My elderly parents live in rural Ireland, and are considering buying a new (or second hand) car. They've been Volvo estate drivers all their life, and now have a V70, as well as a very old Peugeot 206.

They are now beginning to have trouble handling the Peugeot (no power steering, and a tough manual gearbox), and the Volvo (as it's big for the small local roads and villages and tough to manouvre and park) and as my Dad has arthritis in his back, physically getting into and out of the cars (especially the Volvo) is becoming an issue.

I'm suggesting that they sell both and buy one car that has has good visibility, automatic gearbox, as well as a more "upright" driving position which will all make driving considerably easier.

I'm thinking either in the small range something like a Fiat Panda, or larger such as a Ford C-Max. Was wondering if you could come up with any suggestions?

Milage is going to be low, but typically around 25m/week for shopping in the local market town, and an occassional 100m round trip to the nearest city.