Small and reliable automatic car for around £7,000?

Dave5

Goudy wrote: »

There aren't too many small cars with proper automatic gearboxes, nearly all now use automated manual, CVT's or dual clutch affairs, that do seem to suffer more than a few issues.
They go under various names and acronyms, like Powershift, DSG, Dualogic, EGS, EDC and so on.

A couple that spring to mind that do have torque converter 'boxes are the Kia Picanto 1.25 and the Hyundai i10 1.2.

Does that mean Honda Jazz VTEC is out of the question?

Dave5

Goudy wrote: »

That's a great shout, I've been banging on about them for a while, dull but brilliant all in one small package.
They run a CVT 'box, but it's geared rather than belted and connects via the electric motor.
Rock solid reliability.

You might struggle to find a good low mileage one for 7k though.

Does the hybrid battery need to be changed regularly? How much would that cost?

Dave5

Tokk wrote: »

True, depends what mileage you want to do...

If you're planning on 5-10k a year then one with 60-80k already on the clock (realistically what £7k buys you) is hardly a deal-breaker?

Do you know at which milage the hybrid battery would need to be replaced?

hollie.weimeraner

Dave5 wrote: »

Have you had any experience with one? Another poster doesn't think too highly of the Yaris range.

I have a Yaris and Auris Hybrid. Both are great cars but the Auris is the better of the 2. Depends what you want, very reliable good mpg. The CVT takes a bit of getting used to but you do get used to them.

Toyota have the longest track record with Hybrids and for more info about the batteries try heading over to https://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/
although if the cars have been serviced by Toyota then the warranty on the batteries can be extended to 10 years (I think) with the hybrid check included.

iolanthe07

Dave5 wrote: »

Is it possible to extend the warranty?

Not via the manufacturer, afaik, but maybe a dealer would extend the warranty at a price.

Robisere

I have a 1.6 Hyundai iX20 Auto and am very pleased with it. Gear changes are imperceptible (6-speed) acceleration for an auto is quick, journeys are returning 35+ mpg for me. It also has one of the simplest, easiest heater controls I have ever used: one large rotary control for heat, one smaller concentric for fan. The iX20 has slightly higher seating and roof than the i20.

These are Hyundai approved cars:

https://used.hyundai.co.uk/model-search/Hyundai/all-models?model=1551&price_from=&price_to=&km_from=&km_to=&gears=1%7C%7C7&gas=1%7C%7C7&consCombined_from=&cylinderCapacity_from=1600&cylinderCapacity_to=&lat=&lon=&zip=LN11+8LX&radius=161


If you are not bothered about a Satnav and other features, don't get the Premium model. I have the Mid Range one and it is fine.

Goudy

Dave5 wrote: »

Have you had any experience with one? Another poster doesn't think too highly of the Yaris range.

The Yaris Hybrid drivechain is based on the 2nd Gen Prius and mini cabbers have been flogging these to mega miles with little problem, 400,000 miles isn't unusual.


Due to the way they work, nothing in the engine or gearbox really gets stressed.
The engine doesn't run a normal Otto cycle, but an Atkinson cycle that is low torque/stress and the extra torque comes from the electric motor.



Batteries tend to last well, if it's being kept in the dealer network for servicing, Toyota reckon 15 years is normal.

There are numerous companies that can refurb or exchange them for little more than a major service would cost. They are made of cells linked together and new cells can be had for around £30 refurbished, so a dead cell can be swapped out without replacing the whole battery.


There are quite a few specialists around now that deal solely in Hybrids and/or Toyota, so you are no longer tied to the dealer with them.



Fuel economy varies depending on your trips, but I know many that commute into London from the surrounding counties that get 70-80 mpg and have piled on 80+ thousand miles fairly quickly with no issues at all.



With regards to warranty, you can buy a warranty yourself, there are various companies that offer them direct to the public like Warranty Direct and Warranty Wise.



I was a bit unfair called them dull to drive, perhaps with all that technology and the petrol and electric motors working for you as they do you might perhaps expect something odd or spectacular, where in fact it's all feels pretty much normal in regards to that, it drives pretty much like a normal automatic with just the odd occasion when the engines rpm doesn't quite match the road speed that can initially sound a bit odd.


They are remarkable for being so unremarkable, particularly the Yaris as they designed it to be as normal as possible, Toyota didn't want to scare everyone off.

Things like the gear shifter, out went the funny "power rangers leg" selector on the dash of the Prius and they fitted a normal auto shifter on the floor of the Yaris.


They are worth a closer look if you can find one on your budget, though with what you have to spend expect it to have 60k+ on the clock, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue if it's been serviced correctly.

Honey_Badger

Dave5 wrote: »

Does that mean Honda Jazz VTEC is out of the question?

The Jazz with CVT is absolutely fine, probably one of the most reliable cars you can buy. I currently own a CVT Jazz and would certainly buy another.

It’s probably also the most practical cars in its class with a lot of interior room, decent sized boot together with “magic seats”.

The only ones I would avoid are the I-shift automated gearbox Jazzes.

hollie.weimeraner

From a recent forum post

"If you have the service done at Toyota they do a free hv battery test every year which carries a 12 month warranty, this goes on for 10 year. If you have a hv check before the end of the 10th year the warranty goes for another year, effectively 11 years. If you choose to have service done outside Toyota then the cost of hv check is £40.

The actual battery is made up of cells which are replaceable, so if one or two cells go down they can be replaced individually. There are now businesses specialising in replacing individual cells, either new or 2nd hand, so to keep costs down.

however, when I was doing my research into Toyota hybrid cars, I never saw a car for sale that said “new battery fitted recently” like you do when you replace an exhaust system, fit new brakes all round, 4 new tyres etc; never. And some of my research was on American sites where 250k miles was not unusual, add that with the fact batteries generally don’t like excessive heat (nor cold) meant to me hv batteries are long lasting. Obviously someone is having failures of whole lot or individual cells, or else those specialists businesses would not exist, but failure is not a “common” thing like clutch, alternator, starter motor etc, all of which Toyota hybrids don’t have. Some othe manufacturers hybrids have those things, Toyota doesn’t.

the fact Toyota hv batteries have effectively a 11 year warranty (with annual checks) shows they have full confidence in their hv batteries. Remember the Prius hv cars have now been on the uk market 20 years, the hv parts seem to have been well engineered in the first place. Obviously there will be differences in design of the Prius hv system and aYaris hv system but the same ethos will be behind the systems I would think - I never yet heard anything bad about the Yaris hv system like I not heard anything bad about the Prius and other model hv systems."

Navigator123

My daughter drives a 08 plate Hyundai i10 auto which she uses for work and now has over 100,000 miles on the clock.

Only goes to the garage once a year for a service at an average cost of £210 a time.

As it is now over 10 years old we ignore the 10,000 mile service intervals and just get it serviced once a year.