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Not Toyota but opinions and experience required.

My sisters experience with a Honda Jazz has been very good, she's on her second one now. Problem free.
 
DAF 44 Variomatic if you can find one

Dad got given (several) of these as his company car as a 20-something sales area manager.... his boss kept complaining about how he treated them to which he replied "how do you expect me to pull in one of these?"

He evenetually got "upgraded" to a Volvo 240....
 
as said by others a more modern diesel could be problematic on short journeys with the DPF .Some friends visiting from the UK had an Auris hire car , a CVT & i thought it was horrible as did my mate who only drives old style autos .Given the annual mileage a 10 OR 20 % difference in MPG shouldn't add much to the yearly running costs so maybe something a bit bigger than a Jazz ?
 
Dad got given (several) of these as his company car as a 20-something sales area manager.... his boss kept complaining about how he treated them to which he replied "how do you expect me to pull in one of these?"

He evenetually got "upgraded" to a Volvo 240....

They should have gone with the Volvo 66 from the start and he would have been an instant hit.
 
Umm Mr Ed umm delicate umm question umm so umm dad umm pulled umm don't know how to umm ask but umm were you umm you know umm in a Volvo umm
 
I put 40k on a 60 plate on one of the cheapest Auris hybrids I could find and over the 18 months it was completely reliable, only swapped it a couple of months ago for the wife to get a new Corolla and I now have her old lexus CT. Again completely bomb proof car.
Understand the appeal of the Yaris , we had an 03 plate T sport in the family for years taking it from 18k to 165k lol.
Hybrid Yaris maybes?
 
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Family member has had a Jazz since they came out and loves it. Lynn loves her Mitsubishi Space Star. 1.9 did. Goes well, and the second we have had (though manual) reasonable room and well made. Mitsi parts guy I’ve known for 25 yrs says the engine goes on and on. Mitsi modified Renault unit. Mitsi stopped the turbos dying.
Not made any more and can be picked up quite cheaply. I’ve no info on the autos but could ask said parts guy if you’re interested. 50-60mpg should be easily achieved.
 
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The later Yaris auto with the cvt is ok, it was the early autos that had the automated manual that was junk. Little Kias and Hyundais had proper auto boxes.
My mum has the Hyundai i10 auto.
She wont swap it for anything.
 
Skoda Fabia (Diesel) Clare's had one for a few years, £20 a year tax, Excellent fuel economy, And reliability .( so far).... Best small car according to Which is the Ford Fiesta 1.5 tdci... So they Say... Free road tax i think

One more vote for this little skoda. I visited a friend in Rotterdam and borrowed hers and drove to Paris for a few days with it. it had a stop start motor ( I turned it off after while)
Was a great car on the long runs and was perfect in Paris traffic. Had laughter an whoops of joy from my passenger as I was nipping in an out of traffic in central Paris. Seemed very solid in that reassuring German way.
 
Thanks for the advice so far, Its finding a diesel auto at not too much money. The Kia Ceed 1.6 diesel auto is a front runner at the mo but is the Fiesta available in auto form?
 
Fiesta TD auto got me loads of results and believe it or not it is worth adding "low mileage" in googles search box and £5 or whatever number your low end budget starts with .
 
Corolla or Camry, or old school Yaris - these just keep going forever. I have a manual Lancer that I love and has been very reliable with a bulletproof engine - but the auto of that is a CVT and I'm not a fan of them.

I did drive a Kia Picanto once and a Kia Sportage both of which I didn't like - the Picanto feltlike a Peel P50 and the Sportage was a diesel and totally gutless unless you gave it welly and then admittedly was fairly speedy, but the major thing that gave me the shits about it was the recirculation turning off after 40 mins.
 
Have got an old school Yaris, a 2002 and its been brilliant. However something newer, slightly bigger and more comfortable is the order of the day, with a conventional autobox. Will have a look at the fiesta 1.5.
 
Dare I say it Andy, cursed Smart car? Diesels do 94 to the gallon but are like hens teeth, the petrols do 50+
I might even know of a well maintained Brabus cabrio that could be for sale…:shifty: Non Brabus are Xero road tax and the Brabus are around £100 or so can’t remember.
 
I've been running a little Lexus IS200 Automatic as a run-around for the last 12 months - comfy, reliable, nice 6 cylinder engine, cheap as chips to buy. Tend to grab the keys for this before the 80 Series or the Hilux most of the time, as its just so convenient...
 
Just an update on where we've got to. After looking at all sorts Maria has decided to use the 120. An ideal candidate would have been a SWB 120 but all we'd seen were manuals and not very good ones at that. The only option I might consider would be a SWB Collie JDM import as I think they did an auto in those and Maria liked driving the D4D Collie . Having seen several Collies where the Tinworm has got hold I think finding a solid one might be a challenge but one I'm up for so we'll see what turns up.
 
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