Small second car for commuting

[cornflakegirl]

Currently DH and I only run one car, which on weekdays I use for commuting (15 min trip). This is mostly fine - he is a SAHD who can access most stuff by bus (bus not practical for me to get to work). However, sometimes he'd like the freedom to go off bus route, so we're considering a second car.

We don't have a lot of spare cash, so it would need to be something cheap to buy / insure / run. I did think about a Smart car, but they don't seem to be that cheap second hand. Don't care about what it looks like, but do want something safe.

Has anyone got any suggestions?

Renaults are supposed to be very safe, (but have an awful reputation for reliability).

Ford Fiesta (old style) is cheap to buy, run and insure.

If it is only going to be used now and again might it make more sense to hire a car as and when it is needed?

Dh chose a smaret car, cost him about £3k, however if you ever want to usewith a child the carseat isanother £300 or so plus a Merc fee for resetting so wre aqre regretting that decision tbh, I cant use for eg a trip to dentist and as dh since been amde redundant (has a job but nio long commute) is sitting up until DH starts Uni in the autumn.

We had a renault but wouldnt again- always in garage.

Having the small car for the few months Dh was commuting save3d us a fortune over the MPV.

We have just bought a 2year old Chevrolet Matiz for £2200 for exactly the same reasons. It is brilliant. Really cheap to run, insure, etc. We only use it in the city. It is a bit underpowered for the motorway but we use the big car for that.

Safety was a HUGE consideration for me because I survived a bad car crash in January. It has two air-bags and a full set of 3 seatbelts in the back.

DH and I are both big people and we fit into it really easily. And it fits into tiny parking spaces!

ohdear - hiring a car if needed was always kind of the plan, but DH has never done it. I think this is mainly because of the hassle, but also because the idea of spending £35 so that DS can go on a playdate just doesn't sit right with him.

Our current car is a Yaris, so we're not going to save much (if anything) with a small commuting car.

It's good to know about the car seat thing with the Smart car - it would be our intention to use it just for commuting, but I'm sure the restriction would annoy at some point!

Will look at the Fiesta.

Ooh - and the Matiz - thanks (clearly took far too long typing that last post!)