Skoda, Honda, or Seat?

[jeremytaylor]

FWIW Honda Jazz was 6th out of 159 in Top Gear 2005 survey (highest placed hatchback).

Fabia came 9th.

Civic came 21st.

Leon came 56th.

A Class came 143rd.

And there was me thinking they must have fixed the reliability on the A-class by now ... Or is this more a reflection of MB's famed 'customer service'? (Not that I read too much into these surveys, personally)

 

[BTB 500]

The A Class has actually gone down, compared to last year's survey. Don't know how many places, they just give an 'up' or 'down' indicator.

 

[AJTHOMAS]

Don't think about an A-Class, just don't !

Great concept poorly executed and expensive to continually repair.
Newest A-Class is at last a proper Mercedes but the price


Hmmm... we'll not be replacing ours


Been looking at the Seat Altea, Honda Jazz and Renault Modus.
Early days, all looked good, looked great versus the BabyBenz

 

[MikeL]

Honda Jazz - the only time me and the good lady have bought the same type of car twice - by the way the 04 plates onwards have got sorted sespension, 54 plates (November 2004 approx) Honda revised the cars, nicer dashboard, more comfortable seats - the easiest way to tell the latest spec is with the indicators built in to the door mirrors, Merc style!

With high 40mpg you don't need a diesel.


Mike

 

[BTB 500]

Honda Jazz - the only time me and the good lady have bought the same type of car twice

Yup the only thing we'd replace ours with is another Jazz.

 

[nickmann]

Wow - thanks for all the replies

French cars? Wife used to work at a French-brand dealer and saw the number of warranty claims. I fancied a **** at the time, the service manager told me not to be so silly as to even consider any French brand. Plus a distrust of French electronics generally. But we do like the look of them.

A-class? Would have to be a 2002 ish one, rather than new. I am tempted because my kids like it (roomy in the back), but I'm not convinced about either the reliability or the ride. At least if it's 3 years old the worst of the depreciation is passed. Also very high roof not suitable for average-height wife to reach up for kids bikes on roof-bars.

Not really fussed about driving experience, just want it to start, not cost a fortune, be as safe as possible for a small car. We've added Misubishi Colt and VW Polo to the list as well. Seat off due to rear vision.

The search continues. I predict another Saturday of bouncing around in small plasticy cars

Thanks a million for all your thoughts. I 'll keep you posted.

 

[nickmann]

Honda Civic anyone? Tried one yesterday, it seemed great. It has full heated leather, climate, cubbyholes, and no dents. Very bland after that, but it is a Honda. It looks like it might be the one.

I'm looking at Parker's for valuations, both on the Honda and the T*gra that we are PXing. Obviously the valuations are based on registration rears. Can anyone help me with this? We don't have letters in our registrations, so I can't translate the Parker's values?

Am I making sense? What I mean is, what registration is June 2000 and October 2002 please?

 

[tinkypot]

Am I making sense? What I mean is, what registration is June 2000 and October 2002 please?

W 01 March 2000 > 31 July 2000
52 September 2002 - February 2003

Source: http://www.ukcar.com/features/reg_year.htm

Hope this helps.

Alex

 

[nickmann]

W 01 March 2000 > 31 July 2000
52 September 2002 - February 2003

Source: http://www.ukcar.com/features/reg_year.htm

Hope this helps.

Alex

It most certainly does! Many thanks indeed.

 

[nickmann]

Oh Dear. We seem to be looking at Golf GTIs now. How did that happen?

 

[mobeyone]

Honda from me - cracking cars and go forever.. unlike.. MB!!!

 

[Dieselman]

Oh Dear. We seem to be looking at Golf GTIs now. How did that happen?

I think the New Polo looks smarter.

 

[nickmann]

I agree. The Polo is a really nice car, and would have suited the original requirements, but we seem to have started looking at slightly bigger cars now.

Looked at a Golf GTI Turbo (slow), a Seat Leon (snore), and a Citreon Xsara (sshhhhh) yesterday.

I hope we sort this soon!

 

[nickmann]

At Last!

The dirty deed is done. We had a full day's test in an A-class, a 140 Elegance. I really warmed to it after a while. It was comfy, quiet, and very easy to drive smoothly. I had heard bad things about MB gearboxes, but this manual one was peachy. Had lots of fun taking the seats in and out, playing "hunt the parking brake" (under the armrest).

And...

We bought the Honda Civic. I was really surprised as I was beginning to think we had hit the nail on the head with the A-Class, but wifey decided the Civic was the one. It's back at the dealers having the wheels de-kerbed and a couple of parking blemishes painted, and we'll have it in a week

Thanks for all your input and help on this.