HYUNDAI AMICA 1.1 CDX 5dr (2006)
Hyundai Amica - Good for town driving, not really for long journeys
The five year warranty is what first got me interested in the Amica, gave me some confidence that they thought it wouldn't fall to bits, at least not that quickly. It's been reasonably reliable from that point of view, I can't really remember it needing anything doing apart from a couple of tyres in the last year (I got my Amica new in 2008). The other thing is that it was so cheap. I knew that came at the cost of some bells and whistles but that didn't really bother me.
In terms of what you're not getting for your money, I think the first thing to mention is the suspension. It's pretty tough going on rougher roads and shaky surfaces, and can be a bit juddery and generally unhappy at motorway speeds. Generally it isn't really a car for long journeys. Having said that, one thing that's really good about the Amica is that the seats are a lot higher up than most small cars, as in they give a normal seating position, which is good for my mum's knees she says. On the other hand, people's knees in the back won't be that comfy, it's pretty cramped back there, and it's only two seats back there as well so it's not really a people carrier. Also, due to the overall height, and the fact that it's a small and light car, it really does blow about in the wind quite a bit.
One thing I find a bit tricky, and this might just be me, is that I sometimes knock the headlights off when I'm turning the indicator. It only happens once in a while but in the dark that can be a bit of a shock. It's more just something to watch out for than something that will definitely happen, I mean it can be avoided easily if you know what you're doing. One other slightly annoying design thing is that the button to lock the electric window controls is in front of the gear stick just next to the cup holders. That not only means that if you're trying to stop a pesky child from messing about with the windows, they can easily unlock the windows again, but it also makes it a bit too easy to accidentally knock the lock on as you put things down on that surface. I'd also rather there weren't electrical control right next to where I'm going to be putting my drink! But I haven't had a problem with that so far.
The original stereo was a very basic unit, I recall it would actually overheat sometimes, but it's just a standard sized thing so I was easily able to replace it with a better one. Likewise all the heating controls are dead simple (I actually prefer it that way) but you do get aircon, or at least I did in mine, which is pretty fab for the price.
Space inside the Amica is in some ways quite surprisingly large, the boot especially is, well it is small, but it's also perfectly big enough for a buggy and a load of shopping. In the front of the car though some space feels a bit wasted. The glove box in particular is a bit of a non space, doesn't even have a covering door, it's just wide open.