Automatic Car Help Needed Please

rev_henry

tyrone2014 wrote: »

now i decided for a first car better just get some cheaper and later on get a better car so i think i will go with
Honda Civic if its 1.4 then is cheap to insure or as
rev_henry said a Hyundai Accent 1.5 rechecked the insurance and its cheap aswell which one do u think will be better for fuel ?

Sounds a good idea. Fuel wise I would have thought they'd be pretty similar, but would think a civic would cost more to buy.

Ah I think I almost understand now Joe and Lum!

poppasmurf_bewdley

I have a 2009 Mondeo 2 litre TDCI diesel automatic which always gives more than 42mpg around town and 50mpg+ on a run.

Insurance is just over £200pa and road tax £250pa.

I wouldn't touch any of the cars you mentioned. Stick to a traditional car with a proper auto box. The Mk4 Mondy has a six speed box.

iolanthe07

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

I have a 2009 Mondeo 2 litre TDCI diesel automatic which always gives more than 42mpg around town and 50mpg+ on a run.

Insurance is just over £200pa and road tax £250pa.

I wouldn't touch any of the cars you mentioned. Stick to a traditional car with a proper auto box. The Mk4 Mondy has a six speed box.

I agree. I had a Colt for a day with an MMT gearbox and it was an absolute nightmare to drive - jerky and counter intuitive in that you had to take your foot off the throttle to get anything like a smooth gear change. You can't beat a proper torque converter, imho.

tyrone2014

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

I have a 2009 Mondeo 2 litre TDCI diesel automatic which always gives more than 42mpg around town and 50mpg+ on a run.

Insurance is just over £200pa and road tax £250pa.

I wouldn't touch any of the cars you mentioned. Stick to a traditional car with a proper auto box. The Mk4 Mondy has a six speed box.

because im a first time driver my insurance is sky high and i cant get a 2.0 litre as that will be over 2000pa for a under 1.5 engines i am quoted about 1200-2000 pa

im confused now you said only get a proper auto has the Honda Civic 1.4 and Hyundai Accent 1.5 not got proper ones ?? and if they are the proper autos then they are not supposed to a be as good with saving fuel

i had my heart set on honda jazz but then i realise for a first car better to get something cheaper in case of accidents etc and get a better car in a few years when i used to driving and if i got a honda or hyundai then i will save money

fivetide

tyrone - because of your age you are right to look for somethign a bit smaller.

The 1,4 Civic should be fine. For reference we've had two ford autos, a Mondeo and a Fusion and both had issues with the gearbox so they are not that bulletproof.

Merc tend to have very strong autoboxes (rest of the car is an issue) but those are out of your insurance range.

The Suzuki/Vauxhall Agila is a woefully underpowered car though and as such not that friendly on fuel.

Only other thing I can think of is to look at a few more weird and wonderful things. Less popular cars can actually be fairly cheap to insure. It depends if you want a car that is just a tool for getting to a and b or something that is a bit nicer to sit in.

5t.

tyrone2014

thanks five tide
i came across a Honda Civic 1.6 I-VTEC SE 5DR AUTO 2001 for £1,649
28.8mpg
and a onda Civic 1.5i LS 4dr Auto Saloon 1998 for £600 that does 34.9 mpg

i just want a car to get a from a to b and i understand what u saying about getting less common cars like a daihatsu but if any thing goes wrong the parts are less common.

my question is whats the age limit for a car because that 1998 car was an eledery persons car and only did 3600 miles so would that be good ?? or is it to old

fivetide

I'd bang some reg plates into the comparison sites and see what gets thrown up.

Civic is often seen as a bit of an older persons car so might not attract the insurance premiums others could.

Lack of use can be as bad as too much use but at that age condition is everything. Does it all work? Is it rusty underneath? Has it been serviced every year? If so you might find it is a decent buy. At that price though any car is going to be a risk.

Re: less attractive cars, a friend had a Toyata Avensis as it was cheaper to insure than the Renault Clio he had despite having more power and a bigger motor, just not seen as a boyracer type car.

5t.

Joe_Horner

Tyrone, what the "proper auto" brigade mean is a hugely complicated set of hydraulically activated epicyclic gears connected to the engine via a torque converter (although they probably don't actually understand the details of what any of that means ). A better name would be a "conventional" auto.

ALL transmissions that don't require you to manually change gear are "proper autos" from the technical and licencing point of view and "big engine with proper auto" is in the same league as saying that laptops aren't "proper" computers because they don't take up all your desk space and require Hinkley Point to power them

A small engine with a conventional auto box is usually a bad combination because conventional auto boxes are inherently inefficient.

AMT systems are more efficient but complicated and can be prone to jerkiness if not set up right (so can a conventional auto but the torque converter tends to hide the worst). Had a Colt AMT for 3 years, once you got used to it it was a perfectly good transmission but i hate to think what repair bills would be like.

CVT are about as efficient as a transmission can get if theyr'e designed properly. Williams tested them for F1 use in the mid 90s and the FIA promptly banned it because it was too much of an advantage. Small clip of David Coulthard testing it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3UpBKXMRto

The first few seconds give an idea of how mechanically simple (and therefore reliable if properly maintained) a CVT transmission is. Note how as he accelerates the engine goes straight to it's peak revs and sits there. Makes it seem like it's not accelerating but DC would hardly be enthusiastic about it if that was the case would he?

End of the day, no matter what the "proper auto" guys say, if it's too good for F1, it's probably good enough for your daily commute



eta: it's interesting to read some of the comments on that video - "sounds f***ing awful", "sounds like a scooter" and so on. What sort of so-called enthusiast puts how a car "sounds" above how it performs?

bargainbetty

Sorry to go back to car choices, but also consider older minis (I had a City), Peugeot 106 or 206 (very nippy, roll cage saved my life, but a bit spongy on the brakes)
R-T reg Corsas were like little tanks but my personal favourite was Marco, my 2004 VW Polo. Pretty much any VW will go for 100,000m+, so have a look at those two. Only problem is the chassis is the same as the Golf, so brake pads etc can be a bit pricey. For that price you might be looking at a 2001 version.

Good luck

iolanthe07

Tyrone, what the "proper auto" brigade mean is a hugely complicated set of hydraulically activated epicyclic gears connected to the engine via a torque converter (although they probably don't actually understand the details of what any of that means ).

Patronising? Moi?