Spec my mother a car, please.

InvaderGIR

InvaderGIR

InvaderGIR

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Right ok. Her big old H reg (1991) Land Rover 110 Defender has passed it's MOT but is likely going to be needing loads thrown at it for the next one so it shall be going. This means she needs a replacement vehicle.

What she would like is a car (so no Land Rovers) with the following things:

  • 5 doors (so hatchback/estate)
  • High MPG (She said 60...considering the Land Rover does 23MPG...it's all a bonus)
  • Cheap insurance bracket
  • Cheap to insure
  • Manual
  • Petrol
  • Comfortable driving position for an arthritic lady
  • Absolute MAX of £6k, ideally around £5k
  • As new as possible

She does almost exactly 12k a year so I said petrol is a better buy than diesel now as she'd have to do ~20k miles to make it worth while, along with the higher purchase price.
She's said that she likes the 2.0l Petrol 306 she is given when the Land Rover is with her mechanic, driving position etc. are all good for her. She finds some cars uncomfortable to be in and to get in and out of. The Land Rover being one these days, as she has to climb up to get into it and the rattlyness of it all doesn't do her bones any favours and it's only really ok for short trips, she can't drive it long journeys, ~90mile round trip to the station isn't good for her for example.
She also doesn't like cars you have to get down into and climb out of (so no Elises guys :p).

I think the comfortable for arthritic person requirement is going to be a tough one for people to help with really, as I said to her, it's likely she'll find something comfortable on a test drive and then after say 2 months of ownership she'll find it not so good for her.

My brother in his infinite wisdom has been suggesting 2006 VW Passat 1.9TDI estates...which meet a couple of the requirements, but not many. :rolleyes:
 
not particularly cheap to insure however. The 2.4D is Group 15 and the D5 is group 16.

on another note how stupid are the requirements.

she wants a petrol car that does 60mpg, which to me says little tiny economical shopping trolley type thing

but then she wants a big comfortable car thats cheap to insure as well ?

Not going to happen, nothing is going to fit all those criteria.
 
What? You've managed to fudge the requirements somewhat.

She wants a petrol car that does high mpg, she picked 60 out of the air, as I said, current vehicle does 23, so anything 'high' is good. 40+ is good really.

Nobody said she wants a big comfy car at all, where did you pull that one from?
 
InvaderGIR said:
Comfortable driving position for an arthritic lady
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comfy / comfortable are the same thing yes ? ;)

Generally to get a nice comfy driving position with a nice comfy seat you want a car designed to offer as such, which probably means something mondeo sized. VW polos and other shopping trolley type runabouts arent going to have comfy seats, because they are designed for short trips ?

On a more serious note how important is the MPG requirement ? Your average Petrol engined car wont do much more than 40mpg. If she's thinking 60, is she not going to be a tad disappointed if it only does say 39 ?
 
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MrLOL said:
comfy / comfortable are the same thing yes ? ;)
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Actually, no. She would find a jag or something like that with big comfy seats uncomfortable.

MrLOL said:
On a more serious note how important is the MPG requirement ? Your average Petrol engined car wont do much more than 40mpg. If she's thinking 60, is she not going to be a tad disappointed if it only does say 39 ?
Click to expand...

Point is, she doesn't need or want a car that does sub 30. Even my 1.9 BMW does 35MPG and it's 12 years old, so a 2.0 2006 petrol should get decent mpg, no?
Else, fine, put it to a diesel, but the buying price is more for both fuel AND the car and she doesn't do enough miles to warrant a diesel does she?
 
=VTA=MANFACE said:
VW Golf.

Only petrol ?
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See above about diesel vs petrol. 12k pa doesn't warrant buying diesel really does it, especially with the higher costs in buying a car and fueling one.

Golf is possible, but they are often overpriced in my opinion.

Jazz is an idea, can you find a decent one in budget, just so I can link her to AT or whatever, I can only find franchise dealer ones that look like a rip off. :p

I think the Mondeo estate is perfect, but I'm not sure she'll think so, keep the ideas coming in people, so I can put them to her later. :)

Cheers so far.
 
I thought Focus as soon as she said she wanted a new car and suggested it...she didn't seem to dismiss it, so will add that to the list.

Civic, for some reason I don't like them, but it's not for me, so I'll add it to the list. :)
 
What about one of those odd 'urban crossover' SUV type cars like the Ford er, Kuga is it? I don't know whether that particularly 'niche' that the motor industry invented is old enough to be within your budget yet though. :p
 
I think the problem with them is they are a 'climb into' car. She's about 5ft 3 or so and with bad joints she is more after a step into car, which I think the Jazz fits well but I'm insure about the overall space in it. Personally I'd say she should get the Focus or the Mondeo but I'm just going to hand her a list of different cars (the ones you lot have provided) and get her to test drive them all. :)
 
TangoSixteen said:
EVO VIII GSR*


Volvo S60 maybe?


*just kidding TWFox
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You say that but at my local pub last night I saw two ladies around mid/late forties and they stepped out of a blue TME Evo VI! Ever better was the amount of mud on it, looked like they had burnt through the countryside to get there :D
 
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