A friend is after a small cheap car for driving to and from work every day and the occasional motorway trip (absolute maximum will be once every two weeks) and after looking over all the cars and taking loads of test drives we are down to two options.

So two choices (and only these two):

[*]VW Urban Fox - 1.2 (55 PS) =

I've no experience of driving either, but if it were me I would be looking at resale value, reliability and the difference in what the spec offers between the two. I wouldn't go for either colour but that's personal choice.

I wouldn't go for either colour either, however they are the only two options which don't cost more. Flat black/yellow is £195 more and metallic /pearl £350 more.

The met colours are silver , blue or black or a huge range of almost silvers on the corsa.

Huge set of sheets of A4 with spec difference down on them.

The VW wins hands down on resale value.

Reliability wise, both are too new, but I have to say the VW was quite basic but very solid.

The spec are pretty similar at that price, the major difference is that the corsa is 5 seat not 4, but the rear seats on the fox are ingenious as they move forward and back and completely lift forward for a large flat boot space.

She loves the fox, but I am telling her to take her time.

On the plus point the 55PS 1.2 has some real poke.

I forgot to add that my gut reaction would be to go for the VW, in the blue if it really had to be a choice between those two.

Any idea how long your friend is likely to keep the car for?

Just wondering how much a factor depreciation should be in the decision making process.

Either 3-4 years or until it dies.

EDIT: That depends on her job, how she feels and if she starts doing motorway journeys more often etc.

For my money, the Corsa looks the better bet. The Fox is a cheap 'n cheerful built basic car in the Aygo segment. The Corsa is the latest generation new hatch in the next segment up. The press generally rated the Fox as cheap and average, the new Corsa is so far being well received.

Be objective about test drives. Is she looking at seat comfort, driving position, noise and ride quality? I have never driven the Fox or the new Corsa, but would imagine, being latest generation, the Corsa would offer better NVH and ride.

As for resale, there may well be Foxs for sale at prices above new, but remember they will not actually sell for that money. A quick look on Autotrader reveals cars up for less than

Where is the under £6k car? The yellow one I see is an 06 plater and IIRC from the search they said it was a march jobby.

Phone a dealer about a used one to find it had sold at £8100 :eek:

There is an interesting one with 8k miles on at a year old for £6785 mind

Corsa is a bit of a steal at £6995, but that model is missing seatbelt pre-tensioners side bags curtain bags from the car that was NCAP tested. She did complain about not getting comfortable in the corsa, but I have sent her on a drive of both again tomorrow and then said to her to not agree to buy anything.

I'm playing devils advocate a bit here just to get some good reasons for and against as she needs a cheap to run and reliable car. Both are in insurance group 1, which is a definite plus point though

Where is the under

Why would anybody pay more than new list new for a used car:confused: Dealer is full of BS or is making the price up from a finance deal. Maybe a much higher spec / equipment level?

Another search of autotrader reveals within 100 miles of Essex cars private from £5500 and from franchised VW dealers from £5750. Alan Day in Hampstead have an 06 with 773 miles on it for £5995. Remember the dealer has to put a margin and VAT on the car, so the owner never saw much more than £4500 for it allowing 10% for the dealer and 17.5% for our beloved Gordon Brown.

Chris

Why pay more? You have me, but they are seriously difficult to get hold of new without a good wait. Maybe the person wants it now?

Where are you finding these foxes, i only find 5 on auto trader :(

EDIT: no autotrader was restricting to withing 100 miles of her address - Got it

Also don't suppose anyone knows if the urban fox locks are deadlocks do they?

I would never lay money... but if its got central locking then yes.. deadlocks

Mothers friend as a VW Fox, and dispite the alloys etc. It's a nice looking car, and it does exactly what they want, at a good price.

I've seen inside the new Corsa, never sat in one.... but..... based on looks, they look nice. I'd go for the Corsa.

Mothers friend as a VW Fox, and dispite the alloys etc. It's a nice looking car, and it does exactly what they want, at a good price.

I've seen inside the new Corsa, never sat in one.... but..... based on looks, they look nice. I'd go for the Corsa.

Corsa is Polo/Fabia terrotory really so TBH you can't really compare Fox to Corsa.

I've driven a fair few Foxs at work and they are good cars... but basic would be best description for them tbh.

She wants basic with little to go wrong and cheap to fix, but must have cetral lockingn or she will forget.

The fox is sufficiently basic i think that is covered and she is out in the corsa 1.0 as we speak

There's some pretty graphic pics on the web of a head on collision between a truck and a VW Fox. Pretty nasty gut wrenching stuff so I'm not gonna link to it. I guess any car in a head on is pretty bad but the driver of the fox was chopped in half at the gut. :(

Well I can't find said crash online, suffice to say the corsa was out at first strike after a drive this morning, so she took a fox out again.

While she was doing that I popped back into the ford dealer and managed to get £2.1k off list price against a fiesta. She took it for a test drive again and seemed to realise it was a quieter car at speed, and even has all 4 cylinders :P

So for less than the urban fox 1.2 she has come away with a 75BHP 1.25 fiesta style.

Not bad all said and done IMHO.

Well I can't find said crash online, suffice to say the corsa was out at first strike after a drive this morning, so she took a fox out again.

While she was doing that I popped back into the ford dealer and managed to get

The Fox at the price was a better car in her opinion, which i agreed with for what she wanted. It just happened that the fiesta was IMHO an even better buy

The Corsa was missing:

- Split rear seats.

- Folding bench for a flat load.

- A pillar was annoyingly large and in her way.

- Height adjustable driver seat was part of a £250 option pack

- The 5* car had the pre tensioners, side airbags and curtain airbags but these are part of a £700ish option pack on this trim level.

Also:

- The 1.0 was a bit weak compared to the less powerful 1.2 engine in the fox and was blown away by the fiestas 1.25

- Price.

All of these cars can be bought for the £6500-£7000 price range or a bit more if you want air con. I would have taken A/C myself, but she didn't see it as valuable and also couldn't stretch her budget to it anyway.