Ok I have an update on what I am narrowing in on.
I decided safety should be a much bigger consideration, especially since I need a very small car, which automatically makes it less safe to start with.
So I went to
IIHS-HLDI: Crash Testing & Highway Safety and looked at the safest cars in the minicars section. I used this page and went back though the years up til 2010:
Current IIHS TOP SAFETY PICKs
I decided, after reading the ratings, that I only wanted a car that is TSP+. In the minicar section there are only two that have met that qualification:
- 2016 Mini Cooper
- 2016 Scion iA
I would LOVE a Mini Cooper. However, I don't want to spend more than $12 or $13K on my "new" used car. So, it looks like the Scion iA is going to be my best bet for the most narrow width car with the best safety rating.
We've decided it doesn't have to have the best rear seat room or luggage space as we have decided we can't handle sharing one car in early retirement (planned for 2018, hopefully). We will keep our minivan as our second vehicle. It will be parked in the driveway whereas the minicar will have to go in our tiny garage.
I like what I have read about the Scion iA so far, minus the front grill. But, aside from that, it seems to have pretty good reviews. We might go for the manual as that appears to have more "pep"...but we'll see - I learned to drive on a stickshift and drove one all through my teen years, but haven't done so in ~25 years! Will need to test drive and see if it comes back to me.
Any input on this selection?
I appreciated the other ideas but they were all either too wide or not high enough in safety ratings for my liking.