boys here is a question that is in my mind the last months. I'm looking for a small car, a city car to replace my clio that is very very old. What do you think is the best car of this segment? (it doesn't have to be german

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The reason i need this car (and i have the Clio) is because i need a small and agile car to go to work, drive though downtown, find easily the appropriate parking space anywhere and go to the supermarket and carry everything i buy. It must also be safe enough (in case someone crashes into me) and kind of fast, since it may be used for short trips (no more than 200km). There are some times that i need to travel with people that i wouldn't even let them touch the S60.
The most important criteria is to be cheap enough to buy, but not completely junk like most city cars and also cheap to maintain, since the maintainance costs are killing me.
The reason why i'm looking into buying a car like this is because the clio i'm using now is very old, i mean very very old, and i'm tired of it. And not only this it doesn't have power steering, it's engine has less HP than a horse carriage and it's old enough that i don't trust it out of the city borders. Oh, and because it's old it costs me much, since many things need replacement and the engine drinks too much gasoline...
I'm considering the new clio, or a 206, which is not that good in terms of built quality. As for the Polo, it think that's the best choise, but i think that it costs a little more than the others.
So guys, what do you think???
