speaking of cars, help me choose

We are leasing through motability…..

these are the current short listed cars

Toyota Auris 1.6 TR
Ford Fiesta 1.4 titanium
vauxhall corsa 1.4 sxi
volvo c30 r-design 1.6 (right at the top of budget this)

?

Nissan Almera? Very reliable and can take a lot of bikes, also cheap to buy and insure.

Auris – FFS, MTFU, it’s FFFFFFF********* manure!
Fiesta – not allowed if over the age of 21 (unless still have spots and is a virgin).
Corsa – can you drive? Why choose a box for learners only?
C-30 – lovely!

if you like the volvo you must be 60 or blind

new fiesta is a lovely car

Not a great choice their Tim – where does a bog standard focus sit alongside those in terms of budget.

Volvo easily from that lot

I love the look of the Volvo

Corsa has appalling forwards 3/4 vision – the pillar is huge and masks far too much. I lost sight of a car in this blind spot and almost hit it.

Never driven the others but I will never get in a corsa again.

Fiesta

Had one as a hire car last week. It wasn’t that quick but it wasn’t half fun in the corners.

Zetec spec. old shape. no idea how big the engine was.

I was that impressed I have requested another next time.

Volvo for looks but the loading space in the boot is very tight compared to the others…

Fiesta over them all for practicality – Volvo for the name and reliability/safety aspect…perhaps Toyota for out and out reliability – it’s Japanese after all!

got a c30 and can vouch for it being a lovely car but space is limited in the boot. Bike goes well on the roof though

The Volvo is the funkiest, Fiesta is better than the Corsa, dunno about the Toyota.

But as GJP says, if you can stretch to a Focus, get that – nice to drive, more room in the boot etc., not expensive (C30 ish?) and absolutely reliable (I had the old model for 7 years and it never cost me a penny in garage bills).

The Auris is just horrible. We had one on a special ’48-hr test drive’ promotion from Toyota. It was so bad I took it back after 6hrs.

Presumably it’s the new Fiesta you’re looking at. We’ve got one of the old model ones and it’s great; it’s our second car but does lots of things better than the company car(s) that we have/have had (which are typically 2x the list price).

The C30 looks interesting, but the hatch opening is very tight. Haven’t driven one though (or the Corsa)

mx5

motability’s class, isn’t it? we just got a focus estate in dec, great car 😮

yeah motabilities awesome, we would be screwed, car wise, without it!

the choice appears to be between the above, as the best of what is available at a decentish spec (air con, alloys, 1.4-1.6), for between about £12k and £15K cash cost.

with motability they take a % of the missus’s DLA and the amount you put down up front, determines the class of car you can get. I have between £250 (fiesta 1.4 titanium) to £699 (volvo c30)….

would get the 3 door astra sxi (£650) if it wasnt so plasticy and lo spec, and the bog standard golf if it wasnt so ridiculously expensive (£900 for no spec ouch!)

got a 307 sport last time….. not a great car but comfy

dissapointed to hear the toyota’s a bit poo, looks good on paper for £450…

Fiat Grande Punto anyone?

the focus new model looks much better and cheap too!!!!! i hadnt even looked at it cos last years was a bit mingin

The corsa has a hard ride and also it really badly tram lines on motorways. or at least the 1.4 sxi i had on hire for 2 weeks did plus the hard seats gave me back ache. The engine felt really underpowered. as you can tell i was not impressed with it.

The Focus may not be a looker, or perhaps as well made as some others (although very reliable), but it’s far better to drive than most. And, as you say, cheap.
I drive a lot of peugeot hire cars through work and they are pretty much without fail awful.

the auris doesn’t get stonking reviews simply as it’s not a drivers car. in most other ways, they are great, epically reliable and very well made.

Parkers review here

Audi A3 SE Sportback.

All those cars are a bit, bleh!

Corsa hire car = most uncomfortable seats I have had the (dis)pleasure of spending 4 hours sat in.
Fiesta hire car = great car, well built, nippy, comfy. Really impressed.
C30 loan car that business colleague had for 6 weeks = really comfy, well built, stylish out but a bit bland inside. Not as good as the Fiesta.

If you buy the Volvo don’t forget that that automatically makes you a safe driver and you can therefore ignore the road traffic act completley! 🙂

As others have said, Auris is rubbish.

Poor seats. Center console hits your left knee all the time, understeers, stupid lights come on telling you to change up, ugly ++

Windscreen pillar is pretty annoyingly large on a Corsa, massively underpowered too.

Old fiestas are great fun in corners. Takes 2 blokes, bikes and kit just!

the focus is really really good – we love ours so far, and there is a lot of space in the thing. highly recommended, though the motability up front payment for ours was £1,500. we had to get an automatic, though, and so the titanium top spec one was the only we could go for which is why it was a lot. fantastic, though!

Remember that the Volvo and Focus are pretty much the same car, except one of them will have become a division of Kia or Hyundai by the end of the year. Our focus has loads of bits that say volvo on under the bonnet.
The new Fiesta is supposed to be pretty damn good though.

Just to add to my slightly unhelpful (if frank and honest…) review of the Auris…

stuartlangwilson is spot on – my (boney) left knee constantly banged on the hard plastic centre console; front seats lacked any sort of support for my lower back and had me constantly fidgeting around. Yes, it was pretty poo to drive as well, but I took it back because it was just so damned uncomfortable. The Toyota dealership got the message as they didn’t even telephone me to follow up 😉

Focus, in contrast, is absolutely spot on. Had a few as rental cars. You can jump straight in and drive – no foibles or peculiarities. Ride and handling are all great and comfort and adjustability of the driving position is ace. Yes, some of the plastics are slightly naff, but most of the ones you see/use all the time are fine – and they’re all better than the ones in the Auris 😉

Wife had a C30 for a while while the A3 Sportback was in for a service. No room inside, poor vision but they had fitted lots of buttons and made everything very complex.

She was glad to get the Audi back!

SSP

here’s a picture of the lovely focus, just to tempt you

New fiesta has the looks out of all of them on your list.

That’s the one I would choose from your list.

Have you considered the Alfa MiTo?

theflatboy – i do like the look of your new focus, much better than the one i was looking at a year or so ago. nice colour too!

alphas start at £4K deposit, so not for me!

i’d love to know what the motability prices are going to be like in the next couple of months, whilst dealers seem to be desperate to shift normal sale motors, the motability prices seem to be about to go up 🙁

yeah it’s a great car, loads of room in it as well which as you’re on motability like us, presumably wouldn’t go to waste? without getting too specific, it’s definitely very handy.

yep i need to fit in a wheelchair, but its amazing how small it goes.

I remember 3 years ago they had mx5s on the list.

it would have been nice for me, but i cant think there are many mobility impaired people for whom a 2 seater soft top would be usefull!