There was me thinking that my limited appeal was strictly to the locals who don’t know any better. But, no, it was a pleasure and privilege to get a car-buying question from one of our European cousins. In this case, it was Melicia, who lives in Rome.
Helpfully, she outlined how she uses her current car. She said that for 99% of the time, for city trips of less than half an hour, there are only one or two people in the car. However, two or three times a year, they go from Rome mob-handed, with four or five people and their luggage, to another city two or three hours away. Then they go mad and take a one-off road trip to a city about eight hours away. At this point, it’s probably timely to mourn the passing of Melicia’s worn-out Honda Civic.
The thing is, Rome is going the way of all major cities and imposing emissions-based restrictions. That means a hybrid is going to be the answer, and the smaller the better. When Melicia needs a big barge for those big trips, she can get everyone to chip in and rent the best people-mover for the job. Otherwise, it is a case of getting a city hatch to handle all those one-up and two-up trips.
I won’t go shopping in Rome. Let’s play the game over here. The obvious budget answer is one of those Honda Civic 1.3 IMAs in Executive trim. One of these early-era 2005 hybrids with 108k miles is around £1995. It’s a four-door saloon but not a huge thing and easy to live (and pick up all those Rome-related parking dents) with.
There are, of course, more Toyota Priuses than you can shake an Uber at and those are the ones to ideally avoid. Otherwise, a decent 2007 Prius with just over 100k miles is going to be around £2950.
Not everyone is a cheapskate like me, though, and upping the budget puts a cute little Suzuki Swift, a 1.0 Boosterjet Hybrid, within reach. A 2017 one with 25k-30k miles under its tyres is £9500. That seems pretty reasonable to me. There are a few about. There is also the teeny, tiny Suzuki Ignis with the Dualjet petrol-electric set-up and a 2017 car with 20k miles is similar, £9950 money.
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Premium Car?
If someone is wanting to buy a "premium" car such a a Mercedes A Class, is a Honda Jazz really the most appropriate suggestion. I would have thought an Audi A1 or a MINI would have been better suited. Perhaps a used TT if D Wortham's friend wanted to play on Dartmoor's roads in style.
I grew up on Dartmoor in the
I grew up on Dartmoor in the 1970s, when you could drive for at least 3 minutes without seeing another car. But its narrow, twisting byways are as traffic-clogged as anywhere these days. If it's not a tractor dawdling at 15mph then it's or a 4-axle bungalow towed by an asthmatic crossover, or that modern curse - the delivery van. It's rarely fun nowadays, and certainly not stylish.
City driving? Stuff it, take the train.
Your best bet Melicia
is a Mercedes B Class factory-built to run on compressed natural gas. It's spacious inside but has a small footprint for easy parking, it overcomes Italian environmental restrictions and the Mk 1 version looks chic too.
Vans
Still miss my old Metro ex-Post Office van - good to drive and you could get loads in it without worrying about scratches, etc. Something like a C2 van (or even a Rover Commerce/MG Express for rarity) would be good.