After a bit of a nightmare yesterday (someone drove into the back of it) my mum’s 2002 Ford Focus 1.6 Ghia has gone to the great motorway in the sky.

So the big question is what to replace it with. She’s looking for something of similar size to the old one, but not bigger. It’ll be secondhand rather than new, budget is £6-8k.
5 doors with a hatchback not a saloon. Not looking for anything particularly fast. She doesn’t do motorways (there are none on the IOW) but should be capable if necessary, only does about 6000 miles a year, petrol, 100bhp should be adequate for her needs, NOT French.

At the moment I’m leaning towards the following:-
Honda Jazz
Ford Fiesta
Nissan Note

Any other cars I should be considering? (Don’t suggest anything French please!)

Why not another Focus on the short list?

Great cars and if she’s used to the size, seems logical choice.

Honda Jazz

As an OAP she’ll be instinctively homing in on this

Jazz. Thousands of elderly people can’t be wrong.

Try and find a Yaris or Auris hybrid.  Their hybrid system is incredibly easy to drive, and auto of course.  Definitely recommended for an older person.  Also efficient on short trips and not susceptible to diesel issues.

Skoda Fabia?

molgrips

Try and find a Yaris or Auris hybrid.  Their hybrid system is incredibly easy to drive, and auto of course.  Definitely recommended for an older person.  Also efficient on short trips and not susceptible to diesel issues.

Good call with Toyota drive a petrol 08 Auris myself been an excellent car. Hybrid ok if you can cope with the CVT gearbox. Awful things in my opinion whatever you put it in. Mini, Toyota, Honda etc

I had considered a new Focus, but they seem to bigger than the Mk1.
Hybrid was considered and rejected, I think its too much of an initial outlay and Im not convinced she’d remember to put it on charge (she struggles to do this with her mobile).
I’d have considered a Renault Modus, but its a Renault, so no.

With that budget a nearly new Skoda fabia would be a good buy.

” Im not convinced she’d remember to put it on charge”

Not a PHEV, but just an ordinary Prius-type hybrid is what’s being discussed. I’d second Jazz or Yaris.

Hybrid ok if you can cope with the CVT gearbox

What is there to cope with?  One pedal makes it go faster, the other makes it go slower.  It’s easy to drive because it’s impossible to get it wrong and impossible to be rough or clumsy with it.  So more time to concentrate on everything else.  Our Prius is light on steering too which is lovely around town.  You may also be able to get it with a reversing camera – these are brilliant, especially if you are losing mobility.

Hybrids don’t need charging unless they are the plug-in kind, which most aren’t.  With a Yaris you just put in petrol and go like any other car.  I never thought normal cars were hard to drive, but it’s really noticeable how much easier it is – in ours at least.

I’m getting an Auris hybrid soon through work, can’t wait for the full auto transmission in all the traffic I sit it every day.

Anyway – OP – auto Honda Jazz. Runs like clockwork, well made, roomy but small in size. I see more younger people driving them nowadays as they are such flippin good cars it’s unreal. My mate has bought an old one for £800 and if he had it valeted and tightened up a few screws you’d think it was a couple of years old.

I wouldn’t consider a Focus

Lots of big pillars etc compared to some cars, not that easy to park.

My parents (mid-late 80s) are on their 3rd Jazz now. They really like it and it’s easy for my mum to get in and out of which she struggles in my C estate. Auto, small, nippy enough, economical. The wrinklies still drive about 15,000 miles a year and it suits them well.

‘New car for a 74 year old’

Sounds like a good swap to me.

MrSparkle

Member

‘New car for a 74 year old’

Sounds like a good swap to me.

Cool. WHYG? PM me.

My mum has a Honda Jazz – its her 3rd one.  She says ‘lots of old people seem to drive these as well’.  As well as what mum!!???  Anyway she hates it!  Too slow…  I think its probably quite a rev happy motor and she would be better with a small diesel (I never said that).  ‘I’d rather a 1.8 like our old Golf’.  Mum that was 20 years ago – cars with small engines are much more powerful than that now.  ‘I think I’ll keep the Jazz for a couple more years’.   Arrrggghhhhhhhhhh

My parents have a Mazda 2 auto. They seem to like it. It’s not French.

