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recommendations for 1st car UK
(reddthat.com)
Well it doesn't meet the Japanese requirement, but South Korea is quite close.
I highly recommend the Kia Picanto, with a 7 year warranty you can't go wrong. Mine gets 280 miles out of a £44 tank, and a dealer service is arround £250 each year.
I'm not sure if they are still doing their scrappage scheme, but you could buy an old car for £10 from eBay and use it to get £2,000 off of one of their cars in the dealership too.