cars

[bfo]

next thing to look for will be a car

looking for a smallish hatchback with back seats that'll drop

cheap to run and insure and for road tax, less have 5 years old ideally

any suggestions.

note I won't be getting this till I sort the house out, just wondering what sort of thing i can get.

I'll so miss the cruise control and heated seats.

Comments

[mikewd]

I have to agree that Ford Focus probably is actually the sensible choice - seems reasonably well designed, good handling, cheap parts etc. & likely to be a good selection around of the age you're looking for. These days Ford's direct injection diesel's seem to be pretty good - unlike the ones from some years ago.

If you're going for diesel Peugeot(==Citroen) do have very good HDi models - I was very happy with my 306 2.0 HDi hatchback but they stopped making those in 2001 so older than you want. [The replacement (307) might fit the bill but make sure you get the a 2006 or later one as the earlier ones tended to have electrical problems - I've got the mini-MPV (SW) version of the 307 with the new 2.0 HDi which is very relaxed for motorway cruising with its 6 speed gearbox].

It might be worth looking at the mini-MPV form factor (e.g. Focus C-Max, 307-SW etc.) as they tend not to be too much longer than the hatchbacks but are taller and squarer at the back so you get quite a lot more useful room if you want to carry boxy things about.

You probably won't get heated seats on non-Scandinavian smallish hatchbacks but you may well get stuff like cruise control on the higher spec levels & on Fords may get their patent electrically heated front screen.