Help - What 1.0 or 1.1 litre Car to Get?

beatsie

Hi everyone

I will be getting a car in the next few months and it will have to be a 1.0 or 1.1 litre because of insurance.

So what is the best 1.0 or 1.1 litre Car to get?
and what ones should i avoid completely?


By best i mean, performance, handling, fuel efficiency

I know it depends on the age of the car ,mileage and personal taste etc.. and also test driving. but just answer as generally as you can because i really dont know what to look for. And having an idea of a few makes and models will save time test driving crappy cars

Thanks in Advance

B

ToxicPaddy

The main ones on the markets are:

Daihatsu Charade
Daewoo Matiz
Citreon Saxo
Ford Fiesta (pre 98 model I think)
Ford Ka
Hyundai Atoz/Getz
Mazda 121
Mini
Nissan Micra,
Opel Corsa (older model)
Peugeot 106/205/206
Renault Clio
Seat Arosa
Suzuki Alto
Toyota Starlet/Yaris
VW Lupo/Polo (older models)
Fiat Cinquecento


There are some 1.2 Ltr cars as well that you still maybe able to
stretch to under your insurance

Fiat Punto
Ford Fiesta (newer model)
Opel Corsa (Newer model)
Seat Ibiza
VW Polo (newer Model)


It all depends on

- Personal taste
- How much you have to spend
- How much you really want a car
(as in will anyone do, or do you have a particular type in mind that
has half decent looks and not just a sardine tin on wheels.. )

Id personally recommend anything from Ford, VW or Toyota... all have had
huge market success with all their cars and this shows by the sheer numbers of
them on the read.

VW's can be expensive to maintain and sometimes so can Toyotas, Fords are
cheap enuff and parts are plentiful. Toyota have one of the best reliability and fuel
economy with their Yaris..

Fiestas go forever and on a sniff of petrol..

Opel, Fiat and Nissan also have huge amounts of their cars on the roads too and
this is good on the way of second hand prices as the market is flooded with them
and as such the second hand buyer can usually get great deals.

Like i said, the choice is really down to you and what type and look of car you want..

Tox

beatsie

Thanks for the advice Toxic

Beatsie

SheroN

Toyota Yaris or a skoda fabia.

thesteve

Yaris all the way, keeps its value, 30 euro to fill the tank and you'd get over 400 miles on that....

if you can get over the fact that the car looks like it has a headache you'll be grand!

Doctor J

Went through this a few months ago, got about 16 brochures, narrowed it down to Ciroen C3, Toyota Yaris, Renault Clio and Hyundai Getz. Test drove them. French reliability and build quality ruled out the Renault and Citroen (2 new broken down Clios at the dealers). Yaris was solid and reliable but incredibly dull. The Hyundai felt good, very well spec'd, solidly built so bought that. Got it for 12.8k

3 months later, not an ounce of trouble from it, still impressed and you can get a load of stuff in it like the ad says, so the Getz gets my vote (sorry, no pun intended).

Guy:Incognito

went looking at cars with a friend of mine last week and was very impressed with the new fiat panda, lovely for a small car. had a clio for 3 years and it was great. I treated that car so badly and it never gave an ounce of troubl. 3 years without serviceing and just topping up fluids (not advisable) All it got was a new set of tyres and brake pads. Not bad for €45,000 miles, fuel economy never dropped either. Clio's only come in 1.2/1.4 tho.

kayos

Originally posted by Stekelly
Clio's only come in 1.2/1.4 tho.

Ahhh I think you will find there are slightly bigger engined Clios available the 2Litre Clio 172 being one and of course the Clio V6 .

Guy:Incognito

yes i do know there is a 2.0ltr and a 3.0ltr clio but it hardly seemd relevant in a thread where the question was regarding a poster looking for a 1.0/1.1ltr car. I would imagine the 2.0ltr(€20k + ) and the 3.0ltr (approx €50k) is a bit out of their price range and insurance bracket. #theres also a 1.9 diesel if were getting picky

Dcully

For the love of god DO NOT buy a fiat,total rubbish and will bring nothing but heartache.
Number one is quite simply the Toyota Yaris,Bomb proof reliability,great performance from 1.0 litre engine ie most 1.3 or 1.4 engines pump out what the yaris is pumping out 69 bhp [in a 1 liter remember],very good residuals too and feels like a bigger car,you cant go wrong.
I had one for 2 years ,fantastic little car .
Next up would either be the Micra,clio,fabia,ibiza or polo.
I say again stay clear of Fix It Again Tomorrow {FIAT} cars.

