Hi Tony

My partner began to have difficulties getting in and out of lowish cars, due to Parkinson's, at the same time as I had to change to an auto gearbox. Therefore, our requirement was similar. However, being a tightwad, I didn't want my fuel bill to increase with the change to auto, so that limited the choice.

We looked at or drove Honda Jazz with a CVT box, Toyota Verso S, Hyundai ix20, i20, and i10. We drove and really liked the i20, but thought the seats would be uncomfortable over a long distance. The i10 seats gave the same impression. The others were too expensive or too thirsty.

After 2 fairly long test drives we chose a Vauxhall Agila B 1.2 auto. I would have gone for the Suzuki Splash version, but there's no dealer close by. That's important because I tend to buy low mileage vehicles, with guarantee remaining, from car supermarkets.

The pros (for me) are:

• Easy to get in and out of - every passenger comments on how high the seats are.
• Surprisingly comfortable - we've had several 250 mile/day trips and I've yet to feel glad to stop and get out.
• Rear seats fold easily to give quite a large cargo space, so I can use it as a van.
• Really easy to park.

Cons:

• Road noise can be high, but not unbearable, on a certain type of surface.

I would think the "smallish" part of your requirement might rule one out. Although I expected to feel hard-done-to in a small car, that has not proved to be the case - we both like it a lot.

Fuel consumption over 12k miles has been 40mpg, about 2mpg better than the manual Astra G estate, which it replaced.

In addition to the Honda Jazz and Hyundai i20 (or iX20 which is even taller), I would add

- Nissan Note; Kia Venga.

Or as JB says Suzuki Splash/Vauxhall Agila.

Only problem with the Juke is they look cheap and ugly.

ix20s are easy to get a great deal on for this very reason..Hyundai keep a stock of very low mileage cars, less than 100 miles and usually delivery miles only registered to themselves at the docks, the discounts can be massive and the 1.6 automatic is a decent enough car, I am trying to get my grandma into one from her 2002 Merc A class. She also does around 2-3k miles per year!

It's not really a lost sale though, is it? The customer still buys a car-just from a different dealership.

Someone buying from dealership B doesn't stop dealership A going bust and people losing their jobs.

I really wish, having done it and been through the mill that people could work for a week in a franchise dealer for a large dealer group...its not easy folks and salesmen arent there to bend over and to provide cups of coffee and print off some paperwork! Why do people think they are there, for fun! Nope, its to pay the bills and feed the kids like everyone else goes to work. I accept there are bad ones like in every industry, but if your job is basically office bound who judges..your boss....not any member of the public who chooses to come into the office, have a poke around, drink our coffee, play with our products and then maybe sod off having wasted an hour of our day...guess what, if these deals arent done the salesmen earn jack s***! I repeat, there are bad ones, even terrible ones...but cut some slack because the punter on the street doesnt know how hard it is to be profitable selling new cars!

Thats a bit of a rant I accept, but people dont go into your office demanding this and that even if you are providing me with a product or service, you dont go into Argos to buy a telly, demand to see the manager and then want a ridiculous discount do you!

To the OP, my gran has a similar list of requirements for her car, and we have found the Mercedes A Class to to be perfect, the steering is a little weighty but the access is superb and it has proven very tough when bashed around like older people do! Never even had tracking done and this thing has seen some kerbs!

Good luck with the i20 though, I always really enjoyed driving them, dont get the Fiesta hype myself...

Edited by countryroads on 08/02/2013 at 00:54

Honesty is the best policy.

I remember attempting to haggle over my MiL's Daihatsu Cuore and being puzzled as to why I wasn't getting anywhere. The salesman wandered off to the back office and came back with the official letter from Daihatsu.

It said something like; With this deal on (5 door for the price of a 3 door, free airco, auto box and three years' warranty with all servicing included), there is no discounting allowed. We have a limited import quota and we're sure we can sell every last one of these things that we're allowed to at the list price. If anyone doesn't want to pay the full price, let them go as there'll be someone along soon who will.

They were right, it was a smashing car and ludicrously cheap, which is why we were sat there. We bought it anyway.

Most people don't realise how tight the auto industries margings are. They think dealers are creaming it off at 200% margins - mostly from metallic paint alone - and we're all being ripped off. Now once upon a time that was true, cars were stupidly overpriced in Britain because we put the steering wheel on the correct side.