Hi all. I currently have a great W reg 1.4 Polo which I love, but a chronic arthritic problem means I need to start thinking about changing to a car with an auto gearbox. My budget will be about £4k, no more, and I'm happy to change manufacturer despite being a big VW fan. The Yaris seems tempting, but I'm reading things about it having a trick manual box rather than a normal auto, which sounds worrying. I don't really need anything bigger than a Polo, so although I like my wife's Focus, a car that size would be too big for my needs. My Polo is more than nippy enough for me, though I realise an auto will sap some power and use more fuel. Would I perhaps need a 1.6 to give me the same sort of performance I'm used to? I can't find much info on auto Polos, such as how many speeds the box has etc.
Any suggestions most appreciated!
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First the Polo - its a 4-spd conventional auto as far as I know.
As for your requirements - more detail about what age and what you want from the car etc will help the BR give more accurate help in suggesting a car/s.
The Yaris at the age your budget will allow is a normal auto ( 1.3 ), only recent ones are MMT.
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Thanks for the reply. Basically I need a Polo sized car no older than my current car (2000 W), with an auto box. Usual requirements - reliable, economical, cheap parts prices. If a Yaris of that age is a normal auto box, do we know what reputation that model has for reliability/economy etc?
Thanks.
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Have you tried looking on Autotrader? You can put in those requirements and it will bring up the sort of cars you can expect to get. May give you a good general idea.
I drove an 04 Yaris auto and it was a throughly decent car, very smooth and quite perky.
Reliable and economical is generally a japanese thing - the Polo auto is quite thirsty compared to the Yaris for instance. Also worth a look at Daihatsu who do small autos quite well and they are quite frugal. Hyundai Getz is cheap but thirsty as the Polo.
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Great idea on Auto Trader, will try that. Useful info on the Yaris too, thanks very much.
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I sold MiL's auto Polo 98S for £1500 a few months back. Not a very nice car to drive IMHO.
I realise it's the size larger, but try the Focus. So much nicer. SWMBO has a 1.6 auto and it's great. Her 51 reg can't be worth more than £3,000 in a dealer.
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Must admit the Focus is tempting, though I'd need to check on economy. I drive about 30 miles each day for work so I don't want anything too thirsty.
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Mrs Dugong has a 2002 Civic 1.6 auto for which we were recently offered £3500 in p/x. Nothing (at all) has gone wrong with it since new.
Outward dimensions can't be much more than a Polo and the interior space is unbelievable (flat floor, loads of rear leg room, plenty of headroom front and rear even with a sun roof, and it pre-dates the introduction of the centre console so you can 'walk' from the front to the back! She won't have the new Civic given, it's much more closed in.
It's a four speed torque converter auto, and very easy to drive. You'll have to join the WI, but that's a small price to pay for such practicality and reliability.
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