In your position I'd go for the Jazz, Note or Fabia, and perhaps look for the Fabia estate. All of these are better than the others for carrying your train sets about withoit being too bog on the outside.

The Jazz is particularly versatile and the back seats fold down in a single movement - a real benefit. Go for the 1.4 (1339 cc actually) and even if you can only run to the old model, it should give you years of reliable service.

While no car expert, I suspect you may find it difficult to find such a well made car as the Yaris, for the same price.

They were always very good cars, but very ugly.

Wear a mask and keep it for 10 more years.

I would have looked at the newer Yarii but I believe the Mk2 isn't a lot bigger inside than the Mk1 and the Mk3 is too new to be cheap. Not sure how the Auris compares, any thoughts?

Have you looked at the later Yaris stats? The boot is 270 litres compared to say, a Fabia with 260 litres. Significantly bigger than the old Yaris, and the rear seats fold completely flat. I would have a look at one if you like them, it would be difficult to find an equivalent quality supermini that is so well made.

My wife has had a Jazz for 7 years and 45,000 miles and it has just gone wrong for the first time. The gearbox got very noisy but Honda have done the repairs free of charge and even fitted a new clutch (we paid for the clutch) even though as soon as the warranty ran out we moved its servicing to an independant (book stamped though). It is a very versatile car the seats tip and move really easily and the amount it will hold with all seats down is amazing. I have a Mazda 2 as my company car (should be a Mondewoe but I don't have to contribute to the Mazda so no tax). The Mazda is far more fun to drive as HJ says a "real hoot" but its not as flexible as the Jazz and in my case the centre console sticks out to far, I am 6'1" with a 33" leg and I cannot get the seat quite far enough back to prevent my left leg constantly rubbing on the console and it is a pain. I didn't notice when I had the test drive. The rear seats fold forward but only lie on the seat squab so they are nowhere as good as the Jazz. If I had to choose just one car out of the 2 I suppose I would have go with the Jazz.

Edited by Daedalus on 11/04/2012 at 19:51

While I was looking at cars I decided to take a look at the insurance costs. Is it normal for it to double when buying a newer car? I checked out a 1.2 Jazz on 08 plates and the prices were coming back around £600. My last renewal was under £300, not had the price though for this year but as I'm already at max NCB I expect a small increase.

Granted the Jazz is a few insurance groups higher than the Yaris but would that really make that much difference?

Going back to an old thread but I've still not chosen and another idea has come to mind...

What do people think about the Merc A class? I've seen 07 reg ones for under £6k locally. I don't know how much more it would cost to run but it strikes me it would be the right size and quality for what I'm looking at.

Any reasons for / against?