Small reliable car

My wife’s 2003 Ford Fusion is on its last legs after giving us 15 years of cheap and extremely unfashionable service, so we are looking at changing it.

We have been considering Ford Fiestas for about £3,500 – £4,000 but the killer is that at that sort of age they need a new timing belt which is expensive on the Ecoboost engine. I’ve phoned around and nobody local wants to do it, other than the independent Ecoboost specialist who quoted me £968.

What else should we be considering?

Criteria: 5 door, petrol (it only does about 4 miles a day), cheap to insure as my kids will learn to drive in it, and low  tax. The Fiesta is tax exempt, but this will go up to £20 from April.

The Holy Grail would be to find a 1.0l Fiesta that has had the belt done for under 4K, or another Fusion.

Honda – Jazz
Toyota – any

There’s plenty of nice 1.25 Zetec engine Fiestas that fall in that price range. Make an ideal learner car too as they can’t pull the skin off a rice pudding.

Honda Jazz might be a bit more than that budget and still costs money to VED… But no you can’t have ours. They’re small but flexible space inside is great and takes is well beyond the capability of a Fiesta. Had more space inside than a Focus.

Toyota Yaris is smaller and probably even less trendy, mine was ace but that was an 03 plate and has long been retired.

@tthew So the Zetec doesn’t have the wet belt?

What tthew said!

Go Zetec at that price range.

Zetec is normal timing belt – but if approaching 100k it will still need to be changed, but nowhere near as spendy as wet-belt. And pretty much every garage could do it with their eyes closed. 🙂

Kia are worth a look too.

Picanto or the slightly bigger and taller Venga(bus).

My Dad had one and it was a brilliant car.

We’ve had three Suzukis in the family (S-cross, Swift and Ignis) and they have all been very reliable so far. Chain driven engines that seem to go on forever as long as you service them regularly.  My S-cross has done 145,000 miles now with nothing much beyond regular service items. Looks as though you could get an Ignis or a Swift in budget.  They also had a few less popular models (e.g. Splash). Don’t know anything about them but assuming they are the same engine in a less fashionable body they could be a good deal.

Like this one, for example:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202409204252407?sort=relevance&twcs=true&searchId=5ee63e59-7b83-4687-a9f5-9836f69a8288&advertising-location=at_cars&make=Suzuki&postcode=AB51%205AA&price-to=4000&fromsra

aygo or its derivitives .

Mk2 if you can get it – 2014 onwards  vastly nicer place to be than a mk1 .

1l dihastu engine

cheap as chips to run and insure. – especially for new drivers as only have 4 traveling seats.

Citroen C1/Peugeot/Toyota Aygo. It’s all the same car (Toyota) with a different body. I bought a C1 with five doors for about the same price as you’re looking at, used as a runaround for taking the kids to school and sticking in station car parks.

Waiting for someone to come along saying Octavia estate or cargo bike…..

serious answer, I went though exactly same requirements list for wife car which is also used by teenage daughters. Ended up with Hyundai i10. Cracking little car.

1.0 60bhp Fabia Mk 3 (2015-2021) are basic. No idea about long term issues but presumably you can figure that out.

Just be warned, i was looking at fiestas for my daughter when she passed her test.  I could not believe the amount of trader & weekend warriors who were selling crash repaired cars without advertising their cat status.  I am in the trade so HPI checked everything i looked at and their standard response was “for that price what did you expect”.

I went the other way and got the ecoboost knowing full well i needed to do the belt change.  I actually wanted one that hadnt had it done so i knew it was done properly by my mechanic.  The guy selling it had every receipt down to spark plugs and pollen filters and we settled on a price that covered me paying for the belt to be done.

I wish i had kept my wifes old Fiat 500 which we had from new.  That car was fantastic for costing little and even less to maintain.  1.2 non impact engine, pre all the euro 5 emission issues.

