Small car for my girlfriend

Small car for my girlfriend

Author
Discussion

tyranical

Original Poster:

927 posts

197 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
She has about £5000

She has been looking at:

Renault Twingo
Fiat Grande Punto
Suzuki Swift

Her preference is the swift but she is looking at an older 1 for that money where as the twingo and punto she can get a nice 2007 one for that money so i'm trying to steer her towards them instead.

Anyone any experiences to share with the cars listed or any others to throw into the mix?

Requirements are:

Small car
good looking
Cheap to run (performance not important)

Cheers,

Matt

CampDavid

9,145 posts

205 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
Panda 100HP or the Skoda Fabia would be the one's I'd be keen on

LuS1fer

41,722 posts

252 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
Small car for your girlfriend.....

Sounds like a fair swop - what small car will you accept?

Rammy76

1,052 posts

190 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
Guy at work loves his Suzuki Swift. I think they drive well too and look quite good.

Is there not a new Swift out/coming out, so maybe the second hand prices of the current generation will be coming down soon?

tyranical

Original Poster:

927 posts

197 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
Am i correct in thinking the swift shares alot of parts/design etc with the old model toyota yaris?

If thats the case, I had 1 of those and it was an awesome car so perhaps I should be steering her into the swift after all. smile

DanGPR

989 posts

178 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
Twingo is a good shout, I'd go for that of the 3 mentioned.

New shape Corsa can be had in budget, too.

LuS1fer

41,722 posts

252 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
The only thing I have against the Swift is it looks blocky and dull. I'd have a Panda 100hp if it was in budget or possibly an old mint Lupo GTI if they still exist.

defblade

7,617 posts

220 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
Aygo.

900T-R

20,405 posts

264 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
I'd have the Twingo if put against other 'entry level/city cars' (Alto, Ka, 500 et al) but not instead of a proper supermini like the other two. Swift is a fun drive, Grande Punto looks and feels more grown up (before the horrid 'Evo' facelift it was easily the most stylish mainstream supermini IMO).

hornetrider

63,161 posts

212 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
The Crack Fox said:
Swift wins hands down, most fun to drive, most reliable. Wouldn't consider the other two myself.
Is the correct answer. Can you get a 1.5GLX for that price? A new shape Mazda2 is slightly superior if in budget imo (we bought a 2 Sport faced with the same decision but looking at brand new cars a couple of years ago)

Baryonyx

18,064 posts

166 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
IF she's not up for a Mazda MX-5 (and it might well be too much for her, and not useable everyday) I'd recommend the Suzuki Swift Sport. They are amazing little cars with an old-skool hot hatch feel to them. Absolutely bags of fun, great engines and with superb handling. They really are excellent.

VladD

8,005 posts

272 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
Alfa 147. That way she can officially call herself a petrol head.
According to the rules of Clarkson

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

197 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
tyranical said:
She has about £5000

She has been looking at:

Renault Twingo
Fiat Grande Punto
Suzuki Swift

Her preference is the swift but she is looking at an older 1 for that money where as the twingo and punto she can get a nice 2007 one for that money so i'm trying to steer her towards them instead.

Anyone any experiences to share with the cars listed or any others to throw into the mix?

Requirements are:

Small car
good looking
Cheap to run (performance not important)

Cheers,

Matt
smart ForTwo or ForFour
MINI One/Cooper
Mazda MX-5
Daihatsu Copen

volvoforlife

724 posts

170 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
Heard good things about the Panda 100bhp.

Get her a Daihatsu Copen. I've never seen anything so amusing.

WreckedGecko

1,191 posts

208 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
LuS1fer said:
an old mint Lupo GTI if they still exist.
This smile.


Regiment

2,799 posts

166 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
I've been in a Panda 100HP and from the inside and outside, it always looked like a car driven by old ladies. The new Corsa, i also found to not be as nice a drive as the old Corsa as i used to have a 2003 1.2L SXI. The new Corsa just had so much body roll and didn't feel as nippy as my old one.

Cars i'd recommend would be a Yaris or a Swift, both nice cars.

MKR

485 posts

173 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
LuS1fer said:
Small car for your girlfriend.....

Sounds like a fair swop - what small car will you accept?
Bugger! I am too late to the party - I wanted to say that!!

ajprice

29,218 posts

203 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
Regiment said:
I've been in a Panda 100HP and from the inside and outside, it always looked like a car driven by old ladies.
Yeah ok...

hehe

john_p

7,073 posts

257 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
Arosa/Lupo or VW Fox.
Good little cars.

scott15

198 posts

166 months

Friday 28th January 2011
quotequote all
Definately go for a lupo, you can get one for half that budget and thats a decent low mileage one aswell. cool