Reliable and fairly economical auto cars?

Dogzrunning

Hi im looking for a reliable,fairly cheap and economical automatic car to buy. Im thinking of buying a used one as i cant afford new. Also is the fuel for automatics much much more than manuals? Like will it cost me a fortune to travel an hour or so?

GwylimT

What size vehicle would you like, will you being doing short journeys or longer journeys on the whole?

hgotsparkle

I have a 1.6 16V Astra auto, I do journeys of about 30miles per day and it does me well. £20 a week on petrol. As long as you get the control right on the accelerator, you can actually be really economic with the fuel.

Dogzrunning

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping for a small car and i am quite rural but probably looking at using it 2 hours a day to get too and from work.

GwylimT

The Hyundai i10 is a very good automatic car, small but well designed to give plenty room inside for four people, the boot however is very small. The new ford fiesta has a good automatic gear box, but it might be hard to find one and at the right price. The Audi a1 would be a very good choice as well. The honda jazz would be a good choice, but I can't remember if it is semi automatic or not.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Matiz has a lovely optional torque converter auto box, that should be quite good on fuel.

Dogzrunning

GwylimT wrote: »

The Hyundai i10 is a very good automatic car, small but well designed to give plenty room inside for four people, the boot however is very small. The new ford fiesta has a good automatic gear box, but it might be hard to find one and at the right price. The Audi a1 would be a very good choice as well. The honda jazz would be a good choice, but I can't remember if it is semi automatic or not.

Thanks very much for that! Will take a look

skivenov

Old shape Hyundai i30 - it's not a tiptronic, but it's the nicest, smoothest autobox this side of a jaguar.

F1F93

Modern autos are very good compared to manuals on the economy side. According to the official figures, my car (the auto) is slightly quicker to 62, and about 1mpg less. IIRC BMW autos are more efficient than the manual. Don't forget that modern autos often have 7 gears, whereas manuals usually only have 5 or 6.

Are you considering petrol or diesel?

FWIW, I have a SEAT Ibiza ST 1.2TSi with an auto box and get about 43mpg on average (I do quite a bit of town driving), and high 40s/low 50s in rural areas.

[Deleted User]

A lady where I work, has a Nissan Micra auto (had it for years), which she swears by.

Out of interest, why is it so important for it to be an automatic?

Dogzrunning

F1F93 wrote: »

Modern autos are very good compared to manuals on the economy side. According to the official figures, my car (the auto) is slightly quicker to 62, and about 1mpg less. IIRC BMW autos are more efficient than the manual. Don't forget that modern autos often have 7 gears, whereas manuals usually only have 5 or 6.

Are you considering petrol or diesel?

FWIW, I have a SEAT Ibiza ST 1.2TSi with an auto box and get about 43mpg on average (I do quite a bit of town driving), and high 40s/low 50s in rural areas.

I have been searching up on automatic cars. Most people say they are expensive for fuel which is worrying me. But im no car expert so im not sure about if i should get petrol or diesel. or even what to look for.