In the market for an Automatic Car

sunny2012

Hi there.

A neighbour has asked me for advice on purchasing a second hand automatic car. Budget around the 4-7K mark. Size from Yaris - Avensis. Definitely not a large E Class, 5 Series etc. Engine size <2 litre. I have always driven manual and am curious regarding any pitfalls and weaknesses that members may have had with particular models - Reliability is important.

Thank you for your contribution.

colm_mcm

As a rule, I'd avoid any of the new breed of automated manuals, instead of using a conventional torque convertor box, they use a manual gearbox with electric or hydraulic shifters for the gears and clutch. They are complicated little things and aren't as easy to drive as a normal auto box.

Examples

Citroen sensodrive
Toyota MMT or multimode
Ford durashift est
Alfa Romeo selespeed
Saab sensonic
Fiat dualogic.

If I was in that position, I'd get a corolla 1.6 VVT-I auto, highly unlikely to go wrong and easy to drive. Id import from the uk as the Irish models are only available in bog basic Terra trim. Also a huge percentage of the auto corollas in Ireland started off life as long term rental cars for tourists, unlike manual cars, the rental companies used to hang on to corolla automatics for 3 years, and most of them got a few wallops in that time.

Auto boxes have an oil change period, but a lot of Irish owners completely ignore ATF changes, another reason to look abroad.

Most of the corolla autos in the uk are t3 spec, which is like strata spec here but with aircon.
A lot of them over there are 3 door which to me would suggest ex motability cars, which should mean low miles and regular servicing.

galwaytt

colm_mcm wrote: »

As a rule, I'd avoid any of the new breed of automated manuals, instead of using a conventional torque convertor box, they use a manual gearbox with electric or hydraulic shifters for the gears and clutch. They are complicated little things and aren't as easy to drive as a normal auto box.

Examples

Citroen sensodrive
Toyota MMT or multimode
Ford durashift est
Alfa Romeo selespeed
Saab sensonic
Fiat dualogic.

If I was in that position, I'd get a corolla 1.6 VVT-I auto, highly unlikely to go wrong and easy to drive. Id import from the uk as the Irish models are only available in bog basic Terra trim. Also a huge percentage of the auto corollas in Ireland started off life as long term rental cars for tourists, unlike manual cars, the rental companies used to hang on to corolla automatics for 3 years, and most of them got a few wallops in that time.

Auto boxes have an oil change period, but a lot of Irish owners completely ignore ATF changes, another reason to look abroad.

Sorry, but I've put big miles on DSG box, and its better than a torque converter box in every way......and its a simpler box mechanically, as well.

OP, I've just bought an 05 Saab 9-5 estate, auto, diesel, full leather, heated seats and all tge toys, for the bottom of your budget, and I love it. Sold an 06 manual 9-3 to buy it, and am quids ahead, as well. Win-Win

My brother has a petrol auto Saab,and it's an even bigger bargain....no one wants petrol anymore, see ?

Test drove an 06 Saab 9-3 diesel estate, Auto, before I bought my 9-5, and couldn't fault it. The 9-5 was just older, cheaper.

galwaytt

galwaytt wrote: »

colm_mcm wrote: »

As a rule, I'd avoid any of the new breed of automated manuals, instead of using a conventional torque convertor box, they use a manual gearbox with electric or hydraulic shifters for the gears and clutch. They are complicated little things and aren't as easy to drive as a normal auto box.

Examples

Citroen sensodrive
Toyota MMT or multimode
Ford durashift est
Alfa Romeo selespeed
Saab sensonic
Fiat dualogic.

If I was in that position, I'd get a corolla 1.6 VVT-I auto, highly unlikely to go wrong and easy to drive. Id import from the uk as the Irish models are only available in bog basic Terra trim. Also a huge percentage of the auto corollas in Ireland started off life as long term rental cars for tourists, unlike manual cars, the rental companies used to hang on to corolla automatics for 3 years, and most of them got a few wallops in that time.

Auto boxes have an oil change period, but a lot of Irish owners completely ignore ATF changes, another reason to look abroad.

Sorry, but I've put big miles on DSG box, and its better than a torque converter box in every way......and its a simpler box mechanically, as well.

OP, I've just bought an 05 Saab 9-5 estate, auto, diesel, full leather, heated seats and all tge toys, for the bottom of your budget, and I love it. Sold an 06 manual 9-3 to buy it, and am quids ahead, as well. Win-Win

My brother has a petrol auto Saab,and it's an even bigger bargain....no one wants petrol anymore, see ?

