Tex-Mex food

What about an old cheap  diesel Golf?  Those get great gas mileage and are everywhere.  No unicorn needed.

I do have to say, my husband's old roommate had a super duper old Golf.  He traveled a good 70% of the time for travel.  Even if he had been gone for two months straight, that baby would fire straight up.

He was waiting to replace it until he drove it into the ground.  After awhile he realised it was NEVER going to die, so just treated himself to a "new" car and his dad took the Golf.  That was about 5 years ago.  The Golf is still running with no problems at all.

I think it was a beast for road tax though as that puppy did NOT do anything good for the environment!   

I do have to say, my husband's old roommate had a super duper old Golf.  He traveled a good 70% of the time for travel.  Even if he had been gone for two months straight, that baby would fire straight up.

He was waiting to replace it until he drove it into the ground.  After awhile he realised it was NEVER going to die, so just treated himself to a "new" car and his dad took the Golf.  That was about 5 years ago.  The Golf is still running with no problems at all.

I think it was a beast for road tax though as that puppy did NOT do anything good for the environment!   

I don't know what his reason is, but my husband would prefer petrol to diesel.  I'm sure it's a valid reason.

I don't know what his reason is, but my husband would prefer petrol to diesel.  I'm sure it's a valid reason.

Quieter? Less particulates?
In the grand scheme of things it looks like they'll get rid of diesels first.

I don't know what his reason is, but my husband would prefer petrol to diesel.  I'm sure it's a valid reason.

Diesel was once regarded as the better option.  Now's it's the devil.  A bit like how coffee is good for you one day and bad the next.

But a diesel NEEDS to be driven at high speed for a decent amount of time every couple of weeks.  Think 60mph for 30 minutes.  A run-around-town car should not be a diesel.

And road tax will be less on a petrol.

So, he has valid reasons. 

Quieter? Less particulates?
In the grand scheme of things it looks like they'll get rid of diesels first.

It's to do with maintenance or repairs.  I don't know how diesel engines differ to petrol ones, so I can't say what his concerns are, but it's something to do with repairing it if there's a problem.

We are happy with our citroen c4 cactus, we ended up with diesel but their petrol engines are available too. It needs to be driven more than it is right now though. It will happen soon when I'm commuting every day (or nearly every day). The issue I had with the tiny cars was no trunk space, because I know soon I may need a scooter or wheelchair for freedom so having the slightly bigger car meant always having the needed space on road trips.

Could you take a trip closer to a bigger city for a weekend and visit a few dealerships? We spent a bit more than planned but decided it was worth it for reliability.

Does this fit the bill?

I'd recommend buying from Car Giant.  It'd be a trek for you, but worth it if they have "your car."

https://www.cargiant.co.uk/car/fiat/panda/LV13AKZ

We are happy with our citroen c4 cactus, we ended up with diesel but their petrol engines are available too. It needs to be driven more than it is right now though. It will happen soon when I'm commuting every day (or nearly every day). The issue I had with the tiny cars was no trunk space, because I know soon I may need a scooter or wheelchair for freedom so having the slightly bigger car meant always having the needed space on road trips.

Could you take a trip closer to a bigger city for a weekend and visit a few dealerships? We spent a bit more than planned but decided it was worth it for reliability.

I'm not sure where we're going to compromise, but I suspect we will have to compromise soon.  Probably on purchase price.  I'm more willing to compromise than my husband is, because I'm worried about him getting caught out if the van doesn't cooperate one morning.  I'd like to get the car so he can have a backup mode of transportation if he needs it.

Does this fit the bill?

I'd recommend buying from Car Giant.  It'd be a trek for you, but worth it if they have "your car."

https://www.cargiant.co.uk/car/fiat/panda/LV13AKZ

That car is newer (read: more expensive) than we were looking for.  I have a 0% interest deal through the end of the year.  I'm willing to take on a little debt for the car, but I'd need to be able to pay it off by the end of the year, or I'll break my vow of never paying finance charges again. 

But otherwise it's perfect.  I'm curious about it saying Tax Band A.  I'm pretty sure it's in B or C (£20 or £30/pa).

My friend has a tiny car, I never feel particularly safe in it on the motorway! 

My friend has a tiny car, I never feel particularly safe in it on the motorway! 

In 1992, I bought a used Geo Metro convertible ( http://www.antennamastsrus.com/GEO/1990%20Geo%20Metro%202-door%20convertible%20Photo.jpg )... I had to turn off the AC to go up steep inclines.  If a large vehicle passed in the opposite direction, I had to hold the wheel just a little bit tighter to maintain my direction.  It was a teeny tiny little car.  It was a stupid scary little car, but I loved it. 

In 1992, I bought a used Geo Metro convertible ( http://www.antennamastsrus.com/GEO/1990%20Geo%20Metro%202-door%20convertible%20Photo.jpg )... I had to turn off the AC to go up steep inclines.  If a large vehicle passed in the opposite direction, I had to hold the wheel just a little bit tighter to maintain my direction.  It was a teeny tiny little car.  It was a stupid scary little car, but I loved it. 

Scary but fun too! 

Who lives close to this place?

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink/sombrero-wearing-drivers-deliver-your-1641694

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We're not just looking for a Fiat Panda... we're looking for an old, cheap Fiat Panda Active or Dynamic.  Based on what we pay now for my husband's fuel to/from work, he calculated that if we get the Panda Active ECO and drives it most days to work, between the cheap road tax (£30/year), the low cost to insure me as a "new driver", and the high fuel economy, it'll pay for itself within a year, during which I'd start building up my no-claims.  Meanwhile, I would have the use of the car a few times a month to run errands or just "stretch my legs", and he would drive the campervan to keep it from sitting unused for too long.

We're looking for a low insurance group car that has less than 120g/km emissions and gets at least 50mpg (more is better)... We'd like to spend under £2k and it needs to be reliable.

We have seen one or two that fit the parameters, but they're too far away to go look at.  I feel like we're just going to waste money waiting for a unicorn, though...

Your wish is my command, see the attachment.  Autotrader allows you to search for specifically that active thing, sort by amount and distance.  You should set an alert to get results every day

Who lives close to this place?

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink/sombrero-wearing-drivers-deliver-your-1641694

We used to live kinda close to it when we were near Salisbury.  They wouldn't be delivering where we lived, but we might've been able to take a little drive.  But now we're hours away. 

Your wish is my command, see the attachment.  Autotrader allows you to search for specifically that active thing, sort by amount and distance.  You should set an alert to get results every day

That's exactly what we're looking for, but it needs to be within ~50 of us.

And my husband has a weird (sensible?) thing about price.  It doesn't apply in this case, as that car has 90k miles on it, so it's probably the right price for what we'd get.  But if it seems to be priced too low for what it has, he assumes there's a catch (previous write-off that they're not disclosing, or something), so he won't even contact the seller.  I've seen so many cars that he won't even consider.  He gets a bad feeling, so we keep looking.

My FIL just sent me a link to a car that I think looks good.  I just have to convince my husband that it's worth checking out.  I secretly think he just doesn't want to make a decision.