Car Recommendation

I have looked an an electric Hyundai Inster that is said to be the successor to the i10. Although the shape is unusual (a bit Lego) from the it inside seems impressive if you are thinking of making the leap to an electric vehicle. I suggest you look at one anyway just for the fun of it.

If going used, the Honda-e is worth a look if you don't need a lot of range:

My sister-in-law has recently purchased a yellow R5. She had to fork about £1000 extra to have an outside charging point installed. However she’s on a special EV fix with her electricity supplier which minimises her running costs significantly over her previous Toyota hybrid. She uses it mostly for short journeys so the relatively limited range is not a problem.

Fun? What fun? Living in the country it would be a constant worry.

The dealer I will use does Kia and Hyundai so I will have a look but I'm not keen on electric. My daughter is 250 miles west and sister 250 miles east, a small electric car just won't hack it.

I can't comment on the i10, but SWMBO had an i20 when we got together. It went well-enough but was a bit of a tinny buzz box and the build quality wasn't wonderful. It must have passed all the safety tests but it didn't feel like a car to have an accident in. Based on that, I would be dubious about an i10 ... unless they're designed by different teams and built in different factories.

To drag things back to DIY, which is purportedly the purpose of this forum: Many years ago I built two kit cars (didn't learn from the experience of building the first one!) so perhaps you could consider building or restoring something ...?

It would have to be a BSA Gold Star or Norton Dominator for me :-)

I've been very impressed with a little old Seat Ibiza. Basic with just enough gadgetry like A/C and a radio, to be useable.

Handles like a mini used to, but more comfortable. And more power. From its three galloping cylinders.

It's a small world. Many decades ago a GF and I owned a Gold Flash (I think that was the name) 650 twin with a "sports" single seat sidecar. I started to rebuild the engine for some reason, but we went separate ways before it was finished and it was mostly her bike. All the bits were stored at a house in Leicester in the 70s - I wonder if it ever got restored and rebuilt? I always hankered after a Dominator but stopped my 2-wheel phase with a

Similar feelings about what was my Mothers Toyota Aygo which we got when she was no longer confident to drive . Owes us nothing, simple enough that I can still do basic repairs like change the water pump without having to dismantle half an engine and disturb loads of electronics on the way. I balked at doing the clutch as it is the automated version and some garages don’t like doing them either as it easy to muck them up but the Chain Mr Clutch had no qualms and it has been faultless since. Long journeys are a bit tedious but it will do them, in fact a year ago our more sophisticated car decided to blow an injector out as I set forth on the 300 mile round trip to collect said Mother. So made the trip in the Aygo, yes a bit of a buzz box at 70 -80 but with AC ,Radio, and a heater a lot more comfortable than the A35 Van I did the same journey in back in the 70’s. And while the Toyotas 0 to 60 at about 13 seconds is slow compared to many cars now its comparable to the ordinary Cortinas, Vivas and even the MGB of that era and at 60mpg a lot more fuel efficient. Ours being a 2009 MK1 is now old but I know people with the current versions which are bit faster who are pleased with them .

GH

Another car so unfashionable that it was cheap enough for a garage to buy S/H for a courtesy car was the Nissan Almeira. I really liked that.

Senior Management had the older ( 2008) Picanto for about 8 years and eldest has the newer one.

Both love / loved them. No problems. Easy to do basic servicing etc. although, like all modern cars, lots of electronics which can be an issue.

Senior Management now has a Toyota Aygo. That has proved to be a great car

- ideal for a run about and towing behind our motorhome. Economic, small but ok for slightly longer trips. We bought new and have it serviced by Toyota so, assuming we keep doing that, it has a 10 year warranty.

We had an i10 as a hire car once. Admittedly only for a few days but it felt ‘plasticly’.

A family member has a i10, and I have driven it... from my brief exposure it is actually quite decent. Good ride quality for a small car. The engine is smooth and revs freely, and performance from the 1.2 is plenty good enough to be "safe" (i.e. you can speed match and merge onto a fast road etc without any great drama). Trim level is ok. Materials in the car only cloth / plastic, but no exposed metalwork, and quite well finished.

My wife has had a new Kia Picanto since March this year and is very happy with it. I've driven it as well and would be quite happy to have it as my car. No problems so far. Previously she had a Kia Picanto for 10 years and again no problems with reliability.