automatics cars?

DiamondMark said:
Realistically its a grand for a recon box, not nice but not the death of a 5k car.
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It's 20% of the cars value. Which for you is fine, and I wouldnt cry myself to sleep with that sort of bill either but neither am I spending £5k on a family runabout that's supposed to be reliable and economical. In the real world most people dont have £1k kicking around for car repairs. They should but they dont. Just look at the threads we get on here where people cant afford tyres, or whatever. £1k is not generally kicking around ready for car bills in the average persons life. Certainly not the average young guy with a new family.

The benefit you get out of an autobox in a car like this (Not having to change gear) is not worth the disadvantages (high chance of big repair bill, noticeably poorer fuel economy (Remember, a Xsara Picasso auto drinks as much fuel as a 6 pot BMW) and reduced driveability.

Just dont see the point.

And thats before we cover the point that by choosing automatic you are wiping out 95% of the potential cars on the market you could buy, making finding a good one that little bit harder.
 
[TW]Fox;17857688 said:
(Remember, a Xsara Picasso auto drinks as much fuel as a 6 pot BMW) and reduced driveability.

Just dont see the point.
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the picasso performs (on paper) not too differently to a manual 2ltr mondeo, which would be a good option for the op.


.............................................Picasso | Mondeo
Fuel consumption (urban):.........22.6 mpg | 25.2 mpg
Fuel consumption (extra urban):.44.1 mpg | 48.7 mpg
Fuel consumption (combined):....32.9 mpg| 36.2 mpg
0 - 62 mph: ............................10.9s | 9.9s
Top speed:.............................119 mph | 134 mph
Engine power:.........................137 bhp | 145 bhp


Looking at these quotes i'm getting they aren't saying refurbed, so best to assume just replacement.
Best quote so far £150 with 60 days warranty.
 
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[TW]Fox;17857688 said:
It's 20% of the cars value. Which for you is fine, and I wouldnt cry myself to sleep with that sort of bill either but neither am I spending £5k on a family runabout that's supposed to be reliable and economical.

The benefit you get out of an autobox in a car like this (Not having to change gear) is not worth the disadvantages (high chance of big repair bill, noticeably poorer fuel economy (Remember, a Xsara Picasso auto drinks as much fuel as a 6 pot BMW) and reduced driveability.

Just dont see the point.

And thats before we cover the point that by choosing automatic you are wiping out 95% of the potential cars on the market you could buy, making finding a good one that little bit harder.
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But when your main journey is the Tesco run poor economy and driveability are not paramount.

I dont even want to start talking about the other massive advantage of an auto, the ability to eat a burger while driving :)
 
Morba said:
the picasso performs (on paper) not too differently to a manual 2ltr mondeo, which would be a good option for the op.


.............................................Picasso | Mondeo
Fuel consumption (urban):.........22.6 mpg | 25.2 mpg
Fuel consumption (extra urban):.44.1 mpg | 48.7 mpg
Fuel consumption (combined):....32.9 mpg| 36.2 mpg
0 - 62 mph: ............................10.9s | 9.9s
Top speed:.............................119 mph | 134 mph
Engine power:.........................137 bhp | 145 bhp


Looking at these quotes i'm getting they aren't saying refurbed, so best to assume just replacement.
Best quote so far £150 with 60 days warranty.
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Thats the auto lovers fighting back right there!
 
Why are we comparing it to a bigger car from a class above?

And 150 quid fitted for a refurbished auto box?

What :confused:

As an auto lover Mark you would hate a car like this. It's the reason most people have auto, its nothing like your Jaguars!
 
£1700 is a bit silly for a Picasso gearbox, you can a used one + fitting for a third of that and it would come with warranty. The is no sense buying a rebuilt gearbox for a 10 year old car worth 5k

And the is still nothing to say that the gearbox will eve go in his ownership anyway, ill admit that European car makers are behind America/Japan when it comes to auto boxes but just cos its French doesn't mean its going to just give up (pun intended)

[TW]Fox;17857688 said:
And thats before we cover the point that by choosing automatic you are wiping out 95% of the potential cars on the market
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Its 80% not 95%, but at the end of the day im sure by not opting for a coupe hes wiping out a lot of the market too, the is no inherent problem with the car hes choosing (that anyone who has posted thus far is aware of) so why does it really matter if its not what you would buy?
 
