OV9

FiL drove his Alphard into a bollard yesterday and apparently it’s a write-off. Good.

But I’m now tasked with telling him what to buy as a replacement. He & his wife spend a lot of time driving back & forth between south London & Bristol to visit her favourite son & the grandchildren. The Alphard was always way too big and uneconomical. He had a bongo before and that was even worse. He thinks he’s a CG but these previous choices are baffling and seem to prove otherwise.

Anyway.

The ask is:

* petrol
* auto
* “a normal car” thank goodness not another van
* easy to drive yadda yadda
* budget flexible £10k-£20k

From my pov it needs to be unremittingly dull otherwise he’ll keep telling me about it. It also needs to be completely infallibly reliable. Because I don’t want to hear about stuff going wrong. Ever.

Do we simply need to point him at the nearest Toyota main dealer and tell him to pick a colour ?

He sound like a qashqai driver to me.

What’s that Dacia that looks like a Volvo? One of those. Or a Flying Spur. Then you can be like the Bentley Bois.

Yeti

Merc B-class.

Rich B wrote: Wed Jan 24, 2024 8:21 pm He sound like a qashqai driver to me.

This. Suggest getting one with the later 1.3L engine as the 1.2s are weedier than a weedy thing and supposedly a bit weak. The Tekna is fully loaded with every gizmo and gadget possible.

Edit: Suzuki? They do the Swace which is a rebadged Toyota Auris/Corolla or the Across (RAV4).

My wife has a petrol mild hybrid Suzuki Vitara, 1.4 turbo petrol with a bit of help from the hybrid gubbins. Ours is a manual but autos are available. We bought ours at 2.5 years old for 15k.

I've been handed the Which? Car Guide 2024 - most reliable new car over all categories is the Suzuki Ignis, most reliable used car (based on 5-9 year reliability rating) is the Lexus CT.

Auris or A3? Is the price new?

Does he like sticking to the middle lane of the motorway even if the other lanes are clear, by the way? I think most of the suggestions so far have been aimed at someone like that.

Perhaps something safer if he's started driving into things?
A Volvo XC40 would come in budget and are a much nicer place to be than the Japanese equivalent while being sufficiently dull that he shouldn't talk about it too much.

Honda Accord. I refuse to be more specific.

Prius+ would be a good halfway between normal car and the vans that he is used to.

Jimexpl wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2024 7:19 am Perhaps something safer if he's started driving into things?
A Volvo XC40 would come in budget and are a much nicer place to be than the Japanese equivalent while being sufficiently dull that he should talk about it too much.

That's an excellent choice. My father turns 80 this year and is thinking of swapping his two cars (Disco Sport and a Fiesta) for an XC40. I can see no reason at all to dissuade him.

Škoda scala. I’ve had one and they’re a good car. They’re also possibly the most boring car ever created at the same time

What bout a Mazda 3 ??

It's unremarkably "an car", should be cheaper than some and pretty reliable. Plenty of Options on Autotrader in the 5 of 6 year / 40k to 50k mileage.

Brother has one and really rates it as a NCG

Failing that, yeah a Qashqai

A Japanese Mercedes?

F40

Jobbo wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2024 9:20 am

Jimexpl wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2024 7:19 am Perhaps something safer if he's started driving into things?
A Volvo XC40 would come in budget and are a much nicer place to be than the Japanese equivalent while being sufficiently dull that he should talk about it too much.

That's an excellent choice. My father turns 80 this year and is thinking of swapping his two cars (Disco Sport and a Fiesta) for an XC40. I can see no reason at all to dissuade him.

Also to build on this position, if Sundayjumper's FiL is used to driving vans he will probably enjoy the higher vantage point of something like an XC40 or Qashquai