One of your choices is a Corsa. We ran a 2010 Corsa for a couple of years until last year when we got shot. It was very cheaply built and had several issues all of which are common once you suffer them and Google for solutions.

in the time we had it the back of the driver seat collapsed, it needed new bump stops, the wire operating the door handle broke, the wipers started slapping the screen pillar (and amazingly it can’t be adjusted away), the coil pack failed possibly due to design fault where rainwater ponds in the spark plug recess, the handbrake mounting needed reinforced, the rear seatback mechanism broke, the boot leaked, the heater fan switch broke, the pinch bolt on the exposed steering column worked loose. It also had a noisy cam chain. Contrast this with the Astra that preceded it which never had anything but normal servicing in the 18 years ended had it.

On other hand the Corsa never actually failed to get us home and it drove well.

Maybe we were unlucky and the faults were irritating rather than serious but as I say every fault that occurred got lots of matches online so we were not alone.

Edited by catsdad on 26/02/2021 at 12:19

Thanks guys...

Madf, the micra does say Full Service History.

Catsdad, thanks so basically there could be a lot of annoying things potentially popping up on the Corsa.

Btw, i10s get a lot of recommendations. I20s as good?

-M

Thanks BBD. I sent a note to a couple from that list. I excluded the bigger cars from that list as I want to keep the second car small with a lower overall cost.

Not sure which cars from my list you think are too big, but given the Jazz is the same length as the i20, and the (older) Yaris, along with the Mazda 2, Fiesta, and Swift are smaller, that leaves the Dacia Sandero, Ford Fusion and Nisan Note.

The Dacia is only 6.3cm longer than the i20, the Fusion a barely worth mentioning 1.8cm, and the Note 10.5cm. But even with the longest of those, the Note, that 10.5cm makes it only 2.5% longer than the i20, a car which you seem fine with in terms of size.

Obviously this is up to you, but IMO, if the i20 is of an acceptable size, you aren't going to have any problems with a Sandero, Fusion or Note.

Also, if the size issue is in fact regarding width, the Nissan Note is actually narrower than an i20. The Sandero and Fusion are both slightly wider, by 2.3cm and 1.4cm respectively.

If it is about running costs, unless you are doing a lot of miles, the difference in economy between all of them will be negligible, and assuming a decent level of reliability, any difference in servicing costs are going to be down to prices of parts.

Thanks again BBD. Sorry for the confusion, what i meant was in terms of road tax and insurance. Wanted to keep those down. I am checking the swift mainly. Also looking at a swift and an i10 at the moment - ongoing discussions with dealer at around 3.2 and 3.5k. The swift definitely looks more interesting though with higher mileage than the i10 i am looking at.

-M

If running costs are that important, I'd suggest looking at the Suzuki Celerio. Free road tax, very reliable, very spacious for its size, and very light in weight. Back when they were fairly new to the market, I would often read in magazines like What Car, that the Celerio had the best real world MPG.

Not sure insurance would play a big part in the running costs for any of the cars suggested unless the driver was young and inexperienced.