[7ofnine]

Following our car being written off, I need a replacement smallish car. Some things that are important:-

- 2 or 3 years old
- Must be able to fit pushchair (folded up) in boot
- Must have Isofix on rear seats
- Economical to run
- Fairly low mileage

I've noticed a lot of really small cars these days don't have enough boot space to fit a pushchair in e.g. Suzuki Swift.

Quite like the clio, and also saw a Modus which would be ok.

Any other suggestions?

[NewBeetle]

Originally Posted by orpheus

Following our car being written off, I need a replacement smallish car. Some things that are important:-

- 2 or 3 years old
- Must be able to fit pushchair (folded up) in boot
- Must have Isofix on rear seats
- Economical to run
- Fairly low mileage

I've noticed a lot of really small cars these days don't have enough boot space to fit a pushchair in e.g. Suzuki Swift.

Quite like the clio, and also saw a Modus which would be ok.

Any other suggestions?

The swift does have a tiny boot, shame as it's a great car to drive.

Polo, Fiesta and Mazda 2 would be worth a look maybe? Or maybe compromise a little on age/mileage and get something like a Golf/Focus?

[montybaber]

Id recommend a Vauxhall Corsa (just bought one) they are like a tardis and very roomy inside and drive like a bigger car

The boot is a decent size, on petrol models before 2010 (non vvt) they were a bit slow but much improved with the new engine (although they dont set the world on fire) the fuel economy did improve with the new engine though (1.4 = 50 mpg)

[7ofnine]

Cheers. The Vauxhall dealer is one we haven't been to yet. I'll check out the Corsa.

[DJT75]

Look at a used Nissan Note. I shopped around for ages 3.5 years ago looking for a new samll hatchback that would fit a Quinny Buzz flat in the boot. The Note has a handle in the boot that allows you to move the entire back bench seats forward and back in various positions.
It was perfect for a baby that doesn't need leg room when we needed a bigger boot, and it was still perfect when she had a forward facing seat, and there's no pushchair requirements.

The wife is due again in 5 days but now our daughter has moved up to another level in car seats it won't be a problem as the child seat itself is much smaller.


We've got a 58 plate 1.4 Note Acenta, tinted rear windows, bluetooth phone built in, electric everything, 2 isofix points, decent running costs, cheap tax and insurance. You should easily get someone like that for £6K or less. Think ours only has about 17K on the clock as it's a second car effectively, so I imagine there's a load more like that about.

[KyleS1]

My missus has a polo that fits our Mamas & Papas Sola into fine. 1.4tdi gives great mpg too.

[7ofnine]

The Wife saw a Vauxhall Meriva 2009 plate for £6k yesterday. She was impressed with the load space and 'MPV feel' to the car.
Any thoughts on the Meriva?

[DJT75]

Originally Posted by orpheus

The Wife saw a Vauxhall Meriva 2009 plate for £6k yesterday. She was impressed with the load space and 'MPV feel' to the car.
Any thoughts on the Meriva?

Bought a used one (probably 07 plate ish..) 6 months before the Note for the exact same reason, it was the best fit for what we needed. Only came with a 3 month warranty from the Vauxhall dealer (my bad) - Wife nearly killed herself approaching a dual-carriageway fake roundabout as the powersteering shut down leaving her unable to steer, at speed. Took it back to Vauxhall, they weren't interested, looked around online and discovered a whole history of similar cases & £2000+ bills that didn't totally fix the problem and so part exchanged it for the Note as quick as a flash.

Have no idea if they've solved the problem for later models but worst car buying decision of my life

[DJT75]

ps. Also found the split drivers window a bit of a pain, quite a blind spot there

[7ofnine]

Thanks DJT75, priceless information. There is a 37 page thread on the Vauxhall forum about this problem. Vauxhall are denying the problem, refuse to recall Merivas, and there is no definitive solution. People generally have to replace the steering column etc at a cost of 1k. Not guaranteed to solve it.

Vauxhall wants campaign to recall Meriva-EPS light problem | Vauxhall Owners Network Forum & Club - Insignia | Vectra | Astra | Corsa*| Signum | Zafira | Meriva | Tigra | Agila | Vivaro | VXR

I'm not touching this one!!

[DJT75]

Originally Posted by orpheus

Thanks DJT75, priceless information. There is a 37 page thread on the Vauxhall forum about this problem. Vauxhall are denying the problem, refuse to recall Merivas, and there is no definitive solution. People generally have to replace the steering column etc at a cost of 1k. Not guaranteed to solve it.

Vauxhall wants campaign to recall Meriva-EPS light problem | Vauxhall Owners Network Forum & Club - Insignia | Vectra | Astra | Corsa*| Signum | Zafira | Meriva | Tigra | Agila | Vivaro | VXR

I'm not touching this one!!

There you go. It only happened once, Vauxhall basically said unless you can bring it back in whilst the problem is occuring, there is nothing they can test - which is obviously impossible unless you happen to be driving within their premises at the time. I knew I couldn't sell the thing privately like that and I wasn't prepared to shell out to "fix" something with no guarantees, so part exchange and take a couple of grand hit was my only option. I think I even told the guy at Nissan with part exchanging but they don't care, it goes off to auction and who knows where that car ended up..

[7ofnine]

I can't find any Nissan Notes available for sale near us. Have seen a Renault Grand Modus though, which is an equivalent car.

[Si80]

A shout for the Mazda 2 here. Missus has had 2 now back to back, currently has the 5 door Takoya model. Isofix in the back for when she looks after her nephew. 1.3 engine is pretty nippy and frugal and a nice drive all round. Really well specced inside too. I reckon you'd find one a couple of years old for £6k.