How To Find The Best Small Car For You

The best car of any size is the one that fits your purpose and purse. In other words it has to have the size, space and versatility to fit your lifestyle. Plus it needs to be affordable in terms of finance, depreciation and running costs especially with rising fuel and car insurance prices.

Most buyers next consider car safety. Nearly all new model cars are achieving 5-star Euro NCAP ratings and all cars manufactured will soon have ESP/ESC as standard. If you buy a car which is not 5-star and is without ESP then it's less than the safest car you can buy.

Other considerations are performance, comfort, style, and prestige. I don't think car durability or reliability are a concern these days.

My experience is car buyers look at a small car and say it's all they need. However small cars come in three sizes - tiny city cars around 3.5m in length, super minis about 3.75m and what I call super-sized small cars near 4m long. So the best small car will be first the one that fits your life.

If you make a car comparison or two you'll notice small cars of the same size are nearly all very similar for price range, space, fuel consumption, emissions, maximum speed and acceleration. Where there are differences in engine efficiency they may make little difference in real on the road conditions because the figures quoted are lab' tests.

That leaves us with style, comfort and prestige. All three are matters for your personal taste.

Small cars can have a clean simple style or be dynamic with sweeping lines and curves. It looks like the new Renault Clio and Peugeot 207 replacement will attempt new and different approaches. We already have the Nissan Juke and Citroen DS3 setting new anti retro styles.

I've found if an owner is dissatisfied with their car comfort is normally the cause. There are a whole host of small aspects to check in ease of access, seating position, visibility, driving comfort. The overall feeling you should personally get is one of being happy and at ease. As prices, space and engine efficiency can be so similar for the same size car and engine it does free your attention to focus on comfort.

While small car may not be prestigious most have either street cred' or a large loyal following of satisfied customers. Just because the Fiesta and Corsa are the best selling small new cars doesn't mean they're the best. New car sales are determined by all kinds of marketing and do not take into account the much larger used car market.

The Mini, Corsa, Clio and 207 seem to have the most street cred'.  The Fiesta, Polo, Micra, Ka, and Yaris all have a large loyal following. Skoda, Suzuki, Hyundai, KIA, Honda have high levels of customer satisfaction. The Mazda2 and Ibiza are considered very stylish. City cars - C1, 500, 107 and Twingo - have become increasingly popular.

It seems every small car has something going for it so subject to it fitting your purpose and purse, it being safe, there a few differences to consider which means you can compare their style and comfort to decide which small car you personally like.

Regards
Ralph