What you need for a Roman holiday
Or any big European city, for that matter, what’s the car to buy?
For Rome, a hybrid is the answer, and the smaller the better
There was me thinking that my limited appeal was strictly to the locals who don’t know any better. But, no, it was a pleasure and privilege to get a car-buying question from one of our European cousins. In this case, it was Melicia, who lives in Rome.
Helpfully, she outlined how she uses her current car. She said that for 99% of the time, for city trips of less than half an hour, there are only one or two people in the car. However, two or three times a year, they go from Rome mob-handed, with four or five people and their luggage, to another city two or three hours away. Then they go mad and take a one-off road trip to a city about eight hours away. At this point, it’s probably timely to mourn the passing of Melicia’s worn-out Honda Civic.
The thing is, Rome is going the way of all major cities and imposing emissions-based restrictions. That means a hybrid is going to be the answer, and the smaller the better. When Melicia needs a big barge for those big trips, she can get everyone to chip in and rent the best peoplemover for the job. Otherwise, it is a case of getting a city hatch to handle all those one-up and two-up trips.
I won’t go shopping in Rome. Let’s play the game over here. The obvious budget answer is one of those Honda Civic 1.3 IMAS in Executive trim. One of these early-era 2005 hybrids with 108k miles is around £1995. It’s a four-door saloon but not a huge thing and easy to live (and pick up all those Rome-related parking dents) with. There are, of course, more Toyota Priuses than you can shake an Uber at and those are the ones to ideally avoid. Otherwise, a decent 2007 Prius with just over 100k miles is going to be around £2950.
Not everyone is a cheapskate like me, though, and upping the budget puts a cute little Suzuki Swift, a 1.0 Boosterjet Hybrid, within reach. A 2017 one with 25k-30k miles under its tyres is £9500. That seems pretty reasonable to me. There are a few about. There is also the teeny, tiny Suzuki Ignis with the Dualjet petrolelectric set-up and a 2017 car with 20k miles is similar, £9950 money.
Alternatively, there is the Toyota Yaris 1.5 Hybrid, which is very likeable. A 2014 one with a CVT gearbox, perfect for Rome, and 114k miles is around £6500. We are on the cusp of the old-shape/new-shape models, and with half the miles, you will get a tidy old-style example from 2013. That’s value, economy and reliability in one perfect package. It leaves a chunk of change for hiring a big bus for those days out.
That was easy. Any other international conundrums we can fix?