Inspection and car advice

We're considering buying an estate or 4x4 with an automatic transmission. So far we’ve looked at: Audi A6 1.9 TDI 130 SE Multitronic (2004 - £2900 - 79k miles); Volvo V50 2.4i SE Geartronic (2004 - £2895 - 88k miles); Mercedes-Benz M-Class ML500 Tip Auto 5.0 (2003 £3850 - 99k miles); Nissan X Trail 2.5 SVE (2004 - £3500 - 99k miles).

Any recommendations or thoughts on what I should look out for when inspecting the cars?

Asked on 3 January 2014 by Andy Sommer

Answered by Honest John

Obviously don't expect impeccable reliability from any of these because they are all old cars and some of them are expensive to repair. Known fault with Audi's Multitroic, but by now should have been replaced.

Geartronics don't generally last very long either. The ML will be extremely thirsty (less than 20mpg). More in the individual entries in www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar

Tags: automatics buying a used car reliability

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