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Small auto


bigstraight6

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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 :?

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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.

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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.

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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 8) Is it a Phase 2 (post K-reg)?

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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 :shock: 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 :roll: 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...

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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 :roll: 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 :wink: 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 :wink:

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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!

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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.

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