Help me find a car for my partner

[Skilid]

Currently my partner has a 2010 Skoda Fabia. Whilst the car is fine and reliable, my partner doesn't have particularly good eyesight and can be a nervous driver. She hates driving the Fabia at night because the halogen headlights are poor when she has everyone coming towards her with LEDs and Xenons. We've upgraded the bulbs but it hasn't made much of a difference. I personally want to fit a HID kit, but I realise this is illegal and technically should fail an MOT. It has projector headlights, so the HIDs would be fine in terms of beam pattern, but she is worried about driving round with them. She has been spoiled by my BMW factory fitted Xenons as a passenger.

She only uses the car for occasional local trips, but every other week has to do a 200+ mile round trip for work. The Fabia's steering is not very relaxing and the driving position isn't particularly comfortable either, so it's not great for long trips.

So, OcUK, can you help me find a suitable car? Requirements:

1. Automatic.
2. Good headlights (LED or Xenon).
3. Small (ideally Fabia sized). Smaller the better.
4. Comfortable.
5. Petrol.

We don't a fixed budget per se. Her current car is worth around £4k and we realise we'd have to pay a fair bit more to get something suitable. I realise it's also difficult, as small cheap cars do not tend to come with decent headlights, unless you get something brand new or bigger.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[ShiWarrior]

I'm going to say something else first

whilst she is a nervous driver, and driving at night might be difficult, changing lights to HIDS wont really help if you have a car coming towards you is the problem

 

[Skilid]

I'm going to say something else first

whilst she is a nervous driver, and driving at night might be difficult, changing lights to HIDS wont really help if you have a car coming towards you is the problem

It will help a little, but I get your point. However, even when there are no cars she doesn't find the halogens very good down a dark country back lane. On well lit roads she is fine.

 

[Rroff]

Been using Philips X-treme Vision 130% on my truck and it makes a huge difference over the standard halogens. But as above that isn't going to help with the dazzling from people coming the other way - and unfortunately an increasing number of new headlights seem to be dazzling dipped never mind the increasing number of people who just drive around with the high beam on all the time!

 

[ShiWarrior]

It will help a little, but I get your point. However, even when there are no cars she doesn't find the halogens very good down a dark country back lane. On well lit roads she is fine.

im the same, i hate halogens these days, thats what i have now
my 2002 car (i have a 2009 now) had Xenons, and id love to get HIDs back, so much nicer and safer

currently got Philips Extremes (200% ones) but as its "Reflector" headlight, not a lot of difference

 

[Hawk Tuah]

Bit of a drive, but.. it's quite a specific model you're looking for.

2013 Nissan Juke 1.6 Tekna 5dr CVT HATCHBACK Petrol Automatic | eBay

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Girls love these things. Small, but still got a raised driving position - so would be better to avoid the beam of oncoming headlights. Automatic, petrol and the Tekna model, so got all the creature comforts - plus Xenon headlights as standard.

 

[Scania]

BMW 116i automatic with Xeons?

I guess it depends on budget, age requirements, and finding one with the Xeon soec.

 

[mccarf]

You reminded me of a video I watched not long back. He's a car dealer, and in that video he goes through recommends automatic cars for under £5k that have less chance of breaking.

 

[jellybeard999]

The new Skoda fabia is the obvious suggestion

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Been using Philips X-treme Vision 130% on my truck and it makes a huge difference over the standard halogens. But as above that isn't going to help with the dazzling from people coming the other way - and unfortunately an increasing number of new headlights seem to be dazzling dipped never mind the increasing number of people who just drive around with the high beam on all the time!

These are ridiculously good and I wouldn‘t drive anything on my local unlit and mostly unmarked rural “B” roads which didn’t have the same or better performance.

I find I get less dazzling from oncoming traffic as they’ve seen my high beams coming the other way before I dipped them and obviously don’t want to be flashed by them up close.

 

[Dis86]

Driving lessons

 

[Rroff]

Bit of a drive, but.. it's quite a specific model you're looking for.

2013 Nissan Juke 1.6 Tekna 5dr CVT HATCHBACK Petrol Automatic | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 2013 Nissan Juke 1.6 Tekna 5dr CVT HATCHBACK Petrol Automatic at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

Girls love these things. Small, but still got a raised driving position - so would be better to avoid the beam of oncoming headlights. Automatic, petrol and the Tekna model, so got all the creature comforts - plus Xenon headlights as standard.

Nissan CVT of that era is a bit of a mixed story - some people really hate it and you really need to test drive it with someone who knows what to look out for or you could quickly end up with an expensive bill if the transmission is on its way out (and ideally a decent service history so you know it has been maintained).

 

[Dup]

You can get anti-glare glasses which might be worth a look.

 

[throwaway4372]

Check she knows about full beam.

 

[chroniclard]

Brand new Polo GTi with the matrix led lights. They are great.

 

[Skilid]

Thanks to those who provided actual useful advice and suggestions.

Not sure if she’s actually considering getting brand new or not yet. It would make things easier if she did, though obviously a lot more expensive.

I found an Audi A1 (2011) for about £8-£9k, but not actually sure if these have Xenons or just have projector lenses with halogens.

 

[Dis86]

You can get anti-glare glasses which might be worth a look.

They're funny ones. My mum wears contacts and gets a weird kind of glare/refraction from them.
I made her start wearing yellow lens glasses that I used for cycling and they actually helped her a lot.
She stopped wearing them because she complained she looked silly. Alone. In the car. At night. That nobody could see. But she could now see well out of.

 

[ShiWarrior]

Thanks to those who provided actual useful advice and suggestions.

Not sure if she’s actually considering getting brand new or not yet. It would make things easier if she did, though obviously a lot more expensive.

I found an Audi A1 (2011) for about £8-£9k, but not actually sure if these have Xenons or just have projector lenses with halogens.

I'm sure you could easy find out

Search for a brochure online or look through ads on autotrader etc

 

[Hawk Tuah]

Thanks to those who provided actual useful advice and suggestions.

Not sure if she’s actually considering getting brand new or not yet. It would make things easier if she did, though obviously a lot more expensive.

I found an Audi A1 (2011) for about £8-£9k, but not actually sure if these have Xenons or just have projector lenses with halogens.

As with most brands/models - I suspect it depends on the specific trim level. A poverty spec Audi isn't going to have anywhere near the same level of equipment a top spec 'lesser brand' car would.

 

[NVP]

Budget depending, of course, but how about ~13-15k on a second gen, low mileage BMW X3 - high driving position (lessens effect of oncomming headlights), easy to drive with good views out, Xenon Lights.