Aaaargggh! To answer this properly, you need to know the questioner’s circumstances and how the car will be used. Party’s pooped when you’ve got that personal data. Result: you are left a lonely island by more imaginative partygoers scuttling for cover, any cover with a bottle in it.
If you ever meet questioner again, they’ll have bought anything but your recommendation. Probably…
a) Totally different category
b) Certainly another brand
c) A camel [twin hump model]
d) For durability guide, look to Top Gear magazine/JD Power annual surveys. Real cars over real world mileages.
What’s the best Car?
For what?
For the following in popular categories I advise…
1) Passion wagon: Slumberland mattress equipped van, or any estate with a flat floor. Marrieds - Her car
2) Supermini: NEW: Nissan Micra diesel for economy, Honda Jazz for sophistication, if you can’t bear Nissan appearance. USED: Ford Fiesta. BonkersSpeed: Renault Clio 197. If you want to get to know your local major franchise dealer intimately, and be treated with indifferent disdain, buy into a baby Mercedes
3) Family Hatchback: Badge conscious snob? Take Audi A3 or VW Golf, but they really are not as good to drive as Ford Focus, used or new. Psst, if you want a discount new Audi or VW, ask behind the bar for Skoda’s latest from the Fabia family.
PS: REAR WHEEL DRIVE/BLUE AND WHITE BADGE SNOB? BMW built the 1-series just for you – and your midget back-seat passengers.
4) White Van: Ford Transit is the authentic deal, but many carry more now and cost less. USED: Ford Transit, innit
5) Executive/middle weight repmobiles. Default choice is BMW 3 or 5-series, or lesser spotted German Audi. Mercedes, getting better and deserves a test drive in latest C-class.
7) To 4x4 or not? Many of you want one, and this family has an elderly one in construction. No less than singing legend James Taylor backs the argument that a big old car run for hundreds of thousands of miles has less impact on the planet’s environmental resources than a new small car constructed for you every year or so.
TIP: Beware cheaper 1995 to date Range Rovers and Discoveries, the factory were still experimenting on customer tolerance to suddenly absent electronics and air suspension deflations.
8) Luxo barge/land yachts. You - and the planet - don’t need more than Mercedes S-class. However you may not figure out how to drive its electronics - ditto BMW 7. Only Audi A8 is sensible here and you get 4x4 quattro drive.
OK, if you are determined to splash the cash, please don’t Maybach in the City. There are enough eyesores for arseholes already.
Your contributions welcome at the e-mail given above.
First, the party question that they all ask – if there’s not a medical doctor or a vet in the room to trap.