Thanks. The Aygo is a no go, it is a tiny car with three doors. More super mini than mini mpv.

SRS, I helped my mum choose her car about four years ago. She fancied an A class and when i drove one I found it shocking. The steering, gearbox, ride, gutless rough engines were horrid. So I told her to buy a Honda Jazz instead and it has never missed a beat.

 

Difficult to see past the '06 on Civic with this. See here compared to its rivals:

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/review...-2006/comfort/

It even has a big cubby hole where the spare wheel would normally go and you can store stuff under the rear seats.

 

The Civic is a good call but didnt they have a load of mechanical and gearbox woes compared to the previous model that was bullet proof?

Ding, if you do decide to go for a B class try and chose a post 07 model as there were a few reliability improvements. The only problem if your looking at the Turbo model though was that they stopped making it then which in my opinion was bonkers as its the best one by a long way.

 

I think its just the diesels that have issues with the clutch/flywheel.

I wouldn't classify them as "small" cars though, they're fairly chunky nowadays.

 

The pre 2007 cars were plagued with rust. Mercedes tried to cut corners that have come back to haunt them. There are court cases up and down the country where owners have been left with £3000 bills.
On top of that the starter motors are weak, which although only £160 is an engine out job. The steering rack is another known issue, £1800 plus fitting, although I believe this is now an exchange item.
If you were thinking about an auto.., well just dont.
Thats why I wouldnt buy a pre 2007 car.

I have also had the calipers sieze, ARB bushes fail (a whole new ARB is needed), struts fail, springs fail and stereo fail. Although these arent usual, I have just been unlucky.

Although the internal material are nice the materials used to actually make the thing are no better than Fiat, Vauxhall et al and a long way behind anything Japanese.