New small automatic

[lowdrag]

SWMBO has ideas on changing her car. She has a Yaris manual, but likes the idea of an auto since driving my Merc. The new Yaris auto seems dear, as does the Jazz (you get the idea she likes nipponese) but what are your experiences and what do you recommend from experience please. If necessary and advised, one of the above might be purchased, but I'm not sure about the reliability of CVT (perhaps wrongly though) and am completely open to suggestions. She does about 10,000 miles a year, mostly to and from work in town with the odd long haul in summer of up to 500 miles so aircon is a must too.

[HenryRoyce]

Never driven one myself, but a friend of ours has a Yaris auto which she loves to bits and has been perfectly reliable.

[Deva Link]

Well, we've owned 2 manual Jazz's and they've been fine (as you'd expect).

I've driven the auto version of the old model. Not much to say really - pressed one pedal to go and another to stop. Went OK. Honda have just changed back to CVT in the current having tried an automated manual but most people hated it.

[Dave Hedgehog]

ling will lease you a merc A class auto for £200 a month, i seam to be in the minority as i like them

http://www.lingscars.com/Mercedes/A-Class/1442133-...

[browno]

I'd look at the vag dry clutch dct in the polo, Ibiza or fabia as a first port of call if she doesn't like the cvt...

The modern cvts are much better than old ones, but if you need a small auto I'd look at the dual clutch options, as they drive much more like a mix of the best bits of a manual and a conventional auto.

Edited by browno on Thursday 8th December 22:31

[CoolHands]

nissan note 1.6 petrols auto. I love it. Get a 'tekna' they are the top model with all the options eg climate control etc.

Edited by CoolHands on Thursday 8th December 22:46

[TNTom]

Dave Hedgehog said:

ling will lease you a merc A class auto for £200 a month, i seam to be in the minority as i like them

http://www.lingscars.com/Mercedes/A-Class/1442133-...

is that site for real?? if it is theres ALOT of work put into that lol

[PumpkinSteve]

TNTom said:

is that site for real?? if it is theres ALOT of work put into that lol

Yep, it's a well known site. I thought it was fake too when I first saw it.

[rfn]

My mother has done 80,000 miles in her R52 MINI Cooper Automatic with no problems at all.
She's just replaced it with an R56 Mini Cooper Automatic - theme here? The old one was CVT and was just fine, if a little uneconomical (30 averaged over the age of the vehicle), the new one is a traditional auto box.

She was driving them alongside each other for a couple of weeks and seemed to struggle to decide which she preferred!

[Ed.]

If you are fussy about the type of auto honestjohn reviews usually go into detail.

[jgtv]

misses has a Aygo auto, does similar miles. Not missed a beat and does the job perfectly.

Not the most fun car in the world to drive and sometimes it takes some getting used to driving it but on the whole she loves it, hard work on long trips though but I think thats the Aygo in general.

Perfect small short trip car.

[Remagel2507]

I've driven both a Yaris and Micra and I preferred the Micra due to the fact it was a lot smoother. The Yaris was a 08 and it had the awful semi auto gearbox which just ruined the overall drive, the Micra was an 06 and I found it pretty good to drive so the Note is likely to be the same, Micra is still on our fleet and the only problem has been a fault 02 sensor.

I think the new VAG 7-Speed is meant to pretty good but IIRC a PHer (possibly the one with the DB9 Volante) has a Polo GTI with that gearbox and it has caused him a bit of trouble

[Dave Hedgehog]

TNTom said:

is that site for real?? if it is theres ALOT of work put into that lol

ling was on dragons den and got rejected

she is now the largest independent car leaser in the UK turning over 35 million (of cars RRP)

silly silly dragons

[jkh112]

CoolHands said:

nissan note 1.6 petrols auto. I love it. Get a 'tekna' they are the top model with all the options eg climate control etc.

Edited by CoolHands on Thursday 8th December 22:46

My wife has had one of these for almost 2 years now and it has been really good.

[LeoSayer]

Another vote for the Note here.

My parents have the 1.6 Tekna Auto and love it. It's a proper torque converter auto as well, and smooth as you like.