What reliable, smallish, automatic car with v high mpg?

puddy

I have an automatic 1.2 micra, it does 42mpg (because i only drive motorways give or take). I wanted it last a few more years but wonder what other smallish automatics may have better fuel consumption. It needs to be reliable like a micra.

AlexisV

What age / budget?

Mark_Hewitt

Reliable like a Micra? So not very reliable then?

Micras are already pretty small and fuel efficient, so you aren't going to get significantly better.

If you really want to get better fuel consumption consider either or both of * Diesel, * Manual transmission.

iolanthe07

42 mpg is excellent for a Micra automatic. My wife had one and never got anywhere near that. A conventional torque converter autobox driven by a small engine is never going to be very fuel efficient, tbh. Although I personally hate the things with a passion, you may be OK with an automatic clutch semi-auto like the Mitsubishi Colt, if you can get used to the jerky gear changes. Their fuel consumption is on par with a manual.

puddy

i cant drive a manual.
age, not bothered.
budget, not sure really but the car would need to last around 10 years. diesel i dont mind but wasnt sure if you get automatic desiels.

my car has been largely reliable (touch wood), a few little glitches but mainly due to needing the battery changed (it did 6 years) and just stuff like discs and pads. i thought nissan and toyota and the such like had good reputations.

puddy

iolanthe07 wrote: »

42 mpg is excellent for a Micra automatic. My wife had one and never got anywhere near that. A conventional torque converter autobox driven by a small engine is never going to be very fuel efficient, tbh. Although I personally hate the things with a passion, you may be OK with an automatic clutch semi-auto like the Mitsubishi Colt, if you can get used to the jerky gear changes. Their fuel consumption is on par with a manual.

i only do motorways so wouldnt know what the mpg is for town driving as such. i know they're not the ideal for low mpg (automatics that is) but thats what ive got to work with.

i keep hearing aobut people with 60mpg and stuff like that and im jealous!!

pendulum

Why would you want a car with a smaller engine if you only do motorway driving? Small engined cars are good for town but their weakness is motorways because they struggle to keep up with traffic and they are not fuel efficient because they have to rev alot higher to reach and stay at motorway speeds.

Me and my dad drove a 1.2 Corsa back from Portugal to England taking turns to drive, it's about a 24hour drive so we weren't hanging around and drove 70 - 80mph all the way back and it was a thirsty !!!!!!, we both agreed my dads 2.8 would've probably been better on fuel at those speeds.

vikingaero

puddy wrote: »

i only do motorways so wouldnt know what the mpg is for town driving as such. i know they're not the ideal for low mpg (automatics that is) but thats what ive got to work with.

i keep hearing aobut people with 60mpg and stuff like that and im jealous!!

It's pointless spending thousands on a new car to save £x pounds per tankful. The quoted MPG for new cars differs from reality by as much as 30-40% especially the hybrids.

Mark_Hewitt

You can do 60MPG only if you are following a lorry (I did it last night), otherwise it's 50MPG on a 1.6 Diesel is realistic.

Fact is that you are already getting good MPG from the car you have, if you don't want to go Diesel or Manual, that's pretty much the best you can do.

sadie22

toyata ago are fab little cars, only £35 road tax a year when i had mine, very economical on petrol and i had it in automatic. (boot a little small though)
dont buy a tiptronic corsa, ive had one of them too from new,
there terrible are pulling away at roundabouts.

oldagetraveller

sadie22 wrote: »

dont buy a tiptronic corsa, ive had one of them too from new,
there terrible are pulling away at roundabouts.

As is the Toyota version of that - MMT. I have a Yaris MMT which I suspect is the same "automated" manual gearbox as that fitted to the Aygo, absolutely awful 'box. Verging on the dangerous sometimes!