PH Replacement Big Small Car Challenge

[monsieurblack]

Hi all

Thought I’d post a friendly little challenge that I’m hoping the collective hive mind of PH can help us out with as we’re casually looking replace our current car before it becomes an emergency purchase should it suddenly fail (had a recent ‘scare’ which has since been fixed but made us aware we should at least have a shortlist for what’s next)

Right, with that setup we currently run what I imagine is a reasonably uncommon car in a Daihatsu Materia. My wife absolutely loves it and to be fair it is extremely practical.

She likes the quirky ‘non-standard’ looks and it’s a genuine tardis. I guess due to it being a box it’s amazingly spacious inside. Sitting in the passenger seat a decent way back you feel like there’s an incredible amount of space around you and kids still have decent space behind. Little ones can stand up in the back when getting in and out. Appreciate this won’t last long as they get older but youngest at six can still do so. Practical square/box shaped boot. Where most boot space is eaten into by the boot door closing, the Materia door curves outwards so you can genuinely load it up to the edge and the boot still closes (if that makes sense).

Anyway, all other cars she goes in she’s disappointed with the space. Appreciate you can get large, spacious vehicles but they’re usually many class sizes above. Does anyone know of a shortlist of equally small-ish cars we could look at for a possible replacement please? I’ve really struggled to find anything myself that comes close.

Is it just the nature newer, modern cars ‘having’ to be bigger for safety reasons perhaps? We would like a slightly newer car when we do replace so going for the same again isn’t really an option. Especially as Daihatsu aren’t sold here any more we’d rather not be stuck with something like that.

Honestly she’d buy the same again if they’d kept on making/selling them and we just can’t find a suitable replacement.

Hope you intelligent and knowledgeable lot can help give us some ideas please and apologies we haven’t given you the usual 150k budget to find something fun for the summer 🤣 haha

Cheers

[Silvanus]

As you don't have £100k, what do you have? A couple of cars spring to mind

[monsieurblack]

I believe from memory the Materia cost us around 3/3.5 but imagine we’d be comfortable with a budget around 10 or so maybe? Possibly more, but the missus would always want to spend less!

It’s a general farm the family about vehicle and she wouldn’t want anything too ‘new’ or precious and be overly worried about parking somewhere if that makes sense?

[mikiec]

Left field, & boot might be a bit small but I’m always amazed at the spaciousness of an i3 when sitting inside. Also suicide doors might be a pain with wee kids.

Otherwise was in Japan mid year and the majority of cars are similar to the Materia, worth looking to privately import?

[monsieurblack]

Thanks for that, really appreciate it. Your post is absolutely spot on.

She actually looked into the i3 and hasn’t been fully ruled out but we haven’t owned an electric yet and motorway range was definitely a concern of hers.

and I always show her the Japanese cars and she usually loves them so I guess that’s a possibility too. I’m absolutely open to importing. She’s less so due to the ‘unknown’ as it were when I’ve previously suggested it but if we did it would certainly open up a different search for us.

It’s funny how your suggestions were so in sync with what we’ve discussed. Again thanks for taking the time to post.

[mikiec]

If range on an i3 is an issue, a model with the range extender(small engine that charges the battery) could be a solution, does impact boot space though.

[Silvanus]

Cars that might fit the bill are Kia Soul, Skoda Roomster Scout, Citroen C3 Picasso, Fiat 500L, Nissan Cube and Vauxhall Meriva

[biggbn]

Honda Jazz. Looks 'normal', is actually cavernous. 1.5 sport version gives 130hp 1.5 n/a, looks decent, brisk enough to be fun...

[samoht]

How old is the current Materia, and what age range are you looking for?

JDM imports are more of a challenge when less than 10 years old, although not impossible afaik.

I suspect the i3 is too small, it's the right 'style' of car but I don't think it has the space of a Materia, especially in the rear seats.

I'd be tempted to keep the Materia personally, it's a Japanese n/a petrol so probably likely to be able to be kept on the road fairly cheaply overall. However it's always fun to look for alternatives.

[Om]

I have a Skoda Fabia mk2 and it is surprising how roomy it is - both for passengers and luggage - for its size. It is another boxy shape. Not pretty but practical - and quite afffordable.

[Silvanus]

Om said:

I have a Skoda Fabia mk2 and it is surprising how roomy it is - both for passengers and luggage - for its size. It is another boxy shape. Not pretty but practical - and quite afffordable.