Don’t know how easily you’ll get one at that price point, but I’ll join in the praise of the Honda Jazz. Indestructible Little Old Lady car, does 0-60 eventually, features a dash-mounted Tenalady dispenser and a wheeled shopping bag matching the upholstery. In all seriousness, they’re brilliant: stupidly reliable, petrol tank like an everlasting gobstopper, and turns into a mobile aircraft hangar when you fold the rear seats down. Totally “fine” to drive – maybe a bit noisy on the motorway, but nothing you couldn’t tolerate. Perfect car for the “not-really-a-car-person” person (who nonetheless needs a car).

Last year my Sister swapped her car for a 1 litre Ecoboost Fiesta as her son was about to pass his test & she wanted something he could drive around in (and they could get insurance at a reasonable price).
They got a decent one and then it went BOOM about 6 months later with the wet-belt failure, even though it supposedly had full service history & had everything done it should have had.

They replaced it with a 5-door petrol Ibiza & are happy with it. I think they went for a 1.4 petrol.
My Wife has a 2L TDI version of the same car (in a 3-door). It’s been very reliable so far (it’s a 12 plate with ~140k miles) but the long doors are a pain in the ass. 5-door doesn’t looks as smart, but much more user-friendly.

A Yaris or Jazz is the correct answer.

I would avoid an Aygo or similar as they’re Czech / French built and not as good long term as the Japanese Yaris.

do you have somewhere you can charge it? An early, slightly-knackered-battery nissan leaf is perfect for that kinda thing – likely to be more reliable than anything petrol in the long run. the only downside is its not got a manual gearbox, but the kids can learn everything other than clutch control in a car like that.

actually in your price range you might be out of the ones with dodgy batteries..

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202411206514449

renault zoe also an option

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202411216573837

or for a little more cash, bmw i3

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202411186408378

I wish i had kept my wifes old Fiat 500 which we had from new.  That car was fantastic for costing little and even less to maintain.  1.2 non impact engine, pre all the euro 5 emission issues.

Or a 1.1 Panda. Gutless wonder, but zero issues. Loads about and cheap.

Fabia. Surprisingly roomy, good all round visibility, easy to live with. Weedy engined versions cheap to run and insure. Daughter paying £1800 having now passed her test.

Hyundai i10 or i20 also worth a look.

@tthew So the Zetec doesn’t have the wet belt?

Correct, what the Muffin Man said. It’s an engine that first came out in the mid-90’s, very basic and little to go wrong.

Your Fusion might have had the 1.4 or 1.6 version of the same engine.

We’ve just gone for a Skoda Citigo (same as VW Up! and Seat equivalent). No complaints so far, £0 tax, 75mpg on a careful long run and Insurance group 1 so cheap as can be for when our eldest learns next year.

aygo or its derivatives

This.
I’ve owned one from new for 15 years ago and after 110k miles its still going strong.

Not the most exciting drive you’ll ever have, but cheap as chips motoring.

Honda – Jazz<br style=”box-sizing: border-box; –tw-border-spacing-x: 0; –tw-border-spacing-y: 0; –tw-translate-x: 0; –tw-translate-y: 0; –tw-rotate: 0; –tw-skew-x: 0; –tw-skew-y: 0; –tw-scale-x: 1; –tw-scale-y: 1; –tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; –tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; –tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; –tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246/0.5); –tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; color: #000000; font-family: Roboto, ‘Helvetica Neue’, Arial, ‘Noto Sans’, sans-serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ‘Segoe UI’, ‘Apple Color Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Symbol’, ‘Noto Color Emoji’;” />Toyota – any

My first thought. Cockroaches will be driving old Hondas and Toyotas after humankind has been wiped from the face of the earth…

Mrs Lunge’s Nissan Micro would for that bill, did 150k with not much needing doing to it.

It’s  been replaced with a Hyundai i10 which seems very good so far too.

Apart from being a very boring car, my 5 door 1.2 micra is pretty damn good.

Only 40k on the clock as I inherited it from my gran… £30 per year tax, costs noting to run as I just do an oil an filter change once a year, does about 50-53 mpg (real world driving).

