which car with auto for my girlfriend?

wesley · 5 Sep 2006 at 11:10

hi guys

my girlfriend passed her test last month, at the moment she use her mum's micra but her mum wouldnt allowed her to use her car to drive to my house lol dont ask why

gf would like to get her own car, she like micra with automatic, wondered what's the auto in micra like? is it 3/4 gears auto or CVT thingy? i know it'll be dead slow but still get from A to B.

up to £2,500, maybe £3,000, depends on the car

any other cars with auto you'd recommend? must be small, under 1.3l due her insurance.

what about Fiesta 1.25l auto? are they any good?

thanks

chrislusty · 5 Sep 2006 at 11:15

Does it have to be an auto or is it out of choice?

Sputnik II · 5 Sep 2006 at 11:15

I know someone that has a Micra with that CVT 'box and it's pretty rapid for a little 1.3 auto.

LeperousDust · 5 Sep 2006 at 12:04

From what i've read on CVT box's whether it be marketing parp or actual facts, it impressed me.

Sputnik II · 5 Sep 2006 at 12:34

LeperousDust said:
From what i've read on CVT box's whether it be marketing parp or actual facts, it impressed me.

I thought it was fairly good too, Although I know the micra had a couple of problems and one was the lifetime of the 'box and I think the other was the distributor or ignition system, His away at the moment but, I'll ask when he gets back.

LeperousDust · 5 Sep 2006 at 13:46

I'm not sure how the micra implements the CVT boxes, i was merely stating the CVT boxes seem very good. What little i've read on them it seems some cheaper/older ones may use heavy duty rubber bands which can lead to reliability issues and also more noise. Steel bands are the way forward.

*Brain wave* Actually, i've just remembered that Nissan have been putting a lot of R&D into their own type of CVT it doesn't use bands and pulleys at all. It's rather special in the fact that it uses rollers in a clever way. I've actually not got much of an idea about their weird CVT box if i'm honest now

//Edit: In fact here you go: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cvt1.htm i'm impressed!