"A perfectly decent wee car but the 5dr is more practical and better looking"
I Agree. Practicality doesn't come into it though Mrs IRC prefers 3 doors though and likes the looks of the I20 coupe amongst others. Again I agree the 1.0 is a better engine but with 80% of her journeys being under 3 miles the 1.2 will be fine. It will be replacing a 1.2 Micra of similar performance.
To give an idea of her decision making - I had suggested a Jazz and she was giving it serious consideration until she saw several being parked by elderly drivers in the supermarket carpark.
Not that either of us are spring chickens. Closer to 60 than 50!
Other factors I'm needing to bear in mind while looking is no red cars, only proper handbrakes, no autos, bigger than a Micra but not too big ...... and so on.
Practicality really should come into it, especially as you say Mrs IRC mainly does short journeys. The 3 door (i'm not going to refer to it as a coupe, because it isn't, it's just a 3 door hatchback!) has smaller rear side windows, so poorer over the shoulder visibility for parallel parking or akwardly angled junctions. The seatbelt is much further back so is a very akward reach (especially so if you are not very tall) It has much longer doors than the 5 door, so you need more space in a car park to open the door wide enough to get out. Also, in windy conditions, the bigger doors on a 3 door are much more likely to get caught by the wind and yanked open.
I do see the appeal of a proper coupe, even though i would never actually buy one. But to me there is absolutely no point in getting a 3 door version of an every day run of the mill hatchback over the 5 door. Not least because i wouldn't expect any friends or relatives to try and get themselves through the gap between B pillar and front seat backrest while trying not to trip over the seatbelt.
Oh, and my wife and I are in our 40's and have a honda jazz (CVT auto). Brilliant little car and much better in every area than the hyundai i30 we had before.
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