Recommend me a small car please ?
 

Time for my lad to change his first car. Please don't laugh but it's a Metro!
Actually it's been very good but for the fact that it cost £400 to have a new front floor put in it last year :o
So it's going and i've no idea what to look for really.
He doesn't want a boy racer big bore with full ICE etc - nahh - something simple, cheap to insure and with a good reputation for less than £1000

Choices thus far
106
Corsa
Saxo
Seicento
Ka

Good and bad points please ? Would prefer something that doesn't resemble an extra from the flintstones next time I take it for an mot!

Lin if your considering a Seicento or even one of the smaller engined Puntos have a word with Senna3 first as he runs his own Fiat & Alfa specialists so can tell you what to look for, which models are best and which ones are best avoided.

If it was me then i would be buying a corsa or KA you can pick up a corsa for less than £700 and a KA for around a 1K.

Ask Charlotte about the Smart car, that's small, in fact very small!!!

Less that a grand?
I would suggest a Ford Fiesta.Millions of them around,cheap as chips and very reliable.

Micra, they go on and on.

Dinky....?

Jase might be a bit overgrown in a 106, my advice, look at a 306, i've had 2 and they were excellent. Dodgy electrics to look out for (windows mainly) but galvanised bodywork means you very rarely see a rusty pug 306. Downside is that the basic model is a 1.4 (which shouldn't matter much as insurance shouldn't be too high)......

In fact there is a very nice one for sale if you drive through Salford Priors at the moment and out towards the Norton Grange, its parked up on 'Scotts corner' where i lobbed the zx9 in the ditch!

I had a 1.9Turbo diesel and 1.6 petrol and insurance was the same but the TD did about 50mpg and got thrashed everywhere! ....106's are good, but pedals are off set in the weirdest way possible, and i couldn't drive it properly! drive before you seriously take them into consideration.

Saxo's in essence are a Peugeot with a different shell on. 1.5 diesel engines come from 106 and the 1.6 VTR comes from the 1.6 petrol.

For Ka, very nice, lovely drive, and reliable...........although friends might take the **** out of him (i certainly will!! haha) however.....not as much **** as i'd take if he bought a corsa! hhhhhhhhhahahahhaha

Seicento...urm..Italian...and we all know they break and cost loads to service ;)

You really can't fault a Ford Fiesta either........you should be able to get a newer round shape P/R reg for £1000.....same for the KA.....try and sneak a KA2 or a KA3 as these have air con and CD player and shouldn't go for much more.
As someone rightly said up there as well, Micra's will last forever! Japanese ya see! :p .....L reg ones look like bubble cars and are a bit gay.....

I gotta be honest and although i loved my 306's and had no problems with them................i'd go for a Ford Fiesta.

If you ever need boring to death more or help give me a shout :p

VW Polo..... Best car for that kind of money by a long way

Seat Arosa. Like a Polo, but cheaper! :)

Get a 1.4 though, the 1.0 I have is, uh, a little slow, shall we say?

Fiesta. Cheap, reliable, much less likely to have been "boyed up" than a Saxo, Corsa, etc.

Polos are a lot more expensive; for a given budget, you'll be looking at a much higher mileage/ older one.

Ka: gurl's car. Micra, likewise.

Seicento: I had one as a courtesy car once. Lovely little car around town, but runs out of puff alarmingly once you get out of the 40 limits. Unless you get the "Sporting", which'd be higher insurance.


Sorry about yer head, BTW, Lin!

Damn you mogwai, you beet me to it!

Well with insurance of around £1000 and the fact that he only uses it for work and back mostly - which will be 5 miles away when we move, i'm only looking for something cheap and cheerful.
Thanks for the input so far - i'll have a look at whats on offer.

From the ones you've mentioned a Ford Ka ... and as per advice, go for a 2 or 3 as they have a few goodies on them.

Very reliable and probably about as cheap as they are gonna go. Pick a good one at the right price and you will probably get most of your money back in a couple of years.

Lin, we got Becca an elderly Fiesta for her 1st car at 17 over 5 years ago.
Did the job and even sailed through an mot for another 2 years. Flogged it on for the same as we paid (£500). Insurance was steep tho, but cheaper than most other cars at £1,200 through Hastings Ins.
Everything worked on it, but it had to have the oil checked every few days as did drink a bit (about a pint every 100 miles)
She was going to only use it locally, but ended up popping dwon to her grans in deep Dorset quite often:o so other grandparents made her an AA member as a birthday pressie for everyones peace of mind.

You wouldnt get a smart car for a grand tho, as still holding prices v well - even tho insurance for youngsters is v cheap (as well as oldies:lol: ) but ta for recco'ing one Webby:D

Hope Jase gets a car soon, and Al said he'll keep his ears open if you want him to. They might have one or 2 106's coming up soon at his work:)

Smart Car? Charlotte, she wants a small car, not a large shoebox! :devil: :lol: