group 9 for that old tub yikes

but get some insurance quotes first as you might find that it is your age and lack of driving history that pumps the price up. Also the higher value car might also pump up the quote as well.

As for relability japs cars are reliable but when they break parts are stupidly exensive

Euro cars do break but parts can be dirt cheap So swings and round abouts on that one.

have you looked at smart cars pretty ideal for london and are actually not bad for M-way driving. most modern small cars actually eat motorway milag with amasing ease. I occasionally used my exs 106 with the 1.1 engine and on the motorway it was not that far behind the thundering great BMW i own. it did not have a huge pile of power but i coped quite well. that said i don't find a seven too bad when i went from perth to edinburgh in one.

but when you get to twisty bits the 106 was termendous fun way better than the big BMW.

So go try a little car you might be surprised