Small Automatic Options

RobAMerc

The wife is looking for a small (cheap) automatic, for tipping about the city.
I can only think of the Punto Selecta but even they are rare.

Any ideas anyone or anyone know of one for sale ?

diamonds&cream

How about an Opel Corsa auto/easytronic/tiptronic. comes in 1L/1.2L depending on the year. What year are you looking for/budget?

TomMc

Civic, Yaris, Micra or Colt ...... stick with the Japs.

RobAMerc

Budget of only 2-3k I would say.

Neither of us are keen on Jap cars to be honest, they forget to add a soul !:D

TomMc

RobAMerc wrote:

Budget of only 2-3k I would say.

Neither of us are keen on Jap cars to be honest, they forget to add a soul !:D

At that kind of money I would only concern myself with reliability. What use is Italian soul if the car is parked up, at the side of the road. The Auto gearboxes in older budget european cars are notorious for giving problems and are very expensive to put right.

Barr

The wife is looking for a small (cheap) automatic, for tipping about the city.
I can only think of the Punto Selecta but even they are rare.

I could'nt think of a worse car than this ... never mind someone actually thinking it has a soul

At that kind of money I would only concern myself with reliability. What use is Italian soul if the car is parked up, at the side of the road. The Auto gearboxes in older budget european cars are notorious for giving problems and are very expensive to put right

Agreed, a Jap is the only way to go on this budget. Although small autos can be difficult enough to find as their quite popular.

crosstownk

I'm a big fan of automatics, but I wouldn't be too inclined to buy an auto in a car less than 1.6 - preferably 2.0. Smaller engined autos seem to be very sluggish compared to the manual versions.

Most small autos tend to be ex-rental cars.

Mailman

Jap Import Mitsubishi Colt Auto with air con and electrics if you can find one.
Very reliable and more pleasant than all the rest of the similiar jap stuff.

I could make a case for a manual Punto if you were on a budget but not the Selecta under any circumstance.

RobAMerc

Barr wrote:

I could'nt think of a worse car than this ... never mind someone actually thinking it has a soul

Do you have experience of one ?
Did it give trouble, not drive as you like?

crosstownk wrote:

I'm a big fan of automatics, but I wouldn't be too inclined to buy an auto in a car less than 1.6 - preferably 2.0. Smaller engined autos seem to be very sluggish compared to the manual versions.

I aggree and would consider this were this not a strictly a city car. It will sit in traffic most of the time where the small engines lack of grunt wont be an issue.

unkel

I agree with the other posters, for that low a budget I'd get a Nissan Micra 1.0 with Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). Slow as a dog but should be fine for city traffic. Reliable, cheap to run and there are plenty (mainly Japanese imports) around. You'd probably get a '98 or '99 low mileage one for your budget

Barr

Do you have experience of one ?
Did it give trouble, not drive as you like?

Not me luckily enough..there was a girl at work who had one ,gave her constant trouble with gearbox and engine.
The cost of the repairs in the end were more than the value of the car

crosstownk

unkel wrote:

I agree with the other posters, for that low a budget I'd get a Nissan Micra 1.0 with Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). Slow as a dog but should be fine for city traffic. Reliable, cheap to run and there are plenty (mainly Japanese imports) around. You'd probably get a '98 or '99 low mileage one for your budget

My wife had a Micra 1.0 with NCVT and it was dog slow. But in the city thats not going to be real problem. It was perfectly reliable.