Reply With QuoteI was just chatting to a neighbour who recently bought a 2007 Auris and loves it. We had one (also 2007) in about 2011 and I was very happy with it as a runabout, my wife hated it though.
My current lease car goes back in December and I'm looking for a cheap runaround to replace it.
I'm considering any of the following as the limited research I've done so far suggests that they are generally reliable and cheap to run.
I don't really foresee the need to carry large loads or numbers of people, so most are small cars.
I realise most would be considered old people's cars, but I don't have a problem with that and I'm also thinking about having something that my son can learn to drive in.
Considered so far: Suzuki Splash/Vauxhall Agila, Honda Jazz/Civic, Skoda Citigo/VW Up, Toyota Yaris/Aygo
Does anyone have experience of any of these and/or alternative suggestions?
Thanks for any advice
I was just chatting to a neighbour who recently bought a 2007 Auris and loves it. We had one (also 2007) in about 2011 and I was very happy with it as a runabout, my wife hated it though.
I bought the kids a Yaris... fab car, never let us down and decent room in it.
Sadly rear ended by a young lad on his phone.
Would buy another, (as with a few Japanease cars check for surface rust underbody)
Last edited by Barry; 10th September 2024 at 10:19. Reason: Missed a word.
Definitely second a Yaris or Honda. I have a 19 reg 1.5 Yaris. Has all the bells and whistles, very reliable.
I've also had Honda Civic Type S which was also very reliable.
Not a bad selection there. I would avoid the Up, Splash and Aygo (and variants of) if it’s leggy as they don’t tend to wear high mileage very well.Originally Posted by klunk
I’d add, Suzuki Swift, Hyundai i10 and Kia Picanto to that list.
If it were me, I’d be in the Yaris.
We have a 2001 mk1 Yaris that we have had since 2004 - still runs perfectly and always passes the MoT with no advisories, even though it's nearing 100k miles and get punished with short journeys and very rarely does more than 5 miles in one go.
A couple of years ago, my younger daughter passed her test and bought a 2003 Mk1 Yaris auto with about 120k miles as her first car, thinking she would "upgrade" after a year to something nicer but the car has been faultless and serves her needs really well, so she's decided to keep until it either fails or her needs change.
May I ask how much was the insurance please? (incoming driving licence with ours)
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I had an Up for 6 yrs. (Bought new with 4 yr full warranry) Nothing went wrong with mine during those 6 yrs. But, mind you, I only did 3500 miles/yr with the car. Early Ups had a lot problems with electronics and leaks around the front windscreen.
My Up needed a new windscreen (stone crack) and the layer of flexible kit was indeed very thinly spread.
And that’s a VW problem: all ‘levels’ are as low as possible: gearbox oil: not a drop more than Min. Check that when buying a used Up. And the AC needs a level check as well when you buy an Up second-hand! Best is a flush and fresh refill.
I'll check with her - she was 20 when she passed (in her own car) and then had to move from Marmalade to Hastings and iirc 1st year insurance was around £1.2k
Thank you.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Fairly recently bought a 2015 Up! for our eldest to use when she's with us on breaks from studying. It's been great so far, very solid and everything working exactly as it should. Feel confident with her driving off here there and everywhere in it.
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
I have a Suzuki splash with 72,000 miles on very nice car loverly to drive it is the sz5 model 1200 cc engine nice seating high up good MPG the wife likes to drive it also has electric front windows and rear privacy glass remote central locking
Panda 169. A Morris Minor for the 21st century. Cheap, reliable, practical and most importantly,fun to drive.
I tried Aygo, c1 and the up when looking for a cheap run around. The up was way better.
Found someone selling a seat mii by us for £3500 with 20,000 miles on the clock.
It's been awesome for the 6 odd years we've had it.
We bought a 2009 Honda Civic last year end of October with 109k on it and so far it has been flawless. I had the AC regassed and had to replace a relay in the AC (£7.99 and about 2 minutes and doable by a complete mechanical numpty, ie me). It's due an MoT this month so we'll see if it needs anything, but it seems very solid so far. (We've done about 8k miles in 10 months, so I expect we'll hit about 9.5-10k by the 12 month mark.)
Dave E
Skating away on the thin ice of a new day
Recently bought an Aygo for our au pair. Cheap to run and insure but pretty tinny!
We bought a 2013 Up a few years back for the kids to learn in and it’s been brilliant!
We’ve actually used it with all 4 of us in it a few times as well.
Not the most powerful thing on the roads, but they’ll all be the same or similar in reality.
