would you buy your wife a seat marbella?

No.

Requirements are...

Square
1.6 or less
£1k max
cheap to insure
Able to do motorways (doesnt need to cruise silently at 90, just needs to be possible)
Can carry 2 largeish dogs.

Surprisingly hard to find anything that fullfills these requirements!

I suggested this marbella and surprisingly she likes it.

Not square enough.
She likes SJ's and sportraks and things like that.

Ive shown her soooo many cars and she doesn't like them.

I admire her sticking to what she wants, I wouldnt let practicality or quality influence my car buying either.

Only issue is its me that will have to keep it going!

Postman pat van ? Thats about the boxiest thing .

I cannot remember the last time I even saw a Marbella.
This must mean that any that are still alive must have been serviced when needed, repaired when needed and welded when needed etc etc.
To this end, and you are smarter than the average bear as you have demonstrated time and time again, you will know whether that Marbella is a possible or not.
Its very basic which is a big plus, its sparse, a big plus and its made it into 2017, a big plus.
If it looks like a possible, go for it.
You can buy a whole manner of boring old s**t for your money but you wont get many more chances to by genuine rare as rare as.......
Way more interesting too.
PS: Parts. If I can buy Pontiac Firebird stuff reasonably easily, you are not going to struggle too much buying ( albeit) online parts for a Marbella!

Renault Kangoo is pretty close on most of your criteria and a bit more sturdy that the Marbella.

Only thing there that might possibly work is the AX. Ill put that idea to her.

I'd recommend a Mk2 Polo over a Marbella. They're quite a bit tougher, both mechanically and crash-wise, well supported, come in SQUARE and good ones can be got for under a grand still. The Marbella has the bonus of being a bit weird but it's going to be tinny and terrifying on the motorway in a way few cars now are.

Another option may be the Cinquicento which is very square and a more refined place to be than a Marbella. A cardboard box is a more refined place to be than a Marbella so that's not really saying much. I do *like* Marbellas, I'm not hating on them, it just seems like a poor first car choice these days when there's other more boring things that will serve better.

I'm just thinking of safety . The way people drive today , and much faster , Modern cars are bigger and built tougher.


I would have completely brown pants driving a marbella/panda , and would most likely fill my boots trying to get some speed out of it joining a dual carraigeway .


Get some thing that has a chance of doing 70 if i was you , with better brakes and structure ,


Just my opinion as you may actively dislike your partner .