automatic car shopping.

[Honey Badger]

I am ideally looking for an auto but small autos are like gold dust cheap. Punto blew a tyre tonight,started whining from gearbox and kangarooing at low rpm. Been a pretty eventful evening........

ATF need changing? Maybe some Lubeguard red in it to get a bit more life out of it?

[bub2006]

Punto is a manual. I just think it's on its last legs!

[Honey Badger]

Seems a decent price I'm sure there's haggle room, 1.8 Rover 25 step auto £600? No mention of MOT though.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2001-ROVER-25-1-8-iL-Step-Auto-/271878915121?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f4d3f0431

[bub2006]

Insurance is bloody stupid on anything 1.6 and above. Except for Peugeot diesels. I looked at the 106 yesterday evening, really tidy and clean inside bit the boot floor was falling out.

[bub2006]

Going to look at 3 more later I think. One is a astra on a w plate. 1.6 auto, another astra but a t reg manual estate. Also I've seen a 1.6 megane fat arse shape on a 52 plate. Are they any good or French shit key card ignition?

[bub2006]

And another wild card,Renault kangoo 1.9d. Noisy diff,300 quid

[JohnK]

Fat arse shape will be keycard

[bub2006]

Best avoided then John?

[JohnK]

Definitely. I base that purely on my experience of a 51 plate Laguna I owned that self destructed in 2 weeks. That was a petrol manual as well, so really basic.

 

An auto would scare the shit out of me. Good job the one you mentioned isn't diesel either! Shame because I like the look of them (especially the estates) and there's some cheap ones about.

[bub2006]

This megane is a manual not an auto. She said it sometimes takes 3 pushes of button to start car.

[JohnK]

I would avoid it.

 

When I bought my BMW the one thing I've always been wary about is the push button start. I dread the day it starts to go faulty.

[bub2006]

Would the kangoo like Veg? It's a w plate 1.9 d.

[bub2006]

Well I've just made a cheeky offer of £350 on a g plate 2 owner citroen bx 14

[EssDeeWon]

Now, I do like the sound of that

[bub2006]

So do i. Chap who has it now owned it for a few years,had it from his dad who worked for citroen an owned it from New. I viewed it a couple of month back and he wanted600. I offered 350 and he said he will consider it

[EssDeeWon]

So do i. Chap who has it now owned it for a few years,had it from his dad who worked for citroen an owned it from New. I viewed it a couple of month back and he wanted600. I offered 350 and he said he will consider it

 

Go there and wave the reddies about, they will take it, trust me

[bub2006]

Is it worth it though? Parts still available?

[RayMK]

A £350 BX will need parts often (mainly pipes).  If you enjoy fixing cars, it will give you endless pleasure.  If you have fallen in love with the BX in question, you will turn a blind eye to the number of days you can't use it after discovering puddles of LHM underneath. I've owned a GSA and a CX GTi Turbo 2 and my son had a BX.  Fabulous cars, but neither of us have rushed to get another one  .

 

I recently bought a Peugeot 205 automatic for £895 (43,000 miles, 12 months MOT).  2,000 miles on, I have unexpectedly fallen in love with it.  It's comfortable, reliable, surprisingly pokey in kickdown and handles well.  205s rarely show significant rust, unlike BXs.  Economy is around 34mpg. 

 

I would say "keep looking."  

[bub2006]

Well he said he needed time to think and I needed a car. Just bought a xsara 1.4 west coast on a v plate. Very tidy inside and out,2 owners from new and last owner had it 10 years. Paid 250 for it with mot till January. Done 2k since mot and had no advisories.

[JohnK]

Sounds like a good buy. I bought a Xsara for £200 in 2013 as a cheap runabout for work and unexpectedly really really rated it. I recall mine being a 1.6.

[bub2006]

I can't understand how it's more powerful than punto but cheaper to insure. So far so good. Very comfy and feels quite nippy

[Noel Tidybeard]

Really?

If done right, a CVT can be a joy.

My mother had an '04 Jazz and it was brill, always in the right 'gear' and ready to go, impossible to catch it out.

Also, that blue CVT Micra on sale here was tip-top.

wot he said ^^^ never had bother with a cvt primera

[Lacquer Peel]

Xsaras are pretty ugly but seem better built than the 306 they're based on. TU petrol is a sweet engine.

[bub2006]

I think the front ends look nicer than the 306,jury still out on the rear though. Seems a lot bigger than the 306 and I do like the interior.

[GJR 11L]

I've just bagged myself a rust free (no, really, it's been treated with Shell Ensis V - like Waxoyl but it works - from new, and has no holes, anywhere! ) 1990 H plate Toyota Corolla 1.6 Executive auto liftback. If you can stomach the fact that the name of the thing causes people to suspect you of being Alan Partridge, then it's a great car. Mine has done 68k from new and, like most giffer-spec small autos, has every single service stamp from its 24 1/2 year life. The 4A-F engine is one of the world's most bulletproof petrols, the 3 speed auto changes smoothly and efficiently, in practice it's so much better than the DSG7 in the modern Golf that I'm handing back now I've found a pukka daily piece of reliable Japanese shite. The guy who's sold it to me has kept every petrol receipt and done sums at every fill up showing that the thing does between 26mpg (queueing in the A1 traffic on his daily drive to work - the A1 being single carriageway along his whole route) and 47mpg on his trips over to the Argyll & Bute area, where traffic, even in grockle season, is light and people can cruise at a steady 55 without annoying anyone.

 

I've had good experiences with CVTs and a couple of mates have Jazz autos that seem to be blessed with a particularly good example of the type, but the Fiesta auto that I once had (same transmission as the Pandaselecta) was dreadful, mostly because it was knackered, maybe a healthy one would be fine and there's a nice Panda on the 'bay just now.