One of my friend's workmates put a 2.0L 8 valve cavalier engine in a £50.00 trade-in chocolate brown Nova saloon.  It went like shit off a shovel.

It also made lots of boy racers look stupid as it cuised past their expensive hatchbacks, kitted out with a couple of grands worth of plastic tat and exaust pipes like worn out coal scuttles.

However I digress: economy and reliability? It is surely a Micra that you need.