Why all the talk of gearbox failure? It's almost like some people think its failure is a done deal!

And £1500 for a box is just silly talk.
 
ubersonic said:
Its 80% not 95%, but at the end of the day im sure by not opting for a coupe hes wiping out a lot of the market too, the is no inherent problem with the car hes choosing (that anyone who has posted thus far is aware of) so why does it really matter if its not what you would buy?
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Because we need something to argue about or it would be dead here :)
 
DRZ said:
Did you miss the word 'relatively' there or something?
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Not at all. I was quoting your 'They have no place in underpowered cars, it just leads to a horrible driving experience', not the part about fault regularity. Relatively marginally worse driving experience, maybe. But not horrible compared to the manual equivalent as neither is particularly great.
 
ubersonic said:
Its 80% not 95%,
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It's not 80% at all, where did you get that?

There are 2249 Picasso for sale on Autotrader. Only 131 are auto.

That means you exclude 94.18% of the market. If you dispute my figures please provide reasoning.
 
[TW]Fox;17857895 said:
Why are we comparing it to a bigger car from a class above?

And 150 quid fitted for a refurbished auto box?

What :confused:

As an auto lover Mark you would hate a car like this. It's the reason most people have auto, its nothing like your Jaguars!
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Comparing it to another car that would be a good option, as I stated.
£150 fitted? Learn to read maybe, you will see that I state that its probably not refurbed and is just a quote for the box only.

No one expects it to be like a jag or expect jag owners to enjoy them.
 
Morba said:
Comparing it to another car that would be a good option, as I stated.
£150 fitted? Learn to read maybe, you will see that I state that its probably not refurbed and is just a quote for the box only.
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Either quote a price for the full job or don't bother, the OP isn't a mechanic.

No one expects it to be like a jag or expect jag owners to enjoy them.
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DiamondMarks love of autos comes from his Jaguars, big Bentleys etc. I think this is why he is defending them. Proper autos are great (Though still problematic at times).

Nothing like the jerky junkfest in a Xsara Picasso.
 
[TW]Fox;17858010 said:
Either quote a price for the full job or don't bother, the OP isn't a mechanic.



DiamondMarks love of autos comes from his Jaguars, big Bentleys etc. I think this is why he is defending them. Proper autos are great (Though still problematic at times).

Nothing like the jerky junkfest in a Xsara Picasso.
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Heres my view for what its worth, i know these are a bit rubbish to drive but they are easy and do a job, would i have one? no i wouldnt but if i was a mum with 3 screamers in the back doing 2 tesco runs a week i might.
 
[TW]Fox;17858010 said:
Either quote a price for the full job or don't bother, the OP isn't a mechanic.
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Take your own advice before handing it to others. You have no idea how much it costs so used someone else's given figure.
 
Regarding the £1,700 I mentioned...this was the price quoted for a reconditioned, dealer supplied and fitted Vauxhall Signum autobox. I'm sure you can get it cheaper. The gearbox was oscar bravo but hadn't actually failed, so he PX'd the Signum against a Volvo S80.
 
[TW]Fox;17857631 said:
I was using the figure somebody else had provided in the thread.

If you've got the labour inclusive price of a gearbox replacement on a Picasso feel free to post it.
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I was quoted £550 for the box in the Scenic. That would be to repair the existing box and it's an engine out job.

Edit: for comparison, TH350 (American box) in a 1964 Impala was around £1000.
 
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The OP doesn't even particularly WANT an auto. He has just found a car local to him that HAPPENS TO BE an auto, and is thus asking if they are ok.

Given he is presumably perfectly happy with, and in an ideal world would prefer, a manual box, just what is the point in going for the auto just becuase its round the corner? The fact the thread is 2 pages long suggests auto's are far from a simple 'Yea, do it' so why bother?

He just wants a car. So find a manual one and live happily ever after. It's not as if he has an auto only license, prefers autos, or whatever. The Picasso box is, as has already been pointed out, ridiculously jerky anyway.
 
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