As per title…

Girlfriend is currently looking at spending about three grand on a nondescript hatchback for the daily commute across town and for carrying the dog. She’s after a Corolla or something similarly boring and practical.

She was toying with the idea of an automatic until I talked her out of it, saying they’re more expensive to buy and run.

Was I right?

Mine was the same price as the manual and had far less miles on it. Ex mobility motor though so excellent condition too.

Running costs, as of yet, I’m not sure. The mpg is very similar to the manual.

I couldn’t go back now

At that age I reckon random variations and condition etc will affect the price far more than the spec.

There are 2 schools of thought

One says that you introduce a complicated component that will go wrong and be expensive to fix

The other says that it eliminates some aspect of poor driving. There are no clutch plates to wear out. Its less likely to be haven driven by some one with racer like tendencies

but i don’t know which is correct

Depends on the car. Sometimes it makes them cheaper other times more expensive. A molgrips says, there will be many other factors that will have a bigger difference on that sort of price bracket.

Autos are only worth having on larger or turbocharged engines that have decent torque. Small naturally aspirated engines and autos don’t work too well.

I’d say that’s only true of traditional autos, and fairly old ones. Some smaller cars have CVTs, which are weird to drive but work well enough; and then there’s DSG or similar.

Have two dsgs in the house. Both are great because both are on really torquey engines. Great gearbox though it is, it’d be shite on a non turbo 1.2 petrol.

Torque has nothing to do with it on a DSG – it’s exactly the same as a manual that someone shifts for you.

Torque converters work better on torquey engines because they lose a lot of power.

jackthedog – Member
Girlfriend is … spending … three grand on a … hatchback for the daily commute … Corolla or something similarly boring and practical.

She was toying with the idea of an automatic until I talked her out of it, saying they’re more expensive to buy and run.

Was I right?

Nope. You are wrong because I drive a 2005 Toyota Corolla 1.6 automatic gear. (Not DSG or Tiptronic … just traditional auto)

Manual gear is soooo yesterday. Put it this way you will be glad to drive an automatic if you are in heavy traffic.

Bought mine nearly 6 years ago with 22k on the clock at £4,999 second hand/me second owner. I think the price for the auto gear of the similar year and model is around £3k to 3.5k nowadays.

It’s not expensive to buy but the petrol consumption might be slightly higher than manual but not that much that you cannot manage.

It’s easy to drive and so relaxing. Help you keep your eyes on the road more. Toyota do hold their value rather well.

Very important – When you buy the auto gear Toyota just make sure you change the gear box oil even when it does not look “dirty” or need to. Just change it. i.e. put in new gear box oil.

The rest of the consumable are normal wear and tear with matching price … except the ABS sensor … I think they only sell in pairs or something like and it is £125 per pop (in the far east I could get this dirty cheap) … I had two front ones changed but I was just unlucky.

😀

From the amount of people driving using their mobile phones in one hand autos should be compulsory…..probably less chance of them killing someone as its one less thing to think about!
But returning to the thread…. I have a big engine DSG auto and absolutely love it. I wanted a DSG Caddy but they came at a premium price. The difference in Mpg is on the big engine negligible. I would actually happily drive a 1.2tsi with a DSG and many years ago had a Volvo with the Daf variomatic auto box…..CVT in my option are very thirsty. Also had an Auot Honda CRV 2 litre petrol and that was more thirsty than my 3.2litre DSG Golf. Kick down worked and it pulled well.
So in summary, older style 3 speed autos are a bit thirstier particularly if the engine is on the small side for the body its carrying in my experience. If it’s a posh trim it may have a trip computer on it for fuel readout…..test drive it and see what it says it’s doing mpg wise.

Thanks for the feedback so far guys.

Suggsey – Member
… So in summary, older style 3 speed autos are a bit thirstier …

Mine is this 3 speed autos like this ^^^ 😀