Almera – 58k miles new clutch £1500 https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202411186399721

You’ll die of boredom in it and the kids won’t want to be seen in it – probably comes with a bag of werthers for free

The most recent Aygo is a great little car, they’re really nicely styled, and fun to drive. I rather preferred the automatic, you have to rev the nuts off them, but you can put them into Sport mode and use the paddles on the steering wheel, which is fun. For town, city and just local pootling around, an auto is just so much easier in slow stop/start traffic. The Aygo’s siblings are as good, the family over the road from me have two C1’s, it’s a small detail but I just think the Aygo is a nicer looking car. And maybe a bit better put together…

The Hyundai i10 is good, the VAG  siblings, Up!, Citigo and whatever the Seat’s called are all good small cars. I think I’ve driven multiple examples of everything mentioned, because they’re popular with the Motability members, and probably driven most a couple of hundred miles on motorways, and none really proved problematic. I had 105mph out of a Citigo overtaking a Discovery on the M5 near Clevedon, it seemed more than happy, I don’t think it had ever done more than 40 in its life, so glad to let it’s hair down, so to speak…

Really, these days it’s difficult to find a bad car among the main makes, and all those listed have been around for years, so are pretty much sorted.

This is the 2021 Aygo, I think it’s a facelift year, but it’s a really attractive little car.

Mk 2 Aygo is ace. Only had to change fluids and consumables in 5 yrs and the parts are dead cheap as they are all tiny, and ubiquitous. They are slow, with very little torque but this means that they don’t wear out as fast. They do, however, keep up with traffic and are fine at 70 on the motorway. I’d have another like a shot.

The Count’s photo up there is the new(ish) AygoX (mini-crossover); we have one on the drive and it’s great. But that version’s probably not been out long enough for there to be any 2nd-hand models available for the sort of budget HTS is looking at. In fact a quick check on the Toyota ‘Used Cars’ site doesn’t come up with anything less than about £10K. By contrast , there’s several earlier Aygo models in the £4-6K range with quite reasonable mileages, which seem closer to the stated budget. The ones with the notable big black ‘X’ across the front, between the lights and the airdam, are the previous model to the current one, and share a lot of parts and much of the interior with the current AygoX. I know, I couldn’t find a non-confusing way of writing that, but you’ll see what I mean if you look at pictures.

And maybe a bit better put together…

Ah the power of branding.

Re-reading, it depands on budget..

The OP budget of approx 3.5-4k will get you a very good Jap/Koreaan engined super mini/city car as alsready suggested, low millage too, if you are prepared to look at things 5-10 years old.

If it’s to be used as a little runabout/kids training car, it makes little sense to spend more than 4k, IMO.

Our panda went through suspension components like they were air fresheners.  Never again.

could not believe the amount of trader & weekend warriors who were selling crash repaired cars without advertising their cat status.

Incredible number of fake private sellers on eBay, Auto Trader, Gumtree…it’s very poor.

I went through this for a cheap commuter at the beginning of the year and got a 2010 Mini Cooper with 68k on the clock, it’s been brilliant fun on the rural roads up here in Moray and I’ve been pleasantly surprised how good it’s been in the snow this past week.

Re the recommendation for a Zoe or Leaf- won’t they be automatics so poss not suitable for a learner if they want a licence to cover manuals?

I thought the traditional STW answer to stuff like this was a Unimog?

(Surely the non-flippant answer here has to be a Yaris, as others have said?)

won’t they be automatics so poss not suitable for a learner if they want a licence to cover manuals?

They wouldn’t be able to only learn/take the rest in the leccy car for sure, but for getting a few extra miles in whilst a parent grimaces in the passenger seat (with clutch control learned and practiced in the instructors car) they’d be fine

I’m impressed with got this far without someone gloating about their unsuitable one off £500 Porsche? :p

Adding my vote to Jazz/Aygo/Yaris. Magnificently bland, magnificently hardy, Jazzes are incredibly flexible and practical. The main thing to watch out for is rust.

This is the 2021 Aygo, I think it’s a facelift year, but it’s a really attractive little car.

It’s really not.

Up!, Citigo and whatever the Seat’s called are all good small cars

According to the small car groups on Facebook. The vag offering is prone to premature rust much quicker than the other offerings in the class …. And they ain’t even been out that long.

Looks like we are going for a Fiesta that has had the timing belt done. That’s what Mrs The Spider wants.

Thanks for all of the input though.