Ok, so it looks like we're building up a bit of a consensus around what I'd call the 'larger mainstream superminis'. Fiesta, Clio, Corsa, (DS3 perhaps or something similar size from the land of the rising sun). The latter I'm not a big fan of myself, but only from a styling point of view.
Age of car wise I'm thinking maybe 2-4 years old would be a good compromise between reliability and getting past the worst of the depreciation. I'll probably go for a car from a dealer so I've got come-back on problems. Insurance wise I'd like her to build her own NDC so I'll see what schemes are about for new drivers. Thanks for the pointer on companies to try Tim.
Still like advice on a couple of things though. First is petrol vs diesel. I've not driven a small manual diesel car in quite a while, but last time I did it was a bit of a pain to drive. The power was all in a tight rev band so it had to be in just the right gear all the time - not so easy for a beginner. Are modern small diesels more flexible, or should I go with my instinct and pick petrol?
Next is 'drivability'. My wife wanted a car in this range about 16-18 years ago so we went round all the main dealers and tried the Metro, Corsa, Clio, AX, Fiesta and Micra. I was very surprised at how different they all were to drive. The Micra was a doddle, easy controls, responsive, direct. The Corsa and Metro were horrible, no feel, sluggish etc. In the end we got the Clio as the best all round and were very happy with it. Anyone got any observations on the newish versions of the shortlist above?
Thanks for the help folks
