I drive my car once or twice a week, pay full tax and get under 25mpg so i’m thinking of downsizing for something a lot cheaper to run.

I like the look of the Toyota IQ but what’s best in class

Any opinions

ta

Fiat 500 twin air, for free tax?

I am with you on the IQ – I love the look of it.

What’s the best town car

A bike.

Fiat panda. A bit more room than the 500 and picked up a lot cheaper.

well i ride to work 4 days a week but as i ride in the evening on a thursday i drive to work for a rest!

I do like the Fiat or maybe the Mito, a good swap for my GTV but lots of these cars are on the feminine side?

I too like the IQ btw. There must be used Smarts around for cheap too?

Hybrid Yaris coming out soon, which would be great in stop start traffic if that’s what you experience.

Old Ford KA. Very reliable engine, rubber bumpers that shrug off the occasional bump, small and easy to park, cheap to insure and run. What more could you want?

Secondhand Passat TDI. Get one for £5000 (about an 06/56 for that price), 45mpg in real world driving (the same as a Fiat 500, IQ etc), 5 real seats, plenty of space, good on the motorway, reliable as anything. OK, you pay £200+ road tax, but it’s a real car AND you’re recycling by not buying a new one.

Passat is in no way a town car!

You won’t get 45mpg round town, it’s also huge to park.

Wtf, that’s just about the least appropriate car suggestion I’ve ever seen on here?!

Surely a troll..?

I give you, the aptly named, Lincoln Town car 😉

What’s the best town car

New Range Rover – 85mpg, £0 tax. 🙂

Hyundai i10 ? The new 1.2 engine emits 109 g/km CO2, is in the £20 tax bracket and is pretty nippy. Just bought the older 1.2 model (2010) for my Mum. Five year transferable warranty is good also.

Old Ford KA. Very reliable engine, rubber bumpers

They don’t have rubber bumpers – they are plastic (polycarbonate or whatever)

Used Prius perhaps? £15 tax, good in traffic queues. 50-55mpg round town depending. Although it loses on the small parking space point, it wins (over a true city car) if you want to carry people or stuff.

I’ve already got a passat, that’s the wife’s car and no way is it 45mpg

coffeeking, loving your work

phil, nice idea

can’t see me driving a hyundai or a prius i’m afraid

instead of lincoln prefer the caddilac or chrysler 300

What’s the best trendiest town car

FTFY then 🙂

Ive got a multiair mito 135bhp and its a brilliant little rocket
not that i really use it as a town car. You can get bikes in it, it goes like stink and does bout 43mpg real world (50mpg claimed)

Mini Cooper D is probably the only one that is really any fun to drive. I’ve got one for driving into London and it’s great. Exempt from the congestion charge, free road tax, 50mpg all day long (more on a decent run) and most importantly for me, it is fantastic fun to drive. All others similar things I test drove were dull as dishwater and handled poorly.

Used Prius perhaps? £15 tax, good in traffic queues. 50-55mpg round town depending. Although it loses on the small parking space point, it wins (over a true city car) if you want to carry people or stuff

Any reports on the longevity of the batteries? Going by virtually every device I’ve ever owned I’d be nervous of buying something that runs on batteries over around 5 years old, could be looking at a big bill.

can’t see me driving a hyundai or a prius i’m afraid

Ah…………. you’ll be wanting the Aston Martin IQ then?

Entry level Golf Blue-Motion.

Free tax (99g/km) + (claimed) 74MPG and it’s a decent size for carrying 4 people.

Passat is in no way a town car!

You won’t get 45mpg round town, it’s also huge to park.

Wtf, that’s just about the least appropriate car suggestion I’ve ever seen on here?!

Surely a troll..?

Nope, do’t do trolls.

I’ve never found a space that I can’t get a Passat into. OK, there must be such spaces, but then I’m pretty good at parking and front/rear parking sensors are handy things.

Around town I get 45mpg. Sorry if that offends anyone, but that’s what I get. It really isn’t any worse than the 99g superspecials, which theoretically do 70mpg but in the real world do 50.

If you must have a physically small car, get a Honda Jazz. Smaller than the Passat, economical, lots around, made by Honda so reliable and pretty much unbreakable.

Define ‘best’

Our Fiat 500 1.4 Sport with 100 BHP on tap does the job quite nicely for us.

Any reports on the longevity of the batteries?

Lifetime typically as long as the car. Individual modules can fail but they are easily replaced. There are more s/h batteries available from crashed cars than there are whole battery pack failures. The management is not like the battery in your laptop – it’s managed for longevity not capacity.

I’ve never found a space that I can’t get a Passat into

I see them all the time round by me. What makes you think that, in a line of cars parallel parked, there could never be a gap smaller than a Passat? We are not talking about supermarkets here. Talking about crowded street-side parking.

