Outlyer. Dacia. Cheap to buy, cheap to insure. No idea on reliability
Kia Ceed, just because Twap gear had one does not mean they are rubbish.
Mini Clubman Deisel, getting cheap now but well made apparently.
Skoda Fabia VRS 1.9td but check insurance, very economical but getting o. The pd engine is worth looking at.
Vitara? Honda HRV CRV for mass and raised seating position, better for motorway work.

I’ll echo the Jazz suggestion: our second card is a ’07 Jazz, still going well and when it finally dies we’ll most likely replace it with a newer Jazz.

For many years it was our only car and was absolutely fine for Cambridgeshire – Cornwall journeys with both kids and luggage.

Another vote for the Jazz.

I do 75 miles a day on Northern motorways and it feels fine.

The later ones are a bit noisy though.

I do the M62 corridor a lot, and I wouldn’t consider it in anything smaller than a Golf sized car. In fact, Golf SE 1.6tdi, 60+mpg. There you go, job done.

I would reckon C1 aygo etc all have quite a short wheelbase (not really suited for mostly motorway journeys) I would go for something bigger with a longer wheelbase for a bit more high speed stability.

One thing about the Ford heated windscreens; I’ve had two cars with them, and they are indeed excellent at clearing the glass quickly. However, with the sun low in the winter and also driving at night, the elements can be a bit dazzling. It’s really noticeable in certain very specific situations, so worth her getting a lift or taking a test drive in a car with them to see for herself.
Our last two ‘big’ cars for major miles with children and bikes in tow have been Octavias, so I’d endorse what was said above about the Golf floorplan (Rapid and Octavia) without the Golf cost. We went from an ’07 Good to a ’09 Octavia estate and the only major differences were more space and the cruise control switch working the other way round.
I’d also underscore the 1.4 engine thing; the big problem is the ancillaries. The turbo on ours died, and a replacement was more than the value of the car by that point. We liked it enough (and VAG did enough work to improve on the early 1.4TSI problems) for us to feel comfortable replacing it with another octy with the 150ps TSI. The Rapid is a better looking car than the equivalent Golf, too.

Having thought about it, id prefer her on the M62 in something a little bigger and safer…

This changes things further still !

Get automatic, the M62 is either a race track or a car park, you soon get tired creeping forward on your clutch.

I’ve been through every size of car, and by far the best for distance was Mondeo size. Focus feels just as big but is under powered etc etc.

Mrs FD doesn’t like big cars, but she much preferred to take the Mondeo over Fiesta going Leeds to Skunny

Outlyer. Dacia. Cheap to buy, cheap to insure. No idea on reliability

Our secretary at work bought a new Duster. A few niggles through first 3 years such as squeaks and rattles. In the last 18 months she’s had a lot of maintenance and a few failures on it, and has said she won’t buy another. It’s paid off in 6 months though, showing how cheap it is.

Panda every time. We ran one for a while and in spite of my daughter’s best efforts it refused to die. Sold it to a relative who needed a car for £100 and 3 years later it is still going.

Daughter replaced it with a mini which has been nothing but a pain (And has just thrown another engine warning light and gone into a limp mode!)

We have a wee Ka+ that we inherited from FIL a year ago. Junior is a learner and it will become ‘his’ once he gets a test date and passes. That should have happened in the summer, however his theory has been postponed twice due COVID.

Anyway, it’s a 5 door, 1.2 petrol, zetec model, lots of fun to drive, decent connectivity etc, cheap to run and insure (for now…)

Punto 1.4 multijet derv.
Must do bonkers mpg, not as small as the C1/Aygo/Panda class.
Probably cost a little more to insure but payback in mpg would offset that
Pretty little cars too, And well in budget.
Also, mitsibushi outlander. They made a 2.0 derv with a 4×4 only when required system. Look at insurance but £4K should source a decent model. Amd still sensible mpg amd safe in a motorway accidents scenario

My office ran 12 i30 1.6 diesel Hyundai’s as pool cars from 2014 to 2020 and they averaged about 85000 each. I know the manager who ran them and they had very few issues between them all over those miles, and whenever I drove them I found them to be comfy and averaged about 57mpg across the fleet. Our locations are diverse across Scotland so mostly motorway miles and A roads. I would have one. Even at the end of the contract and on 80+k miles they all drove like new and I would even buy one of that fleet based on their condition. Very impressed.