Which new small, spacious, good value car

[tostaky]

My car is being written off by our insurance and they do not want to repair it. Which is a shame as we would have preferred to keep it!!
our car was nice car from mercedes.
Finances are down at the moment (like everyone else’s!) and i am thinking of downsizing our car.

i am looking for a good value car that is spacious and not too large. Spacious as in we have three teensbut rarely travel together. Good value as in, cheap to insure young drivers.

if you have a car that fits that description, please share tge make and model. Thank you!

You need to give a ballpark budget, new/used, manual/auto, elec/petrol.

Used, manual, petrol but open minded!
not sure about budget… maybe less than £10k? I dont know yet how much the insurer will value our car

I have a BYD Dolphin, it’s glorious and very cheap!

Sorry to hear about the Mercedes, that's a rotten way to find out you're downsizing. Worth knowing first: if the insurer is writing it off, you can usually negotiate the valuation. Check what similar cars are actually selling for (Autotrader, not the trade guide figures they often lean on) and send them those as evidence. It can shift the payout by a few hundred pounds, and with a budget under £10k that matters.

For small but roomy with three teens, the shortlist I'd look at:

• Skoda Fabia estate or Fabia hatch. Honestly one of the most space for the footprint you'll find at this price, big boot, cheap to run, and the 1.0 petrol models sit in low insurance groups (often group 8 to 12).

• Skoda Octavia is the next step up in size but still easy to park. Very roomy in the back for tall teens, though the bigger engines creep up the insurance groups, so stick to the 1.0 or 1.2 TSI.

• Hyundai i20 or i30, Kia Rio or Ceed. Good rear legroom, reliable, and the smaller petrols are low group. If you find one with the remaining manufacturer warranty, even better.

• Honda Jazz. Tiny outside, absurdly big inside because of the layout. Teens will actually fit in the back.

• Toyota Yaris or Corolla, if you can stretch to a decent one. They hold their value well, which helps if you ever sell.

On the young driver insurance worry, the engine size and the exact insurance group matter more than the badge. A 1.0 or 1.2 petrol in groups 8 to 15 is usually your sweet spot. It's also worth knowing that the cost depends a lot on who is named and who is the main driver, so quote the car with the oldest or most experienced driver as the main and see what happens to the price before you commit. Quote on the specific car and year before buying, because the same model can sit in very different groups depending on trim and engine.

One thing I'd add: if the teens are the ones who'll drive it, run quotes with and without them on the policy for the shortlisted cars. It's quicker than guessing, and it stops you buying something that looks cheap to insure until the teen's name goes on. I work on FirstCarScout, which lets you filter cars by what they'll cost to insure for a young driver, so it can save a bit of that legwork, but plain comparison sites will do the job too.