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Did you happen to miss the point that this is a car for his mother? A fast, firm shift isn't a priority. Nor is rear wheel drive. Nor is secondhand. Outside of the United States, secondhand rear-wheel drive family cars are all either luxury cars or over forty years old.
The fastest, firmest shifts amongst those cars belong to the Fiesta, which has a dual clutch that drives like a teenager taking a license test in traffic.
The only car in this size and price range anywhere that has anything close to positive throttle response and transmission response is the Mazda2, which isn't sold there. The closest he can get is the Fiesta.
As a long term ownership proposition, it's a no go for me. I'd personally buy the Fiesta, but only with a stick.
The iX20's equivalent here would be the Accent, but it looks very different, and it probably has too little in common with it for me to comment on it. The Polo you get... is it the old reissue rather than the new car?
If you're looking at a complete package, the i30 is perhaps the most old-person friendly car of the bunch, but I'll echo HFS here and state that the Kia Rio is amazingly good compared to other small cars. Refinement to rival the Fiesta, a suspension that's both supple and well-controlled, and good space. The Soul has more, but it's an older car and it feels like it. Also, the ride can be stiff and fidgety depending on what variant you get over there at that price.
Only niggle would be economy with the auto, depending on the variant. Not quite fond of the more powerful 1.4, but if you're getting a 1.6 or the newer, lower-powered 1.4 with the wider torque band, no issue.
The fastest, firmest shifts amongst those cars belong to the Fiesta, which has a dual clutch that drives like a teenager taking a license test in traffic.
The only car in this size and price range anywhere that has anything close to positive throttle response and transmission response is the Mazda2, which isn't sold there. The closest he can get is the Fiesta.
As a long term ownership proposition, it's a no go for me. I'd personally buy the Fiesta, but only with a stick.
The iX20's equivalent here would be the Accent, but it looks very different, and it probably has too little in common with it for me to comment on it. The Polo you get... is it the old reissue rather than the new car?
If you're looking at a complete package, the i30 is perhaps the most old-person friendly car of the bunch, but I'll echo HFS here and state that the Kia Rio is amazingly good compared to other small cars. Refinement to rival the Fiesta, a suspension that's both supple and well-controlled, and good space. The Soul has more, but it's an older car and it feels like it. Also, the ride can be stiff and fidgety depending on what variant you get over there at that price.
Only niggle would be economy with the auto, depending on the variant. Not quite fond of the more powerful 1.4, but if you're getting a 1.6 or the newer, lower-powered 1.4 with the wider torque band, no issue.
