1) Aygo

2) Yaris

OR

3) 2 x Yarii

I would be staying away from diesels, too much risk of expensive issues.

Having a look at Autotrader (filtering on: No insurance write offs, Under 80,000 miles) I only found 1 Euro 6 diesel Yaris. Plenty Euro 5's, but they wouldn't comply with the Low Emmision Zones, which are cropping up everywhere.

My daily commute is a 55 mile round trip. I'm doing 15,000 miles a year overall (with a 1.0 TSi Ibiza). Don't think your (Car 2) use warrants the risk of a diesel.

I'm a little confused by your saying the two cars you currently have no longer fit your needs. Seems to me that as long as they continue to be reliable, they fit your needs fine.

For car 1, Doing such a small annual mileage means that mpg shouldn't be a big factor. Other aspects of the running costs, specifically reliability, are going to play a much bigger part in your overall running costs as the milage decreases. Assuming your ix20 is petrol, that is the role I would have it continuing to play.

For car 2, If you were buying something else, diesel would not be advised. But you already have the diesel i30. A daily trip of over 20 miles each way at motorway speeds should keep the DF healthy and the car should easily exceed 50mpg. So unless an ULEZ is going to cause a problem, I would suggest sticking with it. I know you say it is a bit big for your needs, but the difference in size between it and a supermini is going to be quite small.

It may well be the case that you now want to change (rather than need to), which is fair enough. But you need to be aware that with the used car market as it is, your money is not going to go nearly as far now as it did 6 years ago.

More that they were bought for specific things really. i30 was used by me to commute a fair chunk daily. ix20 was purchased as just about to have a baby, so a slightly higher car aided with getting in/out.

It probably is more want to change, rather than need

Problem is you're buying at the top of the market pricewise, which means you'll be losing out more via the part exchange or privately selling your existing cars.

In addition, you'll be buying cars without really knowing how they were previously driven (e.g. predominately short trips from cold or not, etc), and possibly from indie dealers rather than a frnahcised main deler, prciely because your budget won't stretch anywhere near as far as it did last time. This would be highly important when considering a diesel for the longer commute. personally I'd not consider one for this reason alone.

At the moment, second hand cars (some that are not good generally or in poor condition) are going for silly money (average 30% more than the historical norm, and often more so for smaller, more economical, less polluting ones [especiallyEU4+ petrol-engined ones] which are in great demand).

For example, one of my local second hand dealers (actually owner separately by a frnachised group which sells new cars elsewhere) is selling an essentially 'used' 2023 MG3 for £400 more than the new list price (its not an MG dealer either). A car with a dated design that gets a 3/5 rating on HJ. Bonkers.

Given our hard economic times, I'd strongly reconned as BBD does in keeping what you've got for now, especially if your current cars are reliable and you don't need any ULEZ-compliant EU6+ diesel. They might not be quite suited to what your needs are or perhaps like to dirve, but they're a known entity as regards reliability / costs for you.

Re the second group. All decent reliable cars but worth noting that the i20 has a 6 speed manual box, so will (in theory) be pulling lower revs and be more efficient at a cruise.

Sorry to pick you up on this. The 1.2 i20 (which the OP linked) has a 5 speed gearbox and revs a bit hard at 70mph. I know this because I used to own one.

Edit: BBD beat me to it.

Just had a look at a few 1.4's on Autotrader and they do indeed have a 6 speed box. Manual 1.4 petrol i20's are much less common than 1.2's though.

Another car worth considering alongside the Twingo is the Smart Forfour. They were developed in tandem and are the same underneath. Some pretty jazzy colour combo's with the Smart if that appeals!.