I'm looking at changing my car to some kind of small hatchback, suitable for 2 adults + 3 kids, or 1 adult and 4 kids (ie. has to safely be room in back seat for 2 kids on boosters + 1 in the middle).

Most of the time it will have 1 adult and 1 / 2 children.

I want it to be as cheap to run as possible. Low road tax, low insurance, low running costs. It will only be used on relatively local journeys - no long motorway journeys (we have a people carrier for regular use).

I'll have a budget of about £6,000 and want to buy outright rather than finance at all. Dones't need to be brand new, but newer the better.

Any ideas?

When you say small, do you mean like a Ford Ka, Ford Fiesta or Ford Focus, which can all be considered small, but all very different sizes? For comfort, I would say that a Fiesta size is the smallest you should go for, so a VW Polo is about the same I guess.

Ford Ka kind of size should be OK shouldn't it? Maybe I need to try and squeeze the kids into one to see what it's like sizewise. Are they low tax/running costs?