Around town I get 45mpg. Sorry if that offends anyone, but that’s what I get. It really isn’t any worse than the 99g superspecials, which theoretically do 70mpg but in the real world do 50

I get 50-55 really world in town, 55-62 out of town. Genuine. When I get 50mpg on a town trip it’s a really bad day. My Passat can get less than 40mpg in town.

which theoretically do 70mpg but in the real world do 50

Really? That’s not what I heard.

MG Midget?

28mpg claimed, but I managed 47mpg this weekend (100mile motorway/dual carrigeway, 50miles A-Roads, 50mile B-roads (and I had some fun/scared the missus) !

+1 for the Hyundai i10.

Cracking little car and cheap as chips to buy / run.

Re cars which are claimed to do 70 but actually do 50, the list is long and shameful. Polo TDI is notable in doing around 45 (claimed to do 70+), the new Fiesta is about the same (maybe hits 50). Prius gets maybe 50, the Toyota Aygo’s a bit better at early 50s. The Fiat 500 Twin Air is particuarly poor at around 48mpg.

Unless I was getting a solid 20+mpg improvement, it just wouldn’t be worth changing the Passat. And I’ve always been able to park (even in side-streets), but that’s because I learned to drive in a Leyland Princess and can squeeze into tiny spots. The only real restrictions are really narrow spaces, when you can park but not get out of the car.

Re cars which are claimed

For the millionth time the Govt figures ARE NOT A CLAIM OF ACTUAL ECONOMY! It says this all over the place.

Prius gets maybe 50

Would you like to see my logs?

Seriously – I can do better than 60 in my MkII with motorway driving and some town – in the summer time. I am not making this up, and I am driving the speed limit! This is first hand evidence for you right here. Tank averages are always between 52mpg and 63mpg no matter what. Usually 55-60.

And I’ve always been able to park (even in side-streets)

Come on now. When the space is physically shorter than the car, you’re not getting into it. Are you?

Would you like to see my logs?

must resis……………….t

Get a room you two 🙂 The OP says he doesn’t want a Passat or a Prius.

Fine, he doesn’t have to get one, I just hate it when people spout stuff that’s purely wrong, and I know from first hand personal experience. I’ve sat there looking at the display and calculating at the pump, IT ALWAYS DOES MORE THAN 50!

And relax… pppssshhhhhhh

Come on now. When the space is physically shorter than the car, you’re not getting into it. Are you?

Obviously not. But on many occasions I’ve got into spaces that I’ve seen people with physically smaller cars fail to park in, having had multiple attempts. Maybe they’re rubbish, maybe I’m OK at parking. But I cannot think of many occasions, if any, where there was an available space which I could have got into if only I’d had a smaller car.

Re fuel consumption – I’m guessing you drive a Prius? OK, but even if you get an average 60, that’s not so much better than my VW. On a similar motorway-with-a-bit-of-town, I can easily see early 50s. Call it a 10mpg/20% difference, if you like; I’d not consider changing a car for that. When it comes to swapping the car in 3-4 years time, obviously I’d look at the consumption then.

My overall point is that in a lot of cases, unless you really want a town car, it’ll not save you any money woth talking about, and in many cases it’ll be only marginally better to park.

Mondeo is the answer? Surely? Or if not, an Octavia?

But on many occasions I’ve got into spaces that I’ve seen people with physically smaller cars fail to park in, having had multiple attempts

Good for you. Fact remains many smaller spaces will admit a smart/iQ etc but not a Passat. And I see such spaces often on say Wellfield Road in Cardiff. I can take a pic if you like?

I’m guessing you drive a Prius? OK, but even if you get an average 60, that’s not so much better than my VW

60mpg average is a 25% improvement, and it’s also petrol rather than diesel which means it pollutes much less. My Passat gets 48mpg on the govt test which means it has something like 60% more CO2 than the Prius and consequently the VED is £175 instead of £15. It also emits many many times more PM and NOx, both of which are harmful.

Sure, don’t change your car. I’m not asking you to change your car! Concentrate on the thread 🙂

Obviously not. But on many occasions I’ve got into spaces that I’ve seen people with physically smaller cars fail to park in, having had multiple attempts. Maybe they’re rubbish, maybe I’m OK at parking.

Imagine what really tiny spaces you could get into if you were driving an IQ then…

60mpg average is a 25% improvement, and it’s also petrol rather than diesel which means it pollutes much less

don’t forget that petrol is around 5% cheaper too

In a similar position, myself. I like the IQ, but it is not a cheap car. I also like the Fiat 500, now very common but I suspect that they will hold their value well, certainly as good if not better than the Mini. The 106/C1/Aygo is another cheap city car, but I didn’t like it when I drove one long distance.

Obvious point; The Smart car only has two seats, if that isn’t an issue, I’d get one of those (it is for me). New ones are now too long to park perpendicular to the kerb. try that in a Passat.

All that said, the Mrs wants an Alfa Mito… 8)