The 2002-2008 Fiesta's I'm not keen on, housemate has one, interior is nasty.

Mazda 2 also been suggested, Sport is out of budget really and the lower models don't interest me as much.

Swift 1.5 is probably worth a look, Panda's not sure, had 3 Fiat's none bad but something different might be good.

Had a Twingo GT about 3 years ago, probably the best of the bunch excluding the RS. Lovely engine, very comfortable, awful steering. Only sold it because the clutch was going and I didn't like the car enough to replace it, probably should've kept it in hindsight.

Sirion I quite like in an unusual offbeat way but the 1.3/1.5's aren't easy to find.

As for a sub £2k car giving you no choice on whether its fun I completely disagree with, almost all of my cars have been sub £2k and I've had quite a variety. I think the problem is I chop and change cars every 2 years and I'm weighing a lot on this purchase in the hope that I'll find something I want to keep for more than that!

Edited by DomJ on 01/11/2018 at 15:53

I think a sub 11sec car generally puts it in the category of, will maintain 70mph up a hill.

Well I have no idea what our 1.2 Micras 0-60 time was but it could easily maintain 70 mph on motorway hills even when 4 up.

But as we all know 0-60 has nothing to do with the performance of the car, its only use is proving you have the biggest willy when in the pub with your mates. The in gear acceleration times are what is important.

For the record my Caterham has a 0-60 of approx 4.5 seconds, must make me a horse of a man.

The current KA plus is based on the 2002 MK6 Fiesta platform with some small changes. This same vehicle is known as the Ford Figo in other markets it is a 16 year old Fiesta platform.

The original KA was actually based on the MK3 1989 Fiesta platform although with a reduction in length of course. Current KA plus has some new engines but look underneath one and look underneath a MK6 Fiesta and you will see that the platform is the same.

Edited by carl233 on 02/11/2018 at 19:08

Another consideration, Nissan Note, you get a lot for your money.

A fun city car?

BTW Skidpan, I am NOT trying to personally besmirch your car ownership experiences - please try not to take other people's own experiences so personally.

Its not that I am taking it personally its just that when you said

A modern 1.0T petrol would be able to saty at 70 up a reasonable motorway incline, though you probably would have to drop from 5th to 4th (or from 6th to 5th/4th),

its clear you have never driven one or have any idea about how well they perform.

I try to stick to the facts but your answer is well off the truth of the matter.

I can see how other people drive in such cars - people don't deliberately slow down on a clear motorway going uphill, do they?

Engineer Andy.

You claim you can see how other people drive their cars and base your opinion on that FACT.

How do you know those cars are 1.0 TSi's?

Please enlighten us.

Otherwise I suggest you leave it to the people who actually own "such cars" to inform other interested parties.

I saw a neighbour (well, the own the property, don't live there) driving on my way down the local dual carriageway - and they own a Polo SE with the 95PS version and overtook him (me keeping a steady 70mph up the incline) after keeping pace with him earlier on the flat;

Proves nothing in reality. Could be the car or it could be an incompetent driver who is unable to use the correct throttle pressure to maintain speed. Drove a 95 PS Fabia for the morning and it was perfectly competent, bought the 110 PS version simply because as well as having another 15 PS it had another gear.

I've seen other Up!s and other smaller VAG cars and of other makes having to change down to keep up the speed - yes, some *may* have been the non-turbo MPI version, but like with most makes, the bottom spec cars don't sell in great numbers these days, so I assumed they'd be the middle or upper spec engined models.

Skoda and Seat do not sell a TSI versions, only the MPi. VW do sell a TSI version (as well as the recently released GTi - not spotted one yet) but I have absolutely no ide how many the actually sell.

Looking on Skoda's website, the Fabia is now only available as a petrol, so the likelihood is that I would be seeing either a 95PS or 115PS version.

That is true for the 2019 MY cars but as far as I am aware due to the new emission rules none have yet been delivered to customers. But there has always been the MPi verions and it could well be those you have seen.

As I said before, you're taking my/others' personal experiences WAY too personally.

Problem is YOU have NO personal experience of driving a Fabia TSi. You are basing your criticism on seeing at a distance cars driven by others without even being sure they are TSi versions. People who own TSi's and post on here are not criticising the performance of them. I am not taking it personally but one thing that I hate with a passion is people who have formed opions without any experience to base them on.

I happen to think that the car you've bought is a fine one, and it may be that they *all* were MPIs rather than TSIs, but I was only relaying my experiences as I saw them.

SAW is the important word. You really need to experience one before making what you think are expert comments. You may not like to admit it but having owned a car for 6 months gives me far more experience than you have simply by overtaking one (which might not even be a TSi.

Get some experience of the TSi and you may be taken more seriously.

As Andy says., the point of this thread is to help DomJ find a suitable car.

It may have already been suggested - it's too boring to read through all the unnecessary arguments above - but I'd suggest you look at a Toyota Yaris 1.3. My daughter had four in a row, and all were completely reliable and much livelier and pleasant to drive than the road tests would have you believe. Avoid the 1.0 Yaris: much slower and no more economical as it needs a lot of right foot to make reasonable progress.

The Yaris has been in production since 1999 so there should be plenty around to suit your budget.

Thank you for that, I'd almost given up on my own thread.

I'd forgotten about the Yaris a bit, I shall enquire!

Sounds a bit strange. I doubt you'll find any modern city car that'll get high 30's in town. I have a Citroen C1 with air con. I've averaged 55mpg. High 40's is probably the worst it'll do but you'd probably need bad traffic to get below 50mpg. The C1 won't quite get to 60 in 11s, but it's quite nice/easy to drive around town and the performance is reasonable. Not sure why you would want cruise control if you'll be using it around town. The thought of somebody using cruise control around town is a bit worrying. I've never really had much need for it, even on longer runs.

High 30's may have been a bit of an ask, so long as it's above 30 it'll be 10mpg better than I get now. I drive 95% of the time in town but I visit my parents every few months which is a 2.5hr drive, hence wanting a city car that can keep up on m/ways and the want of cruise control, I've concluded that isn't going to happen.

"I'm stuck for wanting something sensible but also wanting something a bit oddball."

The Yaris I suggested above veers very much towards the first of those virtues, although the 1.3 is lively and well wlorth a look. The same goes for the Mazda 2, also an excellent car as long as you go for a petrol.

But you could also think about the Suzuki Swift - a small, compact car which seems to be fun to drive, and there aren't so many of them about.

Saw a Swift (2010 - 2017 model) this morning, probably the more sporty 1.6 N/A model (all the 'sports trim and decals' in evidence) - very nice from the outside, better looking IMHO on the outside at least than the current model, rather like the reboot minis, both of which look to have got a bit 'chubbier' each time they are revised. As you say, not many about though compared to the alternatives. According to the Real MPG section it essentially achieves its quoted mpg level (96%).