Test drove an 06 Saab 9-3 diesel estate, Auto, before I bought my 9-5, and couldn't fault it. The 9-5 was just older, cheaper.

Oh, and avoid any VAG with CVT / Multitronic. They're brutal.

colm_mcm

Absolutely Galwaytt, you'll see I never said to avoid the dsg box.

I love saabs, but I wouldn't persuade a family member spending relatively big money to buy one.

galwaytt

colm_mcm wrote: »

Absolutely Galwaytt, you'll see I never said to avoid the dsg box.

I love saabs, but I wouldn't persuade a family member spending relatively big money to buy one.

Didn't buy the 9-5 ' cos it was dear ! :-P

rebecca 30

dont buy a corsa , had nothing but crap from that car & got rid of it in less than a year , I bought a 1.6 Octavia estate, 4 years old for 9k last year and its brill , i rang around a few garages to see what they had , best auto I have had out of 6 cars , also check how many owners it had priors to you , I learn my lesson the hard way

colm_mcm

Some cars are rubbish as a result of the life they've had rather than poor design.

650Ginge

Toyota Prius.

colm_mcm

Good thinking, if you're in the market for an auto, then a Prius or indeed a civic mk2 hybrid are great choices. The civic being more mainstream and upmarket looking but not as practical.

Victor Meldrew

had a megane auto (2004). 4 speed torque converter box, supposedly sealed for life.

at 45,000 miles it started throwing gears. Prior to that it was never smoothe to shift when accelerating, was heavy on petrol, and whirred annoyingly.

Basically it was appalling quality.

Mechanics politely told me that while it may just be a solenoid, it may be a lot more, as they have form for breaking at moderate mileage.

It is gone now. I reverted to manual Japanese cars.

If you are going Auto, go Japanese. They design their cars for the major markets to have Autos, so they are more durable, and not an afterthought.

Cedrus

Mitsubishi Colt with a CVT and the 5 door is a reasonable size.

Iirc Nissan put a kind of gear simulator on their mid sized and bigger cars which is basically a CVT with stops inserted, which I've never driven but sound utterly pointless.

Fiats Duologic is rough, it feels like a nervous learner is changing gear when you're least expecting it. But it's actually ok when in manual mode and it works like an indexed box.

ninty9er

Peugeot 207

Peugeot 307

Renault Megane

Nissan Primera

Honda Civic

Citroën C3

Nissan Tiida

Soul Destruction

Suzuki Swift

I'd have the Primera or Civic myself

colm_mcm

Are all those cars to avoid?

bazz26

Kia Ceed auto:

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=5013300143236950

colm_mcm

I'd always be the first to recommend a ceed, but on researching the i30 in the last few months that auto box seems to have a good few owners complaining about them.

kurant

I have jap. MB C200 97 auto for sale. still as new and very easy to drive and park.trouble free car.

colm_mcm

Will you take 7 grand for it?

galwaytt

galwaytt wrote: »

Oh, and avoid any VAG with CVT / Multitronic. They're brutal.

Multitronic is only available on Audi's.

Its a fantasticly smoothe automatic, a lot more than dsg or torque converter and much more fuel efficient than torque converter.

The fact that it holds high revs can make it seem weird, but for normal driving I love it. The new multitronics are also far more reliable than the older ones found in the B6 A4.

I found the multitronic much more relaxing than dsg and found a lot of lag in the dsg and it hunted for gears a lot more than I would have liked, maybe the newer ones are better ?

The New A6 multitronic seems to change like a dsg, I hear where they are programmed now not to hold high revs and it really works well.

kurant

colm_mcm wrote: »

Will you take 7 grand for it?

afraid not. It's really clean car with only 93 000 km on it (59k miles).

colm_mcm

Why mention it so?

kurant

colm_mcm wrote: »

Why mention it so?

You may find ad in DD if you like

colm_mcm

Will you post up a link to the car, just curious as to how a 97 c200 can be so expensive.

kurant

colm_mcm wrote: »

Will you post up a link to the car, just curious as to how a 97 c200 can be so expensive.

no it's not expensive. It's 1500 euro .need see to understand .will not discuss it in that tread . If you interested give me a call or PM.

BigEejit

We are looking for a car for the wife and after a few test drives we will likely go for a prius. They have a pretty damn good reliability record and for someone who does not require a quick car (like my wife) it ticks all the boxes