Not really much more than 20k new but thinking I should get off the new car turntable and go used.

John F

Why are you recommending a 4 year old car with an engine known to have a cam belt made of cheese to a buyer who need 100% reliability to do their job?

Slightly leftfield choice, but Citroen C3 auto's are available new under £20k. This uses the same 1.2 turbo petrol mentioned by John F in the 208, albeit in 110bhp (rather than 130) form. It isn't a very heavy car though (unless being compared to the featherweight Swift!) and has plenty of torque at very low revs, so should be plenty nippy enough.

The C3 (like most Citroen's these days) majors on comfort rather than sportiness with supple suspension and soft squidgy seats. If that appeals, and there is a dealer nearby, maybe worth a look?.

Minus points?, well not the most spacious car in class, made worse by the thickly padded seats. Most of the controls are on the touchscreen, which many people don't like. Also, Citroen's are not known for being particularly reliable. But the C3 is quite an old design now so reasonable to assume most issues have been ironed out. Plus, it is a new car with warranty.

No need to buy new when Toyota offer a year’s manufacturer warranty every year if you service it at a Toyota dealer up to ten years or 100,000 miles.

I think we should inform readers more facts about the Toyota 10 year warranty.

I agree its probably the best out there and when we get the Yaris we will be keeping it serviced within the network whilst we own it thus keeping the warranty going.

The T & C's could be very expensive in older cars especially those that have been minimally maintained outside the network. Whilst Toyota will accept cars that have been serviced by others to get the car on the scheme it has to be serviced and inspected and every item picked up as needing maintenance must be attended to. I have read where people who have bought older cars expecting another (for example) 4 years warranty have been stunned by the scale and figures quoted by Toyota for the remedial work.

So whilst its great for well maintained cars forget it for older cars with little history.

Nothing is for free.

As a happy owner of a (2016) MINI Cooper auto, I would definitely recommend paying a bit extra for one. You say you don't want to spend much over £20k; well they start at £23k, and the base model does come with most bells and whistles (unlike mine). It also has the benefit of 15" wheels, so the ride isn't too bad. Don't think anything else that's been mentioned comes close to the 8s 0-62, but I might have missed something.

0-60/62 times are very over rated, they don't really mean that much. Gearing, traction, torque and tyres an all combine to make two cars with a similar power to weight ratio seem like one is much faster than the other. Whereas the power to weight ratio itself, along with in gear acceleration is going to give a better indication of how one car will feel compared to another. Sadly, in gear or through the gears acceleration figures are not often given these days.

Compare the power to weight ratios of the Mini Cooper 1.5 136bhp auto (1115kg) with the Suzuki Swift 1.0 111bhp Boosterjet auto (940kg) as an example. That the Cooper does 0-62mph two seconds quicker suggests they are miles apart. But 122bhp per tonne vs 118bhp per tonne points towards them being pretty close in terms of how nippy they feel.

After all, as Scotty used to say, "Ye canna change the laws of physics Jim"!.

Edited by badbusdriver on 01/12/2023 at 13:13

Don't think anything else that's been mentioned comes close to the 8s 0-62, but I might have missed something.

You appear not have thought about the lightweight (beware heavyweight hybrids) Peugeot 2008 130 EAT6. You might have missed my post. According to Parkers it has a 0-60 time of 8.7 secs, much the same as a Kia Picanto GT. Coupled with the excellent torque at low revs it makes for a very nippy little SUV.

Edited by John F on 02/12/2023 at 10:10

As for torque, the current shape Yaris hybrid brings a total of 192lb/ft to the table between ICE and electric power.

That figure you quote is the total from the Toyota figures for the ICE (88 lb/ft) and the electric motor (104 lb/ft) but I am not 100% certain it works like that.

Don't have the torque figures for the Superb (never seen the electric motor figures quoted) but they do quote the bhp figures for the ICE and electric motor which are 154 bhp and 114 bhp respectively, the total being 268 bhp. Yet Skoda quote the max system power as 215 bhp, 53 bhp less and the more learned people on the Skoda forum explained that you cannot simply add the figures together because of the way the system works.

As for torque Skoda quote a maximum system torque as 298 lb/ft and if the ICE has the 250 lb/ft that the non hybrid 1.4 TSI has the electric motor is only adding 48 lb/ft which would be strange since the motor is considerably bigger than the Yaris one (the electric motor quoted power of 114 bhp is exactly the same as the quoted combined max output of the Yaris).

All I can say for certain is Yaris drove very well regardless of its actual power and torque figures, its why we ordered one. Its acceleration below 40mph was way better than the 110PS Fabia (probably because of the electric boost) but above 40 mph it was still pulling very well. No idea how many revs it was using, no rev counter, but unlike CVT's of old there was not excess engine revs when you booted it.

Its not easy these days is it.

Sorry answer to whether my picanto was for sale - no not yet lol. But can honestly say she has been great. Absolutely no problems. Goes like a bat out of hell. Only issue I have ever had is how long the screen takes to clear in the mornings.

Edited by Claire NHS on 06/12/2023 at 18:25