Small auto

[bigstraight6]

Old Fatha BS6 is now having great difficulty driving his old Peugeot 405 diesel/manual now due to disability, and has tasked me to find a 'small automatic' for a grand or less.Now, my preference is a Nissan Micra, but through one of his drinking pals has got me looking at a '99 Renner Clio auto tomorrow, are they any good? I've read plenty of negative comments on hear about Renner auto 'boxes! should I hold out for the Nissan

[Guest]

By the amount of faulty boxes on these-which turn up on ebay I would hold out for a micra. Is there a daihatsu sirion/suzuki alto auto? they may be a good choice.

[pogweasel]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2005-54-PEROUDA-K ... 0182086282

 

INSTANT WIN.

[Barry Cade]

Micra has the CVT box, for under a grand you could get a 340!- no power steering though, maybe also a Panda Selecta or a Punto Selecta? Better still, a DAF!!!

[vicsmith]

I`ve sold 4 old shape Clio Autos in the last 3 years and they have all been fine, still see one of them kicking about 3 years on in fact.I`ve had no grief from Corsa autos, either, seem to be a strong box in those.Anything can be trouble, though, a lot depends on the seller and knackered autoboxes can sometimes reveal themselves slowly, you need a good test drive whatever you get.

[r.welfare]

Another vote for the Corsa here. The autobox is generally tough - I think it's the same one fitted to Astras and Cavaliers/Vectras, so shouldn't be troubled by the torque of a 1.2 tiddler, but I'd be wary of rust hiding underneath those big plastic bumpers/wheelarch trims.I would avoid anything with a CVT box to be frank. Mother W has a Honda Logo, W-reg with just 24k on the clock, and spent a frankly crackers £2.5k last year on a recon box as the original one was on the way out (severe vibration under acceleration). 11.5 months later, and it's doing it again, despite some new-fangled "heavy-duty" oil being put in. The plan will be to get another box put in next week, just before the warranty runs out, then p/x it on a Jazz probably. They seem to be OK in the box dept. I'm still trying to steer her into a Yaris 1.3, which has a conventional auto, but they aren't built quite as well.Keep me posted on what will happen to the 405, I may be tempted to stockpile it for future use Is it a Phase 2 (post K-reg)?

[MrRegieRitmo]

Where are the Logo & Jazz in relation to each other in the Honda range?Is the Jazz like a Yaris & the Logo like an Aygo?

[r.welfare]

No. The Logo is in effect the previous-generation Jazz, sort of. The Logo was just a rebadged Honda City - one of Japan's biggest selling cars - brought in for about 18 months in 2000-01 to get UK Honda customers used to Honda selling really small cars again. Think of the Logo as the grandson of the Jazz sold here in the mid-80s. The new Jazz is completely redone, and I think they renamed the JDM model the Fit (OJC folks correct me if I am wrong).There was only one trim level, which is pretty loaded for a tiny tot - PAS, A/C, electric windows and mirrors, twin airbags etc. Five-speed manual or CVT box. The list price was over £10k when new It fitted my mum's near-impossible criteria of wanting a car with auto & A/C while being the same size (or smaller than) a Rover Metro, which it replaced. The thing only had 7k on it when she bought it in 2003. I should really have spotted that the 'box juddered on takeoff (like going over a small speedbump) on the test drive, but I know nowt about CVTs The Jazz has some kind of more complex evolution of the CVT box with 7 set "speeds", I believe. Honest John's website seems to indicate that there have been no issues with it, but it's difficult to find a <3yr old town tot these days with a conventional automatic box - they are either CVT or robotised manuals. I hired a manumatic "new" Fiesta once in Jersey, and it was appalling. A 1.3 Yaris would be my choice, but the French build quality isn't that great apparently.Anyway, back on topic - BS6, a friend of mine had an L-plate 1.4 60bhp basic Corsa Merit auto from new until about 5 years ago, and she had no problems with it at all. I'd try and find a nice GLS or CDX for a grand if it's possible. I think the 1st gen Corsa autos were all the lower-powered 1.4s (HiTorq) but I might be wrong. My uncle did 250k in a 2.0i Cavalier with this box and it was still running sweetly on it's trip to the scrappers...

[pandamonium]

Get the PerOdua! No, seriously, get it!

[bigstraight6]

Many thanks for all the replies/comments chaps. Well, went and saw this device today and it's quite tidy, though the vendor is rather ambitious on the price still, tomorrow is Friday and autotrader day, and I'm off this week so an early morning trip to the newsagent is on the agenda Mr Welfare, old Fatha's 405 diesel is on the 'L' plate, BUT its a non-turbot, lovely XUD though having only just over the 100,000 miles and no oil or water useage

[r.welfare]

I thought Thursday was Autotrader day? Anyhoo, I reckon they do most of their business online these days, so I'd get-a searching on the web. The benefit of course being you can enjoy tea n'toast while sorting the wheat from the chaff.Non-turbot 405 eh? Intriguing!

[Renault18]

PLEASE DO NOT BUY THE CLIO AUTO!Love Renaults to bits, but the Auto boxes are completely shit - more shit than completely shit even.Only decent ones are the later Safranes and any Lagunas with the Volvo engines and boxes, plus the boxes used in the 2 litre R18 and Fuego. Everything else has a life expectancy of about a week.