Automatic reliable car suggestions?

monkey_boy · 19 May 2015 at 20:57

Howard said:
I don't honestly know. As far as I know, Ford don't seem to always say "sir, your gearbox oil change is due", but I don't know what the case is with VAG and their DSG boxes.

Can confirm the 40k oil change on the power shift box. My mother in laws c max needs it. Should work out to be about £150 every 7 years at her mileage.

lemonade · 20 May 2015 at 11:09

IC3 said:
But aren't the Honda Accord automatic gearboxes really bad? I've heard quite a bit about the automatic gearboxes not being that great, a lot of people say to just get manual if you want an accord. I had a chat with a mechanic who said that he hates Japanese and Korean cars as they rarely ever come in for a bigger repair, we had an accord before and that car was bulletproof.

The Hyundai will not be ignored as my dad had a Kia in the past which had a Mazda engine inside, that car was mainly used as a company car and just like the Honda apart from normal maintenance it was bulletproof.

BTW The car doesn't have to be fancy, but my dad hates French cars and I know trying to convince him that they're 'good' will be nearly impossible. He really wants a trouble-free car which will do those sort of miles without bigger repair costs, he might sacrifices automatic gearbox if they aren't all that reliable. But it would be a nice luxury since quite a lot of those miles will be done in towns (London and the traffic ) and not on the motorway...

What about makes such as; Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru?

Nope,not sure who has told you that, but thats nonsense, Honda autoboxes in general are like the most reliable on the road, there was period when they had slightly dodgy boxes on the Preludes and some Accords, late 90's one, but for 9k your dad will get an 8th gen Accord which should be rock solid.

Try out the Hyundai i40, you will be surprised as to how far Hyundai's have come, the i40 are really nice.

As for the other makes, Kia have the Optima, nice car but only comes as a diesel, Mazda6 nice cars but they shared parts and components with Ford which would put me off, the engine should be good so should the jatco boxes. Mitsubishi shared parts with GM, so would put me off and dont really have a large car in their range, the Lancer is quite small, Subaru Legacy should be reliable and all, but I tend to find your local garages dont always know how to work on them as they are a bit different

IC3 · 21 May 2015 at 17:57

crinkleshoes said:
BMW... my last two have made it past 200k miles without breaking a sweat... my mile-eater 2004 320d is still going strong

The thing about BMW is that its a lottery just like with mercedes, you also have to pay premium price for a car which is not offering anything superior than others.

Ant84 said:
Prius.

I highly doubt there's a more reliable automatic car out there.

My dad said "I would rather walk than drive Prius..."

lemonade said:
Nope,not sure who has told you that, but thats nonsense, Honda autoboxes in general are like the most reliable on the road, there was period when they had slightly dodgy boxes on the Preludes and some Accords, late 90's one, but for 9k your dad will get an 8th gen Accord which should be rock solid.

Try out the Hyundai i40, you will be surprised as to how far Hyundai's have come, the i40 are really nice.

He originally was thinking of buying an accord, but he read somewhere and someone has told him that those auto boxes are really bad... But if their boxes are one of the most reliable ones on the road, then I think Accord will be the winner. It's upto him at the end what he picks, but I'll tell him to try out hyundai i40 as well.

lemonade said:
As for the other makes, Kia have the Optima, nice car but only comes as a diesel, Mazda6 nice cars but they shared parts and components with Ford which would put me off, the engine should be good so should the jatco boxes. Mitsubishi shared parts with GM, so would put me off and dont really have a large car in their range, the Lancer is quite small, Subaru Legacy should be reliable and all, but I tend to find your local garages dont always know how to work on them as they are a bit different

Oh okay, so how does Kia Optima Diesel perform? I have heard a lot of good thing about scoobys such as the Legacy, but they also seem to be a bit costy compared to other cars in their category...

So so far we have;
Honda Accord
Hyundai i40
Kia Optima

Any other cars worth having a look at for a maximum budget of 10k?

matthab · 21 May 2015 at 17:59

The DSG box is good if its the 6 speed. The newer you can buy the better they are as they have had a series of modifications. But I will say they can throw massive bills when they do go, as mine has

.

IC3 · 21 May 2015 at 20:58

matthab said:
The DSG box is good if its the 6 speed. The newer you can buy the better they are as they have had a series of modifications. But I will say they can throw massive bills when they do go, as mine has .

Yeah reliability is very important for us, I have this trust towards Japanese and Korean cars as they have never let us down and I haven't heard about anyone complaning before. With german cars I have heard how much people spent on repairs, some spent 70% of what they originally paid for the car... For the budget a non-premium brand such as e.g. BMW something like a Honda Accord will be a better option, as we will get younger/lower mileage car with more toys.

BTW If you don't mind me asking, how much did you spend on the repair?

The car doesn't have to be a saloon, a hatchback is also an option. The car is mostly used by 2 people, only occasinally someone sits at the back. As long as a 6ft person fits at the back seats with enough room to travel 1-2 hour journey than it's also an option.