No discounts and long waiting lists on anything worth buying. Big discounts and instant availability on other cars. If she doesn't get rid of that A Class quickly, something drastic is likely to go wrong that will cost so much to repair it will effectively scrap the car. She has been very lucky indeed to get 120k miles out of one without huge expense. The best small car is the Hyundai i10 1.2 (Must be the 1.2) in three grades of trim. Not bad small cars include the Suzuki Splash and Vauxhall Agila, and the Nissan Pixo, Suzuki Alto, Citroen C1, Peugeot 107, Toyota Aygo. Yes, the IQ as well, despite the high price, though it's only about the same as a FIAT 500 1.2 Lounge. Bigger Mazda 2 1.3TS2s are great little cars. Suzuki Swifts handle really well and have chain cam engines. And then there's the new MINI First, from under £11,000.