our neighbours son's girlfriend wants to buy a new small car probably a mini, her boyfriend prefers the new fiesta or the yaris. With things being as equal as they could possibly be, what would be the best car ? Difficult question i guess?
That's true! Have to say I sat in the driving seat of a branny Fiesta a week or two ago and I liked the 'feel' of the position, control layout etc, so that would be my choice, subject to a test drive.
I'm considering buying one of these cars as well, and would like to do the maintenance myself when it's out of warranty, so I'm interested in what people think of their maintainability.
These are my preconceptions, based on prejudice and hearsay:
Fiesta (based partly on my current rusty one) - spares (even genuine Ford ones) are reasonably priced and widely available, but the service departments of Ford main dealers will charge a lot for servicing.
Yaris - are Toyota dealers a bit "nicer" than Ford ones, making main-dealer servicing a bit more viable?
Mini - these seem to be more technically advanced than the other two. There might be a lot of sophisticated stuff crammed under that bonnet, so is DIY servicing feasible? Is buying an extended warranty almost a necessity?
"Johnny OneSpanner" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
Forget DIYing any of them. They'll all have shitloads of computerised stuff jammed under there, making them un-servicable to anybody without the proper diagnostic computers. Along with everything else vaguely recent.
Sure, you might be able to change brakepads, oil etc - if you don't mind not being able to reset service indicators or upload software updates - but forget anything more advanced.
Discount the Yaris as the GF would have to be blind to like that ugly thing and it most definitely isn't so ugly that's it's cute. Leave it to the geriatrics that need a car they don't have to change height of bum to get in and out of.
New Festa is quite sharp looking. Stylish Fords have tendency to age badly, possibly the head lamp treatment and naff silver painted dash are going to be the key features that date it. Just don't get one of the Fashion colours like "metallic pink" aka "Hot Magenta", 70's BL beige aka "Spa" is out too, as is common as muck Peugeot 206 blue aka "Vision", though the green aka "squeeze" may be OK.
New Mini hasn't been messed with stylewise from old one and has better pedigree than Ford. It's the baby BMW. Gets my vote.
"Duncan Wood" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
And where will you be getting hold of this "software of your choosing"? I'd doubt that the dealer software is either legitimately available or runs on a standard PC with only a USB port for a readily available interface.
Sure, there may be _some_ PC-based diagnostic software available, but it'll neither be as up-to-date or complete as the dealer software.
Well it's not difficult to find it for BMW, the aftermarket for VAG's at least as good as the dealer software & for most things you don't need anywhere near that much functionality. Have you even tried it?
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