Fox shunt

My wife has just had her 3-year-old VW Fox written off. A possible contributory factor was the over generous roof strut at the drivers side. She only uses it as a ladies shopping trolley and fills the tank once every 2 or 3 weeks. As her car is certain to be a write off she will be looking for a reliable replacement that can do 0 to 60 in less than 2 minutes and is cheap to run. What car or cars would you suggest she looks at?

Asked on 30 January 2010 by P.H., via e-mail

Answered by Honest John
Presumably you mean the blind spot caused by the A pillar? If so, that is something I spotted on the Fox the first time I saw one. If she could get a Hyundai i10 1.2 Comfort, that's best, but they're hard to get hold of. The Suzuki Splash and Vauxhall Agila are okay, and the 1.0 litre is £35 tax. Video demo at: www.honestjohn.co.uk/road_tests/index.htm?id=368
Suzuki Alto and Nissan Pixo tested here:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/road_tests/index.htm?id=377 Scrappage and the continued poor performance of Sterling has led some manufacturers to withhold supplies from the UK, concentrating instead on selling cars on Europe where they can make a profit.
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