The Skoda Roomster takes this one step further, incredibly practical for a car with a small footprint. I actually really like the quirky looks plus it comes with some pretty strong engines. There is even a campervan conversation kit for them.

[Summit_Detailing]

Jazz was the first car the came to mind, followed by a B-class, Meriva, Note, Roomster & Venga.

Cheers,

Chris

[biggbn]

I had a three door Mercedes a class w169, incredible packaging, absolutely loved the wee car. Often think about finding a turbo version for a left field 'warm hatch'. Roomster is a brilliant shout.

[monsieurblack]

Silvanus said:

Cars that might fit the bill are Kia Soul, Skoda Roomster Scout, Citroen C3 Picasso, Fiat 500L, Nissan Cube and Vauxhall Meriva

Thank you

That's a great list and we've casually considered them, although I think the Rooster Scout wasn't on our radar (and possibly the Meriva too) so will look into that.

biggbn said:

Honda Jazz. Looks 'normal', is actually cavernous. 1.5 sport version gives 130hp 1.5 n/a, looks decent, brisk enough to be fun...

Yes! That's a top shout and for some reason I do really like those. I've heard they're supposed to be good and practical little cars. Is it the i-VTEC model that's n/a? even though I assume (maybe wrongly?) that the "i" part is some not to some sort of hybridisation? I could certainly see us owning a Jazz.

samoht said:

How old is the current Materia, and what age range are you looking for?

JDM imports are more of a challenge when less than 10 years old, although not impossible afaik.

I suspect the i3 is too small, it's the right 'style' of car but I don't think it has the space of a Materia, especially in the rear seats.

I'd be tempted to keep the Materia personally, it's a Japanese n/a petrol so probably likely to be able to be kept on the road fairly cheaply overall. However it's always fun to look for alternatives.

It's a 59 plate. We bought it when it was about ~5 years old. Like you say, it is cheap to run and honestly doesn't owe us a thing. Money wise it's been incredibly good. We just had a scare recently with a (what luckily turned out to be false) diagnosis of a 850/900 bill and possibly more. Luckily it wasn't that and was fixed for closer to 200 but made us think that it won't last forever and we should at least be aware of what's out there to possibly buy as a replacement rather than it dying on us and only then be pushed into panic buying something in a day kind of thing. If they still made them, shed buy again in a heart beat.

You're right regarding the i3. It definitely ticks some boxes, but ironically probably isn't quite 'boxy' enough for her

Om said:

I have a Skoda Fabia mk2 and it is surprising how roomy it is - both for passengers and luggage - for its size. It is another boxy shape. Not pretty but practical - and quite afffordable.

Yeah I've wondered if we'd possibly be pushed into a more 'traditional family hatch' with all cars seemingly grown in size that something like a hatchback could work, but they seem to fail for her with having a normal seating height, where the Matria again ticks another box of being very slightly higher seating position. It's a very unique (narrow!) set of things that this Daihatsu seems to cover!

Summit_Detailing said:

Jazz was the first car the came to mind, followed by a B-class, Meriva, Note, Roomster & Venga.

Cheers,

Chris

Thank you Chris, the Note and Venga in particular are the ones I felt could be close to the mark. I know the Note seems to have changed quite a bit over the different marks so be good to see some in person to get a better idea.

It's genuinely been great to see what you guys think and to see that we've not really missed too many alternatives in our initial search. Thank you everyone.

Honestly, if they still made the Materia she'd buy again in a heart beat. Sounds strange I know especially with the choice of cars out there but she loves it and if you haven't been in one then it's difficult to convey the generous internal space with the small outer proportions. 'performance' and overall quality of interior etc are obviously dire haha but for what she wants it for, a cheap, practical family runaround it's spot on.

Thank you

[Jamescrs]

Nissan Cube- I have a weird fascination with them but it does sound like they would fit the bill

[samoht]

Jamescrs said:

Nissan Cube- I have a weird fascination with them but it does sound like they would fit the bill

The Cube is the only direct equivalent I know of to the Toyota bB (which the Materia is a rebadge of).

It looks like the bB continued to 2016 and the Cube to 2019 in Japan.

You could fairly easily import a 2013 example of either, i.e. 10 years old so would just need an MoT on arrival. I don't know what the position is nowadays on the IVA you need for younger cars.

There are also a handful of 10-11 year old examples already imported and in the UK eg
Cube https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202308090...
bB https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202309111...