'm going to recommend the last car we had before leaving the UK, an Up! GTi. A surprising amount of fun in a small car.

I saw one the other day, assume an electric version, badged as an 'e-Up'. I immediately thought of Yorick.

[Count Steer]

The hybrid may not be in budget though. The petrol only ones are pretty frugal though + 5 doors, parking sensors and the usual trimmings. Later ones need a phone for GPS/routing don't know if it's built in on the earlier ones.

[Gregor]

My missus has Yaris and loves it, 1.33 petrol gets about 48mpg ( was getting 50 mpg pre ethanol)and quite nippy.

It costs sod all to run and has no corrosion at all after 10yrs and 75k miles.

[Sadlonelygit]

The correct answer is a 1.0 fiesta 5 door.