The Micra K11 has a lot of interior space for its size, the Mazda 2 doesn't.

There's no way the K11 (from the 90s) Micra has more space than a Mazda 2

What are you talking about?. My eldest child is 27, child seats were common when he was little and had been for many years prior!

Car seat laws were made mandatory in 2006. Growing up I never had a booster seat.

But why are you asking about 60mph specifically?

Because that's usually the most I drive at.

This really confuses me!. If budget isn't really an issue, why the fixation of £35 had tax?

I think you misunderstood me. I wasn't saying money is no object, I was saying the budget is irrelevant. I wasn't really asking the forum for recommendations. I have already selected the cars and wanted to know peoples thoughts on them. I already know how much they are. Only the auris is a little more expensive, both the 2 and jazz are around the same price.

But I took your advice on the road tax and expanded my search. I found a few cars that were a couple of grand cheaper, but their emissions were too high or had other issues that ruled them out. Except an older model Jazz which is significantly cheaper, but it's also smaller and the older generations have issues, like cats being stolen or higher insurance.

It's strange (and I have done this myself several times) how people get hugely fixated on one trivial thing. An extra £100 a year tax is really either year not there when you're going to spend thousands on a car. There are many larger expenses that we can also control.

It's going to be tricky to find a car that is not bigger than a Ceed on the outside but more spacious on the inside. I suppose out Vitara's not much bigger and fairly roomy (TC box and no turbo as well).

Thanks for the insight.

How often did you change the oil in the CVT?

You mentioned child seats earlier. The Isofix system is common to the cars and the seats. Where you can still get compatibility issues is with the extra leg that many seats have facing forward and down into the footwell. On our grandson’s seat it was impossible to fit the leg into the footwell of our Mazda 3. The leg angles backwards towards the floor and fouls on the box section underneath the rear bench. Other cars in the family fleet were fine.

If you already have expensive child seats that you’d rather not replace it’s worth checking that they fit a prospective car. It’s not the end of the world as no doubt every modern car can accept a suitable seat but the point is that not all seats will fit all cars and they aren’t cheap.

This was detailed and insightful, thank you!

My next car will probably be a Honda Jazz 2nd generation, despite the higher tax. The more research I do on the Jazz, the more I'm amazed! They actually have more cargo volume than my Ceed, Mazda 3 and CX-3, despite being smaller on the outside. However if I ever get out of the city, then I might opt for a Mazda 3 / CX-3.

I might just hold on to my Cee'd until it dies, but keep my eye out for a cheap Jazz.

The Jazz mk2, especially using its 'magic seats', is one of those cars designed to make best use of its footprint. My sister and BIL had one (a CVT auto) until recently when some berk bashed into it, writing it off.

As you say, more for urban driving than motorway / country lanes, but still fine. Good visibility, which you can't say so much for the two Mazdas, both of which has relatively small windows, especially at the rear.

The Jazz mk2 isn't the quickest car in the world though (the 1.4 is ok) and I'd avoid those shod on low profile tyres (upper trim versions) to avoid an overly firm ride and extortionate price to buy.

Note that the Jazz mk2 has a bigger boot space than the gen-3 Mazda3 in 5dr hatch format, but not saloon (Fastback 4dr) format, but as I've discovered (I own a gen-1 Mazda3 saloon, ~420L boot space), the big downside is that the boot opening is far smaller than for a hatchback and big cubed shaped boxes won't fit through it or via the rear doors (suitcases etc are fine). A shame they never made an estate version like with the Mazda6.

One of the reasons why I suggested a Focus-sized car like with Mazda3 is that supermini and cars like the Jazz now command silly prices in the second hand market, whereas not nearly as much for ones a bit bigger (and faster). The Jazz may have a bigger boot than some, but check for yourself to see if rivals meets your needs by taking along a 'sample load' to see if it fits in the boot of a car you look at. You never know.

Cheap Jazz mk2s that haven't been abused / poor history / dodgy in some other way (e.g. bad accident repair which was undeclared) and/or which have starship mileages are hard to come by precisely because they have a excellent reputation.

As I've (and others) said before/elsewhere on the forum, often it's a LOT cheaper in the long run to keep a known entity of a car on the road, as long as it is structurally sound and showing no signs of a very major failure (e.g. an entire engine). Never rush into a decision, but still do your research, just in case your circumstance change. It never can be bad to be prepared.

Best of luck.

Edited by SLO76 on 16/01/2025 at 15:28