Advice on best type of car for B-roads

the aygo and similar are extremely popular here, almost every vendor has a car in that class now and available from many sellers

2nd hand cars are generally AWFUL.

So are 'B' class roads!!!

Ray

F0xgl0ve wrote:

So are 'B' class roads!!!

these 2 things might be related

Honestly though the assertion that there are anything BUT 'B' road in Malta other than perhaps the coast road when its not flooded is a joke on its own

Volcane,

Thanks very much, again.

Best wishes,
Andy

I've had several rental cars in Malta - so far, I was happiest with the Asian cars. My favourites were a Hyunday i10, which was small and good for Malta, and a Kia Rio (a bit bigger and nicer for a family of 4). I personally don't like the Aygo very much, but that's just my opinion. I don't like French cars at all (in Malta or elsewhere, particularly Peugeot), had 3 Peogeots in Malta and they were all horrible to drive (no power uphill, the steering was made of custard, and the visibility was bad, too). But again, only my opinion. In Malta it is definitely recommendable to have some more horsepower, as roads tend to go uphill a lot (Mellieha bypass from Ghadira in my last rental - a Peugeot - was terrible... I thought I'd stop any time).

For reference - I normally drive a bigger and more powerful car (Skoda Octavia estate), we brought that car over to Malta last year for 3 months, and we had no trouble - but parking is admittedly easier with a small car.

One more thing - make sure the car has good brakes, especially a good handbrake for parking!

Best car was my Landrover Series 3 - good for A, B, C-roads and no-roads 

I also had a Kia Avella, a good bread-and-butter car with reliable 1.3 Mazda engine and it could make almost all roads on the rock (with touchdowns). Plenty of 2nd hand parts available. Came with pretty strong air condition.

Now I have a Sirion 2 with an automatic gearbox. Small on the outside and big on the inside, quiet, economical and strong and fast enough for overland trips. High steering angle for easy parking. A bit noisy on bumpy B-roads. Also many parts available. Avoid Toyota Passo 1.0 automatic if you also want to use it outside of Malta, it has a very weak engine and therefore changes the gears frequently.

Another part of the fleet is a Smart FourTwo, pretty rough to drive on local roads, but it was cheap, easy to repair/maintenance, extremely economical and finding a parking spot is a breeze with this vivid mite.

Especially when driving on B-roads, check the ground clearence / wheel base distance.

Thank you to all the above posters for the useful advice.
Best wishes,
Andy