Good Small Cars?

[toyotaaygo]

Hi all, hope you can help. I'm looking to buy a small car for myself. My 2 most important criteria are:

1). Its got to be a smooth, soft, comfortable ride
2). Economical on fuel

I've never been bothered about the ride quality before but a previous car was that crashy and bouncy it was actually uncomfortable to drive & I swear driving it sent my blood pressure up...never again do I want to end up with a car like that! Even minor bumps in the road felt like huge potholes and driving it it felt like being on a power plate in the gym. I couldn't believe that a modern car could be so bad!

So after that experience ride quality is a pretty important priority for me now.

Things like cosmetics, shape, make etc. I honestly couldn't care less about.

Any good suggestions please?
Thanks, Laura

[ambuletz]

Give us a budget?

Fiesta (just don't get a zetec model or somethign with large alloys)
Polo
audi a1 (again, no sport trim levels or large alloys).

getting something 'smooth' and 'soft' tends to compromise on some degree of driver involvement. that's where the german small hatchbacks come in, while the A1, polo, audi A3 are a little dull, they do offer a more smoother ride.

Edited by ambuletz on Saturday 1st October 15:41

[sawman]

Something french? Cactus maybe? Whats the budget

[Willy Nilly]

How small is small and we need a budget?

If you don't like crashy rides avoid anything with low profile tyres like the plague.

There are loads of good little cars, test drive them all. Then buy a Jazz.

[HustleRussell]

Drove a Peugeot 107 recently. Very basic but it all seemed nicely done.

[caelite]

HustleRussell said:

Drove a Peugeot 107 recently. Very basic but it all seemed nicely done.

Another vouch for french small cars. Own a 207, very well equiped little cars, cant really beat them for the cash, I can imagine it would be comfy if I didnt go for the hard suspensioned low profile tyred GTi model, cabin is well sound proofed and a nice place to be.

[toyotaaygo]

Thank you for your replies

Budget wise no more than 5k. Re "how small is small?" - it will just be for me commuting, social etc. so I suppose size wise it could even be a Smart car!

I've been hearing good reports about the Hyundai i10, but I'm very weary of city cars after the one I've got now. Am I right in thinking city cars are alot less substantial than other cars?

Edited by toyotaaygo on Tuesday 4th October 17:12

[toyotaaygo]

HustleRussell said:

Drove a Peugeot 107 recently. Very basic but it all seemed nicely done.

Thats the same as an Aygo though (I'd never touch an Aygo again).

[Krikkit]

Mk.7 facelifted Fiesta would be my choice if in budget... Might not be though.

[TwistingMyMelon]

Im running an 06-12 Seat Leon atm , seems a nice enough ride on 16"s with decent handling for what it is

Basically an A3 with more plastic inside

Just the right size for me, can fit a bike in the back without taking off the wheels, yet park in small spaces with ease, its pretty narrow and have a great turning circle making city driving easy.

Can be had for £2k to £5k

If you go much smaller I can see the size contributing to ride quality, plus some "small" cars aren't really that small now

[Roger Irrelevant]

Our Mk2 Yaris has a pretty good ride for a smaller car - I've done many long journeys in it and never felt uncomfortable, and it returns a real-world 50mpg. It's also more reliable than death and you'd get a very late low-mileage one for £5k, probably less. But I think that so long as you go for something that doesn't have low profile tyres, has no sporting pretensions and you can see a couple of inches of wheel arch above the top of the tyre, you'll be alright.

[HustleRussell]

If you didn't like the ride quality of your previous car or your Aygo, then I think you have to go up a class to a mid size hatch. I don't think the Yaris is going to be any improvement at all and the Fiesta only a little better. I once rode in a Nissan Note which rode surprisingly well. Other than that, I bet a Peugeot 208 or a Citroen DS3 would ride nicer than anything you've owned so far, then there are the safe Focus / Golf options. Megane?

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd say if ride comfort is the main priority then going up to a Focus sized hatch would make more sense so my suggestion is this.

2012 Megane GT Line 50k FSH (Half Leather Nav etc £20.00 Road Tax) You'll have to negotiate but you should be able to get very close to your 5k budget.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2010 Focus Titanium 50k FSH (Heated Leather keyless etc) Automatic

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

[trv8]

Toyota IQ ......much better than the Aygo.