PC Buyer: City Test

They were all the rage two decades ago, but how do these sub-superminis stack up as modern classics?

We take six sub-superminis and find out which is best today.

As the 20th century came to an end and a new millennium was ushered in, so was a new, more lifestyle-led approach to urban motoring. Rather than buying a small and basic car because it was all you could stretch to, the idea of a city car was one that appealed to a much wider audience – many of them young drivers in their late teens and early twenties, who wanted something nippy, cool and environmentally friendly. Those very same drivers are now in their late thirties to early forties and, with a healthy

dose of nostalgia among them, interest in urban runabouts of the late Nineties and early Noughties is picking up.

Gathered here are six of the key protagonists of turn-of-the-century micro-motoring. The UK’S best-seller of our sextet, the Ford Ka, needs little introduction – a car built in the mould of Fords of old, right down to its OHV engine and indifferent corrosion resistance, both of which it had in common with the 1959 Anglia.

Four of the others are from Europe, with the oldest being the Renault Twingo – a car never

officially sold in the UK due to being left-hand drive only. Had Renault known what a success the Ford Ka would become, a right-hand-drive Twingo would have been there at the design stage, but it was too late. A similar story applies to the Smart City Coupe (latterly known as the Fortwo), which launched the new city car brand in Europe. Such was its success that an RHD version followed, albeit three years after the start of production (see p76).

Next up is the Volkswagen Lupo, introduced in 1998 to plug a gap in the VW range that had been vacated by the increasingly podgy Polo.

Adding some Latin flair to our group is the Fiat Seicento – the Italian firm’s replacement for the Cinquecento, and also introduced in 1998.

Finally, the Cityrover. As MG Rover’s last gasp attempt at getting customers back into its dealerships, the car was vaunted as the ‘new Metro’ when it appeared in 2003, but was based on the Indian-market Tata Indica. While its success was limited, its influence on the British car industry was much greater than it gets credit for.

Which one, then, makes the best modern micro classic today?