I would agree that the Honda Jazz would be an excellent choice of vehicle to buy if you want a small mpv type of vehicle,but if you want a small hatchback automatic thats is well made cheap to own and almost utterly reliable you really only need to consider the Honda Civic or the Skoda Fabia- the Fabia being the cheaper of the two to own and run.The skoda is a volkswagen polo with a different body,visit any Motoring magazine website,like Auto Express or What Car and get a totally unbiased Road report  on the Fabia or the Jazz or the Civic,you wont be disappointed with any of them,Best of Luck

Absolutely agreed - I've got a mate who had a Merc C43 (or something like that). Whilst it was in his possession he had the misfortune of a headlamp blowing. It only needed a new bulb, but it ended up costing his £100 just for that tiny little bulb (and he had to fit it himself). God knows what it would have cost to have the bulb changed at a dealer! Suffice to say he soon got rid of the car!

You can pick up a nice little 03 -04 low mileage Nissan Micra 1.2 automatic around the 4 to 5k mark, they are an excellent well made, cheap to run and very reliable car.

Thanks very much for your advice. Its much appreciated. I think I'll have to increase my budget and go for Jazz at about 7K. Hope 2003 Jazz should be good enough............

If by Mercedes, you mean the A class - avoid that like the plague!! - the car is good enough, but the garage bills will crucify you as anything that needs to be done virtually results in a full car strip down to get at anything - and at Merc garage prices, this makes it a very bad buy.

The honda and Ford will do you well, with the ford being a cheaper bet. personally, I'd suggest you go with the Honda as it is a little more distinctive and you won't try unlocking the wrong car in a car park!! (only Joking)

You are probably best to drive both and see what feels better for you.

 Hope this helps

I’m a new lady driver, was never very fond of driving, but nowadays I drive automatic car as driving is a necessity…………am looking for a old (2002/2003/2004) small AUTOMATIC GOOD CAR. Confused between Auto ford fiesta, marcedes-benz and Honda jazz. Budget is around £6000. Want a good va,ue for money RELIABLE car…………..

Anybody using any of the above auto cars? Any comments/suggestions would be of great help,

Many thanks.