A female (22) I know, has limited driving experience and has held a licence for a couple of years. She has given up the unequal fight with the clutch and gear lever and a small automatic car is now on the agenda.
An automatic Corsa was suggested as that was the learning car (manual), but I suppose they'd be a bit pricey and not offer good value for that very reason.
Fuel economy does not matter, nor is any issue about slush-box or CVT transmission. All she wants is a go pedal and stop pedal. Annual mileage will be low and all of it in town but nowhere near Ken's CC area.
The cost is a consideration, but value more so. As it's a departure from what she's used to, I've suggested second hand (£1000 to £3000) to make sure it's the right decision, but a new car is not totally out of the question. I don't think street cred matters.
Any ideas on a reliable one? Japanese? Maybe Nissan Micra?
|
|
Toyota Aygo has an automatic option.
|
|
|
Old-model Micra has a CVT box, I'd recommend a standard torque-converter auto for reliability. Corsa would be good if you found a decent example, but there aren't many autos around. Avoid Clio and Fiesta because the autoboxes are carp. Anything Far-Eastern would be good - Hyundai Accent possibly? Easily available in your second-hand budget, and tend to be reliable.
If she decides to opt for new (or nearly new), try the likes of Picanto, Getz, Charade, Sirion. All vastly better value than a Corsa, and all use either Nissan-based or Mitsubishi-based autoboxes, so shouldn't die in a hurry.
|
|
You can get a decent Nissan Sunny under £500 Very reliable not bad to drive.
|
I would advise an old k11 micra with the cvt box and power steering ,spend no more than £1500 and then tell her to reapraise in a year
The old k11 will still attain at least £1000 so the learning car has cost £19 a week in real terms
Obviously you will need to do a bit of leg work to find a nice one as you dont want an ex pizza delivery one
|
|
|
|
Old-model Micra has a CVT box I'd recommend a standard torque-converter auto for reliability. >>
Where can one find out which models use a torque convertor and which use an electronic clutch thingy?
|
|
Most small autos still use a TC, the exceptions I know of are Nissan Micra K11, Fiat Punto/Panda, Honda Jazz, older Fiestas....erm.... can't think of any more off the top of my head, but as a rule-of-thumb, most with the standard "PRND321" selector lever will be TC - CVTs don't have gears as such, so are usually just "PRND". Of course we'll now hear every exception to this rule....
|
|
My wife has had a Picanto 1.1 auto from new for 2 years and 16,000 miles. When we bought it it was around the price of a three year old Corsa, Fiesta, Clio, 206, Yaris (slightly tempted) which didn't appeal. We rate it quite highly; it is comfortable, well specced with a smooth engine and gearbox and cruises nicely at motorway speeds. Nothing has gone wrong with it and even though some of the plastics are a bit cheap looking, nothing rattles. The only qualifications I have (but not my wife) is that acceleration is "slow" and low 30's mpg fuel consumption isn't great but I suppose considering it is an auto bolted to a small engine and used mainly around town and commuting it isn't a disaster. I'd recommend a test drive purely on value for money which is why we looked at it and we were pleasantly surprised with what we found.
|
Thanks so far - keep them coming.
The Kia Picanto is tempting especially as it's on offer with 1year's insurance. (Insurance quote so far is in the area of £950).
There seem to be plenty of Nissan Micras about, R reg. on up to 51 reg. in the region £1200 to £2500. Did I read on here something a while ago about a rust riddled front-end (with photos) on a 8 - 10 year old Micra ?? Are these CVT or conventional autos?
|
If buying new look at
perodua myvi or Daihatsu Sirion
If 2nd hand current shape Micra (old shape with CVT is too unreliable)
dont let her buy a CVT at all, it will cost too much when it goes wrong
|
sorry retgwte cant let your post go
i have never had a bad cvt micra
i can only remember one bad fiesta cvt
i run a primera cvt
as i said in my post you look for a good one not a thrashed ex pizza delivery one,lets be honest these cars sell to mainly retired couples or women so most will last forever
as regards the rust it was myself that posted the micra xmember rotted but as i say it doesnt affect every car and a quick look round pre purchase will tell you if the car has tinworm
|
|
|
|
|
|
If street cred doesn't matter and she doesn't mind a slightly bigger car, why not an Almera? I'm very pleased with mine, and they have a good reliability record. Untrendy, so reasonably-priced to buy, and spare parts are reputedly sensibly-priced if needed
|
|
my extended family has had a number of CVTs of various makes all go snap very expensively, weve learnt and moved on, if youre one of the lucky ones good for you
|
|
i sell the things if any went snap i am quite sure i would have heard some moaning and groaning.
|
bell boy,
go have a coffee in one of the gearbox refurb places, have a chat to the staff, ask them roughly % wise numbers of CVTs that come in versus others, rough cost of typical repair, and do some back of fag packet sums
CVTs would be OK if the gearboxes were as cheap to repair as they are to make (if you ignore the fact they fail with no warning which is unusual with other styles of auto box which will normally limp you home or give lots of noise long before total failure) which I think they probably could be in some countries, and may become cheap to replace with recon units here over time, as it is mantime in the UK is too expensive to make them viable
if youre lucky great
our CVTs were not thrashed or mistreated, the still went ping
|
With respect retgwte i dont need any coffees in any gearbox refurb places, i know the good refurb ones my way from the cowboys and i know that cvt micra boxes do not go pop regularly.
These old k11 cars with the steel belt is the most reliable of them all and there is a tell tale noise to them going pop, they are noisy like a steel belt is running on the side of a pulley,you can hear it a mile off if you know your job.
|
|
|
|
Some sort of Hyundai or Kia (all same firm). Good cars which due to prejudice depreciate ridiculously.
|
|
Thanks all so far. Rightly or wrongly, for starters she / we seem to be going down the £1750 max. s/h Nissan Micra route and might take a look at a couple of them soon.
|
Update. With your help a 51 reg one owner, full history, Nissan Micra 1.0 CVT with 37k has been bought.
Er..a bit more than £1750 !
I have a query about CVT fluid which I'll ask in the appropriate place.
|
|
|
|