Andrew Duffy

Fiats have a few reliability problems, but no more than many other marques. It's not 1980 anymore. How can you judge the Yaris to have bomb proof reliability when it has only existed for three years? The engine is entirely different to anything Toyota has produced before, so the exceptionally reliable Starlet really has nothing to do with it.
Remember the 1.0 VVTi Yaris is going to be an expensive machine to insure, since insurance is based on both capacity and peak output. And remember too that while a lot of 1.3/1.4 litre engines may only put out 68 bhp, they'll do it at less than 6000 rpm, and they'll accelerate a larger car to 60 in a lot less than 14 seconds.

beatsie

Great advice people, thanks a lot

I will be getting a used car by the way.

had a peek and the Yaris looks good alright. might be a bit out of the oul price range , depends on loan and insurance quote really.

seamus

As others have said, avoid the Punto like the plague.

Yaris, or (if you can stand the ugly design) a Ka. Fords are well built cars.

Rabies

if ya can go for a VW, they look much better than yaris or fiesta.

Originally posted by thesteve
Yaris all the way, keeps its value, 30 euro to fill the tank and you'd get over 400 miles on that....

:eek: €30 for 400 miles. if i fill up its €65 just over 400 miles but I don't pay

Mailman

Fiat Punto, at least first generation was a great car.
I bought one new and have sold it on to a workmate so I've seen it going since '98 up to present.
The car was very cheap to begin with.
In my time with the car I had no problems.
Since passing it on - the headgasket went which was a cheap repair and was most likely due to workmate not changing coolant and rear section of exhaust has just fallen off in the last few days. Frost plug needed to be changed too which is tiny money.
The car has been a very reliable device in all this time.
When you consider how practical and cheap the car is I would have no hesitation recommending a Fiat Punto(with full service history) to anyone.
My sister also owned one for a number of years and that was reliable - only problem I remember her encountering was the power steering belt snapping but once again this was a cheap DIY repair.
If you maintain a Punto in accordance with manufacturer's recommedations and keep it well away from Main dealer workshops it should give you good reliable service.
Because Puntos are bought by people on a budget they generally skimp on repairing it afterward, when you add the terrible dealer network to this it is no surprise FIATs have a bad reputation - make it work for you, get a good example cheaply thanks to bad rep. the brand has.

As for MPG - I was consistently getting in excess of 42MPG. I was able to do over 400Miles on a tank of petrol which equated to 2 weeks driving for me, filling her up on the same day every forthnight in the cheapest petrol station in the locality.

Dcully

When i say Fiats ,im not just talking about reliability.
The build quality is appaling in even the latest Punto.
Regarding the Yaris,its a Toyota therefore it is the ultimate in reliability,enough said.
I wonder why in every single reliability and customer satisfaction poll or survey the Fiat is always the worst?
Dont get me wrong ,any car should last 3 years without too much trouble,which indeed a Punto more often than not will but i have severe doubts after it reaches 5 or so years.
One never sees old Fiats on the road,i wonder why?
I have seen numerous Japenese and German cars as low as 1987 on the road but not a single Fiat.
The Punto is a nice little car to drive in fairness and low cost also but id hate to think what it would be like after 10-12 years .
Allim saying is for peace of mind avoid Fiat like the plague.
Sure you get the odd decent one that wont give trouble but is that good enough?
Fiat have not built a good reliable car since the Uno.

Tommy Vercetti

I'd definitely go for the Yaris too, they've been around since 1999 iirc.

Just think, how many Fiat taxis do you see around (other than wheelchair accessible ones), compared to Toyotas? Taxi drivers can't afford to be off the road if they have an unreliable car.

Mailman

http://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk/trends2.html?apc=3128339010848601

Newer Punto is 3rd most reliable small car.
'97 revision of original Punto also had above average reliability.

Toyotas appear to be reliable but cost a lot to repair in the UK when they go wrong.

Actually a Fiat Punto with a FIRE engine wouldn't make a bad Taxi, it's just the larger models with the more unreliable engine designs and electrical gremlins that would put you out of business.

Gmodified

off the point but only certain car models should be allowed to be driven as taxi

and Punto shouldn’t be on that list.

Taxi should be big comfortable car not little spanner box

The last thing I need after long flight, is to share rear seat with my suitcase on the back of fiat punto

milltown

Originally posted by Mailman
http://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk/trends2.html?apc=3128339010848601

Newer Punto is 3rd most reliable small car.
'97 revision of original Punto also had above average reliability.

Toyotas appear to be reliable but cost a lot to repair in the UK when they go wrong.

Actually a Fiat Punto with a FIRE engine wouldn't make a bad Taxi, it's just the larger models with the more unreliable engine designs and electrical gremlins that would put you out of business.

Do you not need a special licence to drive a fire engine?
And where would you park it?