Honda you say…

Worth it for the lolz

I’d get the Fiesta 1.0 ecoboost personally

New Dacia sandero + extended warranty – the non body coloured bumpers, wont show the inevitable car park scrapes, the warranty will probably outlast her and being elderly she won’t hear the interior trim rattling.

lllnorrislll

Member

New Dacia sandero + extended warranty – the non body coloured bumpers, wont show the inevitable car park scrapes, the warranty will probably outlast her and being elderly she won’t hear the interior trim rattling.

Nope! Renault derivative, like your thoughts about the black bumbers though!
No love for the Nissan Note then?

Ford B-Max – very convenient door arrangement and slightly elevated from a Fiesta position.

My dad, age 77 got a new Toyota Auris Hybrid last year. Easy to drive, he loves it. Everything is automatic, Lights, Wipers, Gearbox. He just points it where he wants to go and presses the go faster or go slower pedal as appropriate.

Highly recommended.

‘NOT French.’

Why not, they are so well engineered :-). It’s only the rhetoric that keeps the prices down, not the crap engineering, poor build quality, bad support, or lack of desirability :-).
Have you thought about a Berlingo? Do wonders for your street cred, even an OAP :-).

Seriously though, the Japanese choices above are good options.

Nissan Versa Note 2018 version looks like a damn fine veeehicule…

Porsche Macan.

Nissan Note is a Renault, same as Dacia

Lots of that demographic bumbling around near me. Favourites seem to be Kia, Hyundai and the ubiquitous Jazz. We’ve got a 55 reg jazz and actually really like it. My xl 29er goes in the back with the dog with seats down, really flexible car.

Tesla Model 3 with the autopilot.

As an added bonus, she’ll not have to worry about having her license taken away because it’ll drive itself soon enough!

Ford B Max like mentioned above.

Molgrips

What is there to cope with?  One pedal makes it go faster, the other makes it go slower.  It’s easy to drive because it’s impossible to get it wrong and impossible to be rough or clumsy with it.

I have no objection to autoboxes they are generally excellent. It’s the CVT box I dislike. If you want your engine sounding like it’s screaming as the box catches up or the sensation your in the wrong gear until your actually cruising then that’s fine. It’s just not for me and puts me off buying a car with one in even if it is a hybrid. Give me a proper geared autobox any day.

My folks, now just my dad,  have had a few Mini Countrymans over the past few years.  I appreciate they,’re not everyone’s  cup of tea but they absolutely love them.  They feel quite spacious and there’s a decent quality feel to them,  but it’s all about the slightly elevated driving position and the fact you almost step up into them.  Something worth considering if, like my dad,  mobilities becoming a bit more of an issue.

My 80 year old uncle has a Jazz (3 or 4 years old version). My dad, his twin brother, has the Note, similar age model. The Jazz is in my opinion a better vehicle in most ways – space, road noise, comfort. Nissan probably has a slightly nicer dash, and is better equipped. I don’t like being a rear passenger in the Note, lots of road noise, and the ride is a bit harsh, with lots of creaking trim in the boot behind me. Not driven either though, so can’t comment.

Skoda roomster. Just because they are so ugly and cheap and roomy and reliable. Get parking sensors and the extra size doesn’t matter.  At 74 he won’t be bothered how it looks, just how it drives and cost.

I can’t believe we are 35 posts into a car thread and Ling hasn’t been mentioned…..

Because she’s not in the market for a new car. 3-4 years old, low mileage with a FDSH is whats on the cards.

I’m considering on of these, the Move spec and three door.. I really like them.

Thats probably a little too small for her needs though.

Some people clearly haven’t checked where the cars they are suggesting are made.

Anyhow, a second-hand Leaf fits your bill.