The car thread 2.

[Brad]

Fun at not insane speeds. Back to basics. No turbo. Ultra low centre of gravity. Sensible insurance and tax. Affordable. Very tunable. I believe that was the criteria. The choices are unusual compared to what everyone else is doing though yeah. I don't think they've sold that many. A lot of people will just look at the 0-60 times, see a bunch of hot hatches that are a second faster and dismiss it.

[nakamura]

I would take one over any hatch. They are not sporty at all.

RWD, low slung ride and poised handling win the day easily. FWD cars are not sports cars, I don't care what Integra fans say!

[The Moleman]

I wouldn't dismiss fwd cars so quickly, sure they have a tendancy to understeer but a well setup one (like a cup chassis clio) can be one of the most exciting cars to drive. Never driven one myself but the Lotus Elan is highly regarded...

[Colin]

I owned a 1990 Lotus Elan SE and can say without doubt that it was one of the worst cars I ever bought.

[nakamura]

Regardless of how well setup they are, I don't like them. Not saying they can't perform fairly well but they do nowt for me.

[teddymeow]

Jesus looking for cars is exhausting and hard.

Not helped by my magpie tendencies and want for everything that is shiny!! Or by the fact that the missus shoots down even the most sensible of my ideas. For example; if we're investing in a new car that we'll be keeping for a good few years it makes sense to get a 5 door to make it easier for when we have a baby.

We have a 10 year old Clio which she drives. It's okay and she only bought it because it was cheap and offered to us by a friend of her family. It is being used as a run around but we both have a sneaky feeling that if we used it for longer journeys it may not last.

I start a new job next week and am learning to drive to make the commute easier. Hoping (against hope) to have past my test by the end of October so I have started looking at cars to give me a rough idea of what's what.

We spent a bit of time at the local dealer-plex yesterday to see what was about. After looking at several cars we are both in agreement that either the Ford Fiesta or Honda Jazz were the best of what we saw. I quite like the Toyota Yaris too.

Can anybody recommend a decent small car other than the three above which we may not have thought of.

Manufacturers we looked at but didn't like were Seat, Skoda, Peugeot and Citroen.

Help!

[VR46]

I think the Fiesta is a good choice, know a couple of people with the newer models and they have had no problems and are pretty bullet-proof so shouldn't cost too much over the years. Can't really think of any other small cars off the top of my head, unless your budget would stretch to a VW Golf. Would a VW Up! be too small?

My 2004 Peugeot whizzed through the MOT without a hitch this morning, always such a relief. My wallet has danced a little jig of joy.

[teddymeow]

Would a VW Up! be too small?

Hadn't thought about the Up! Good call. I'll have a look.

[VR46]

Sure you've already thought of it, Vauxhall Corsa, or the Vauxhall Adam, but it maybe too small inside.

Your missus would probably like a Fiat 500, but don't think I've ever seen a bloke driving one over the years.

[ETC]

Aygo, neglible tax and cheap to insure and reliable as still a toyota. The Hyundai i10 is also supposed to be fantastic value for money too, I personally have had a Hyundai since 2005 and it has cost me nothing to get through MOTs bar services, oil and tyres and it's done nearly 95K miles reliable (if not particularly exciting) motor

[EvilBoris]

A colleague of mine just got a Skoda Citigo which is the Cheaper version of the UP! ?75 per month on finance. Crazy town.

[VR46]

Crazy yeah, if he's only paying back ?900 a year how long on earth is he paying that back for!

[EvilBoris]

Crazy yeah, if he's only paying back ?900 a year how long on earth is he paying that back for!

Probably the option to buy at the end of the 3 years, but for ?75 per month, you actually can't lose, particularly as that was including servicing and maybe even insurance.

[Yakumo]

You may remember about a month or so back I wrote about my car being vandalised. Well, today I returned to that same car park and found these cars!. Yep, Kita Kyushu is the **** hole of Japan but I never expected to see this.





Notice how they're all white too. YAWN! At least these days cars are becoming more colourful here. Most cars here are either white, black or silver/grey.

Anyway, Since I had to visit the head office I needed to park my car so spending twice the amount I decided to park my car in a secure parking space when I noticed this ass hat has driven in to the post! I'd actually seen a woman get her car stuck by driving in to one of these posts



Typical Vitz (Yaris) driver Notice the Impreza beside it and mine next to that. The Impreza in Japan is like the Escort was in the UK. Everyone had one at some point. Just as well the scummy chav image isn't stuck to them here.

[kryss]

Failed my theory test first time. 18 right before I hit the 6th wrong (pass is >25/30).

I'll study before trying again.