We thought we’d sell it once the kids had passed but we’ve kept it as it’s just so useful.
Would recommend one.
Suzuki Jimny (2018 onwards), small, cheap to run, practical, fun and shouldn't depreciate too much, compared to majority of cars mentioned on this thread.
Last edited by ViperStripes; 10th September 2024 at 12:48.
After a series of company cars, I bought a 2015 Civic 1.8 petrol as a stopgap. Four years later, I still have it, and despite the feeling I should probably change it, there is no real benefit in doing so. It is cheap to run, supremely reliable, and comfy with enough 'toys', and it just keeps going with no fuss. Rather like my 'stopgap' Civic!
Another Up! vote here - bought a 2nd hand one for our eldest about 4 years ago and she likes it so much that has added it's e-Up! cousin. A bit slow off the mark full loaded, but other than that absolutely no complaints. My only other small car experience in the past decades was a Fabia, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Another vote for the old school Yaris here...I had a 2005 5 door 1.3 Yaris for a good while and it was cracking...1.3 engine was rev happy, fun and never went wrong...sold it to my pal's son as his first car a while back and still see it flying about my area...wish I'd kept it as it would have been perfect as my Daughters first car !
That the limited edition Yorkshire model?
Do like the Up, certainly a contender should anything happen to the Smart .
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But how does it fit into ‘cheap runaround’?
That’s a £20k plus car
Thanks for the feedback chaps.
Seems like a lot of love for Ups’ and Yarisis’s
Very good!
I paid £3k for an 06 RAV4 earlier this year. Got more mod cons than the 13 plate Berlingo I px it against, drives better, fairly decent on fuel and, touch wood, it's been fantastic so far.
It doesn't beat the £700 Cmax I had before the Berlingo though, ran it for a year then scrapped it for £400
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That Cmax is perfect bangernomics.
Dave E
Skating away on the thin ice of a new day
Honda Jazz all the way - it's a small car and a large car all in one. We have one as a runaround - which gets used a lot more than planned as it's become our 'big' car because my car only has two seats. Ours is 10 years old and has lost c£1k in value over 3 years and 20k miles. Touch wood have never needed any work on it - flies through MOT every year - the mechanics say that nothing ever goes wrong on them.
Fits more in it than lots of far bigger cars - the back seats are an amazing design that flip up like cinema seats and you can fit a wardrobe in there. Seats 4 adults very comfortably and 5 OK. Yet, despite being so practical it's small to park and throw around - it's got 100bhp and weighs a tonne. As much power/speed as anyone actually needs and sits on a motorway comfortably for miles on end if needed.
Have toyed with upgrading it to a newer version, or to something like a Golf/Civic/Focus (or even an Evoque), but just can't see the point - all of these would lead to a compromises and higher costs for marginal benefit if any.
https://www.parkers.co.uk/honda/jazz...8/used-review/
They all seem to do a maximum of 25mph round this way.
Most of them have the optional zimmer frame attachment too.
My 84 year old mother in law has one.
And my 23 year niece and 25 year old niece each have one. I can tell you that they don't motor at 25mph.
Plus old people are wise...
At one point in our extended family we were running 3 Yaris cars and they all gave trouble free service. They all had the 1.3 engine and two were autos.
My Son bought a 2008 Honda Jazz and that has been fault free too. He doesn't really look after his cars so I recommend the Honda as I felt it would take his lack of care.
The only issue the Honda has had was when its Cat was stolen but that is nothing to do with reliability
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Sorry, I know it’s not really the car but you can guarantee that the car at the front of every queue of slow moving traffic round here is a Honda Jazz.
Law abiding citizens :)
A friend’s son is the happy owner of a Mazda 2. He’s totally happy with this trouble-free car. Honda Jazz level, I would say.
I can't reccomend the Suzuki Vitara Boosterjet Allgrip highly enough.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Yeah I understand why. We had one as a rental car during a holiday. I don't know (can't remember) if it was an Allgrip, but there were enough steep hills to justify a 4x4 system! We had a white car (aren't all rentals just plain white?) But I like the pale-blue with black roof!
You seen them everywhere on local roads here. I guess it has to do with the quality of the local Suzuki dealer in the village as well.
Owned my Toyota Echo (Yaris) RS model for 16 years (sold it 5 years ago). Loved that car and was going to buy a new one until they announced a partnership with Mazda and that killed it.
Good seat height. When I had to give a lift to my mother or aunt. Easy for them to get in and out as seat height was standard chair height. No sinking in or low.
Guess over there would be manual or auto.
Saw this image on line and bought the next day. One of the first in my province.
