Had an A1 courtesy car the other week, 1.4 TDi Sport. Oh dear...

Thought it might be fun to chuck about like a proper Mini or a Ka. No way.

Nice inside except for terrible visibilty due to the stupidly thick A and B pillars.

Get a Fiesta, I had a new shape 1.6 Zetec S for a while and thought it was great.
[/quote]

A1 is abou LOOKING the part; not playing the the part. Mind you, it's difficult to find anything much different these days.

Also, don't get anything VAG with turbos & injector pumps if you propose running it into the ground.

I'd say the Swift (very basic Toyota petrol engine, which has less to go wrong) and Di-Noc tape some rear door shuts onto the three-door Sport...

 

Honda Jazz ?

 

Hi Pete, no first hand experience, and quite possibly smaller than you want but I am currently considering a VW up.....decent reviews for what they are worth.

 

Mum's just bought a Hyundai i10 5 door auto which seems to do what it says on the tin, not a bad drive but not a brilliant one either if you see what I mean! Hyundai have a good reputation and it comes with a long warranty.

 

Mum just bought a 1.2 Skoda Labia and Kate had a previous Gen Fester.

Fabia is interesting in an over-assisted way, little 3-cyl makes surprising progress and they're getting 45mpg+. It's got enough kit to appeal to mum (though the MP3 socket is a complete mystery to her), and the dealers are fantastic (she downsized from an Octavia she'd had for the last 10 years and wanted to stick with the same dealer). Feels a solid car to be in and it's highly rated in tests. If Jules can live with the badge, it seems a car worth looking into.

Fiesta Kate had was more fun to drive (1.6 Zetec) and a nice car to be in but the dealers were universally awful. When the rear passenger window leaked water into the door they pointed out that trim only has a year's warranty and refused to do anything for free, despite there being water audibly sloshing round in the bottom of the door. We sold it not long after and I pity the poor sod who's currently driving about with a door rusting from the inside out.

 

I know you said no French but.....

Took delivery of my new company car last week and got a DS3 Ultra Prestige and I love it! Gearbox is really smooth, it's nippy, picks up well, has sat nav, cruise control, limiter, fabulous leather seats and bluetooth. Out of all the vehicles I could have choosen, I know I've made the right choice.

 

Had an A1 courtesy car the other week, 1.4 TDi Sport. Oh dear...

Thought it might be fun to chuck about like a proper Mini or a Ka. No way.

Nice inside except for terrible visibilty due to the stupidly thick A and B pillars.

Get a Fiesta, I had a new shape 1.6 Zetec S for a while and thought it was great.
[/quote]

I had a Fiesta for a while too - silly to have got rid of it in a way although it was a smaller engine and did need a tad more poke. It will be difficult to move away from the Ford or the Swift but this isn't an exercise in justifying my purchase. I just want to be sure I'm not missing anything. Even after all that, it will probably come down to the colour of the carpets...

 

I am tempted to try that or Nick's trick. It's funny, she has a mental association that three doors are 'cheap' because she always had three doors when she had no money. I think that overrides any practical considerations tbh.

 

Pensioner car round here so definitely out. So are Fiestas from what I can see but what I can see is largely irrelevant as you'll appreciate...

 

Hi Ian. My perception is they are too small but they seem like good vfm. There is a dealer not far and I need to take my beater in for some work so I might have a nose this pm.