small car advice needed.

[misdee]

seeing as i am pushing hard to pass my test ASAP asbieng without a driver for a month is really getting to me, and dh cant drive till his meds are finished, i have been thinking about what car to get.

dh has a new astra but i can only drive it if he is with me, or i am running an errand for him as its a mobility vechile. so i need a car for myself. originally i was gonna get the almera tino, but we figure it'd be better for dh to get that when he changes his car with mobility. so i am looking at a small car.

so which one, only have a budget of upto £3k in reality, so am thinking about Fiesta, corsa and micra sort of size.nust be 5 doors. it'll be for me and the kids (3 of them) as altho it isnt ideal, i can sit dd1 in the front seat and the other 2 in the back.

cant go wrong with a fiesta imo x

You may want to check it out but there is talk of legislation to restrict the age of kids allowed to travel in the front seat and to enforce boosters etc.

I was looking for a small car recently and the best one on all the tests and a great one to drive was the Honda Jazz.

Our 1st car was a secondhand micra and it was brilliant passed every mot and never needed anything done We only sold it to get a bigger car to do boot sales and often see it whizzing around Brighton still going strong Glad you feel better BTW

dont know if i can afford a honda, and havent seen many on 2nd hand market round here.

dd1 would be in suitable child seat. tho would a child with harnessed seat, rather than a high back booster be safer?

Ive owned a fiesta and a micra in the past and was happy with them both, I also had a Punto and was very pleased with that.

we had a hired punto last year, boot size was ok, so may add that to my list as well.

Can't find anything to differentiate between safety of child on booster in front or in harnessed seat. Advice here but all it says is to put seat as far back from an airbag as possible. I've alwasy forund it ironic that the safest palce is supposed to be middle of back seat but that often used to have only a lap belt which is a real no-no with a booster seat. You could call your local Health and Safety dept for advice perhaps ?

i honestly dont know if we could fit 3 seats in the back of a small car, but as i am coming up 25, this will be my 1st car, i cant afford a larger car with insurence/running costs.

like i said, i'd love to get a almera tino, but with a small budget its not possible.

Misdee Will be with you in about half hour

okies!!

now bring out the credit card

I ain't got one of them Misdee!!

lets go raid the car showroom then. lol.

ok I'll ramraid it with my mobility car!!

ok. now lets go get a posh motor!!

make sure you dont dent your mobility car, its being returned this year

My dad's just bought a Skoda. Apparently they do well in all the surveys.

what do u people think of soemthing like this

Fiat Punto as a model is probably fine, but whatever you do don't get a damaged / repaired one like the one in your ebay link. Unless you personally know the person selling it, or it's a garage (so you'd have some come-back), don't touch it with a barge-pole. It could have serious damage to the sub-frame and could crumple to nothing in the event of an accident.

Check the price out in Glass's guide or Parkers Guide, and if the car seems too cheap there's probably something wrong with it.

For my money I'd go for a Fiesta - you can't go wrong with em and parts are cheap.

thats the sort of model i'm after. its was the only one i found on ebay that fitted what i needed. i dont have the cash now so wouldnt bid on it anyway.

have been looking at the car sdupermarkets, and dh said he'll take me there once i've passed my test.

I have got a punto and have had it for the last three years. Never a day of trouble. Its a basic model so cheap, but has a big boot to easily fit a buggy and shopping in. Also you can disable the front passenger seat airbag so you can fit a car seat in the front if you need to.