Guy on a Toyota forum slipped a 136hp Corolla engine into his. That's what Toyota should have done to boost sales
+1 for the Panda, we had one that ran to 100K miles and just needed brake pads and tyres, the 169's (previous model) were very well made in Poland, and the 1.2 engine is a "non intereference" design so if cam belt goes it doesn't ruin the engine. easy and nice to drive too. Cheers, John B4
I love my dopey little Panda, a Twinair 4x4. Bought it for a very specific purpose, never intending to keep it for long, nearly five years later I refuse to be parted from it.
I sold the previous Panda and bought a Red Panda 2013 trekking twinair, like you I found it gets under your skin, Had it 10 years now and can't think of anything I'd replace it with, so will keep it until it (or I) die! Cheers, John B4
If you don’t need to carry any more than 2 passengers then a Toyota iQ may be worth considering. We’ve run one as a second car for a while. Zero road tax, group3 insurance. Aircon, auto mirror/lights/wipers, keyless entry. Pretty fun to drive around town & fits in the tiniest spaces. Great owners club too.
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And great modding capabilities as proven by AM and their 8 cylinder version 😉
On a genuine note I've had both a VW Up and Suzuki Swift (although the 1.6 so possibly not ideal in this case), and found both to be incredibly reliable. Family also have the Skoda Citigo (basically an Up) but in automatic format, which has been great other than its incredibly dimwitted gearbox
My wife's cousin had a Yaris, and I had the job of selling it for her. Part of that was driving it about a bit to keep it fresh.
Sorry, but it was horrible. Tinny, slow, cheap-feeling, awful clutch, nasty gearbox, just no pleasure in driving it, at all. Glad to see it go.
We bought an Auris hybird estate. Made me want to stick pins into my testicles just for some excitement. I particularly hated the CVT gearbox (whheeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEE)
We had a VW id.3 on a lease. That was dull, too, although quick off the line. When that went, we bought a red 12-year old Alfa Giulietta (from here, actually). I LOVE it, even though it has its 'foibles' (every day without a warning light is a bonus!)
Realised that driving is something I enjoy, so I need a car that I enjoy driving!
FWIW, the wife has an e93 330i coupe/cab, and I have a tuned 1977 MG Midget in the garage.
i did 50k miles in our 1.2 panda before handing it over to mrs donkey who learnt to drive in it and then drove it to work for a few years.
When it was my car I barely ever lifted off full throttle on my 80 mile cross country commute - it's a brilliant brilliant wee car that you can thrash mercilessly and it will just come back for more, once you get used to the body roll the handling is actually pretty good. Parts are buttons and the car is much much more robust than people would have you believe.
The twin air 500 that replaced it wasn't in the same league, although the engine was quite good fun.
Last edited by Lazydonkey; 20th September 2024 at 11:54.
Curious if the UK was different than the NA model? Mine was the RS top of the line with much better seats than the base models, but engines the same in NA with a 106hp. Mine was an auto 3 speed. Sounded solid and crisp gear changes. Never had any complaints and had it for 16 yearsMy wife's cousin had a Yaris, and I had the job of selling it for her. Part of that was driving it about a bit to keep it fresh.
Sorry, but it was horrible. Tinny, slow, cheap-feeling, awful clutch, nasty gearbox, just no pleasure in driving it, at all. Glad to see it go.
We bought an Auris hybird estate. Made me want to stick pins into my testicles just for some excitement. I particularly hated the CVT gearbox (whheeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEE)
We had a VW id.3 on a lease. That was dull, too, although quick off the line. When that went, we bought a red 12-year old Alfa Giulietta (from here, actually). I LOVE it, even though it has its 'foibles' (every day without a warning light is a bonus!
Realised that driving is something I enjoy, so I need a car that I enjoy driving!
FWIW, the wife has an e93 330i coupe/cab, and I have a tuned 1977 MG Midget in the garage.
DON
Yaris Mk1; in the UK/Europe - there was 1.0 and 1.3 (NA) petrols and a 1.4 turbo diesel - the 1.0 was made in France IIRC and the 1.3 in Japan - I think the 1.3 was the better engine and was only 2-3mpg down on the 1.0. .
I never experienced the diesel but many owner reviews said it was excellent, especially with the autobox. Great motorway cruiser (for a city car) and 60mpg average was common.
My 2019 1.5 Yaris is returning 58mpg. Motorways it runs quiet and if you're not careful you can easily find yourself at 80mph.
I've never put oil in it as it's always at the top of the marker and as gold as the day it was filled. 😁
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