Cheap run-about auto?

hartgeh3

hartgeh3

hartgeh3

Soldato
Joined
30 Dec 2005
Posts
2,686
Hi guys

my sisters husband is after a run about for local journeys so wants something cheap under £1500. He only wants an auto as being in London lots of stop start traffic, but needs to take some lessons to refresh as its been awhile since he got behind the wheel!

I have had a look at the usual but can't see anything decent apart from afew Polos, Corsas, Pugs....but no idea how good these auto boxes are as I have only driven manual cars.

anyone know of anything half decent I should look at? Cheers
 
An automatic transmission vehicle for under £1500 is going to be tough.

As you've seen that price bracket is dominated by 10+ years old supermini class vehicles with small engines which don't get bought with automatic transmission in the first place.
 
Chances are youll be looking at ex mobility cars then, those autos do exist but dont be surprised if it comes with hand controls or other adaptations.

You can get them, but it aint gonna be easy. The good news is being an auto knocks the price down a bit (nobody wants em secondhand) but at that end of the market dont expect anything special.
 
hartgeh3 said:
LOL I think Jag/BMW will be mega insurance for him, he only needs something less than a 1.6

The focus looks good, will forward that on
Click to expand...

I'm 45, professional driver, clean license yada yada, I recently bought a Corsa 1.7DTi diesel, it wasn't much less believe it or not for me to insure than my previous BMW 530i Sport auto, I'm not saying buy a 530i but, an automatic 520 or 320 / whatever would be a FAR nicer drive than any small engined auto without necessarily the insurance hit you may think, don't dismiss such cars as if you need an auto as imho this is really the sort of automatic you should be looking at.
 
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Scania said:
I'm 45, professional driver, clean license yada yada, I recently bought a Corsa 1.7DTi diesel, it wasn't much less believe it or not for me to insure than my previous BMW 530i Sport auto, I'm not saying buy a 530i but, an automatic 520 or 320 / whatever would be a FAR nicer drive than any small engined auto without necessarily the insurance hit you may think, don't dismiss such cars as if you need an auto as imho this is really the sort of automatic you should be looking at.
Click to expand...

easier to find too, seems a lot more "executive saloons" to be found in auto format.

guess it depends though, he did say london so maybe there's parking size/congestion charge etc to factor in to this too?

nothing like a big comfy auto with cruise control for putting you to sleep on a long journey though :D
 
The one we had at work was terrible (much newer than the one linked ofc), the general consensus was a genuine urge to set the thing on fire so no-one had to get lumped with it again.

But then at £1500 you are always going to looking at "old generation" autos which by modern standards are not the nicest of things, especially on small engined cars.
 
E46 318i auto, not too bad on fuel,no rocket ship by any means but it would be fine for London traffic and I'd imagine well within budget both purchase and insurance wise.

Unlikely to have been owned by a Barry boy nor caned within an inch of its life, I've driven a few and the automatic actually rather suits it.
 
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