The auld pair have a Mazda 3 at the moment, it's been faultless for the 3 years they have it. They were thinking of changing to an auto and when looking for them the susuki swift kept cropping up. Japanese reliability, easy to get in and out of,doesn't look bad either, seemed to tick all the boxes.
There are a few specialist auto dealers (on Carzone) that have low milage well specced autos for sale that should fit the bill.