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My mum used to have a Jazz.
I never drove it as far as the south of France, but I did Devon - Sussex - Cardiff - Birmingham - Sussex in it in a couple of days and it was comfortable and quite nippy for an under powered little town run around.
However, the chief thing with it was the amount of space in there. I did 4 hours sat in the back once, at 6 foot tall, with plenty of room. And the boot had room for my parents Flatcoated Retriever (Roughly 50 kilos of dog). You can get 3 bikes and 3 people in but then it gets really sluggish.
She now has a 1.4 TSI Mk7 Golf. Much better on the move, less practical inside. Still able to carry a big dog.
TL:DR - They aren't as bad as all that. Very practical. Would prefer big autobahn sled for France trip. Civic/Focus/Golf/Leon/A3 would all be better.
BunninZootius-
Cheers. TBH France driving trips might not be as common as I imagine when it's usually cheaper to fly and rent for <1wk... and in the real world you have limited annual leave.
The thing I worry about with a focus is the age of the ones I'm looking at. I know parts and repair are cheap, but it's still a Ford and I'd feel more comfortable with an older Jap car.
I'm still on the lookout for a 1.4tsi Golf in budget (£3-5k - ideally £3,500), but you just get more for your money with a Toyota / Honda. Plus it will likely be trashed and run into the ground and hopefully replaced by something nicer in time.
I do really like the A3 sportsback. They feel so clean and solid, but am equally put off by a things such as the ride, quality control, and weight/need for a big engine.
130hp 1.5 model
I'm not sure there was a UK version until quite recently, but I`ll have a look.
The new ones are probably the most common hatch in NYC which surprised me (although I probably see more F150/250's a day than the total number of Fit/Jazz in a year).
hugo7
Ah! mini rant as I know folks here will sympathize.
Mrs H isn't keen on a Civic as it looks too rude boy* despite probably fitting our needs quite well...
... however she does like the look of the prolific Honda Fit, aka the Jazz ;(
As yet my attempts to point out what driving a 1.3l down to France is going to be like is falling on deaf ears.
Don't suppose anyone's driven one of their grandparents and has any views?
*a surprising number of the better looking cars fall into this category.