HELP!!! Small Automatic Wanted

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 18 Sep 2009, 10:08

I'm out of my depth here and I pray some aid can come my way.

Dad bought a new Nissan Pixo a few months ago and now, due to deteriorating leg and foot issues, he's having great difficulty driving it as it's manual. A shame as the Pixo is a smashing little car.

He has asked me to find him a small automatic to replace the Pixo and costing around £2,000 or less.

I'm now a bit stuck as my knowledge of small automatic cars is absolute nil. I'm open to suggestings, recommendations and potential leads.

There are two things that will happen as a result: Robyn, my daughter, will be given the Pixo. That's the good thing. The downside is that if I can't find Dad a suitable car, he's threatening to get a mobility scooter

The car must be small, around Saxo sort of size and not needing too much in the way of TLC.

Grateful thanks

citrov6 · Unread post by **citrov6** » 18 Sep 2009, 11:00

my friend bought his mrs a little micra auto, for 80 quid , it was reliable, even though old

andmcit · Unread post by **andmcit** » 18 Sep 2009, 11:33

So a nice green 2.0i Xantia auto doesn't count even if it's an Sx or Vsx?

Hard to find when you do want one...

a xantia is small! If you're used to driving an Xm or Cx!!

Andrew

addo · Unread post by **addo** » 18 Sep 2009, 11:54

Alfa 147 with Sillyspeed? Any Cit-head will find the accumulator and shift solenoid biz pretty familiar. They're cheap enough, comfy and hard to lose control of.

Drawbacks - replace the expansion tank and cap (they fail), make sure the accumulator has always been gassed well, and show Old Dad how to adjust the mirrors copper-style to cover the thick rear pillars' blind spots.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 18 Sep 2009, 12:04

I've been down the Xantia road Andrew, tried to tempt the old boy with a nice 1.9TD auto but to him a Xantia is a massive car.. Anything bigger than a 205, Saxo or (old) mini is a biggie to him and therefore ruled out of court

He has never in his life had anything bigger than Morris Marina and that was a BIG car for him.

CitroV6, a Micra may well fit the bill. I hat to admit this here but I'm quite a fan of Nissans generally.

andmcit · Unread post by **andmcit** » 18 Sep 2009, 12:19

ebay has spoken!!

I tried keying in small automatic car and it came back with only 1 result!

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=smal ... t=0&_rdc=1

The God's have spoken!! Not sure about the "small" bit mind,
but that's one hell of an automatic!

Andrew

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 18 Sep 2009, 12:23

And I'm now going to have to wait now until I get home to see it Andrew

At work I can get to the forum but the 'bay is very much verboten...

I guess it's not a nice little Micra then?

andmcit · Unread post by **andmcit** » 18 Sep 2009, 12:28

Well Jim, I couldn't make this up - made me laugh though!!

Andrew

citronut · Unread post by **citronut** » 18 Sep 2009, 13:04

well Jim they are small at least when the suspension is wright down they a very low, how much smaller can you get than one of them sitting on its bump stop's,

and if you move the decimal point it would be in the right price range to

regards malcolm

KP · Unread post by KP » 18 Sep 2009, 13:16

Saxo automatics Jim???

C2 is just outside the price bracket im afraid for even a 2003 one

How a bout a 306 or still too big??

Unread post by **Paul-R** » 18 Sep 2009, 14:36

CitroJim wrote:At work I can get to the forum but the 'bay is very much verboten...

Whereas I can get to both but not bid on Ebay. But when we go to the new forum I'll be losing the ability to login so I'll end up the other way round!

MikeT · Unread post by **MikeT** » 18 Sep 2009, 17:18

My only experience of a small-engined auto is a Fiesta. I'm quite impressed with their CVT gearbox as there's no gears so it can be asked to accelerate constantly in the powerband making it quick for the engine size. I didn't find the interior cramped either which is unusual for small cars IME.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 18 Sep 2009, 20:34

Andrew, I loved that automatic you found

Sweet and no too big either... I stall had to wait until i got home because our work internet will neither give us eBay nor your images

I have to read all posts without benefit of pictures

Mike, interesting on the CVT, I've driven a Daf and loved it myself. The future of transmissions I always thought. Just like Hydropneumatic suspension; a brilliant system and concept that has utterly failed to take over the world as both it and CVTs should have by now.

The one thing that puts me off of Festers is my absolute hatred of them, even moreso than the Luton Lemon known as the Corsa

My problem with the Fester mainly is their horrible, utterly claustrophobic interior and the fact that Dagenham Dustbins still seem very attractive to the tinworms.

Dad and I have more or sell settled on a lateish Auto Saxo. They're plentiful and not too hard on the pocket. Auto Micras seem quite rare and pricey as a result. Plus I know a good bit about Saxos. Downside is that have the Renault MB3 gearbox which I believe is a three-speed. 0-60 measured with a calandar but dad is not worried by that and it has to be quicker than a mobility scooter

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 18 Sep 2009, 21:18

Not wishing to be a killjoy here Jim but invariably unless your Dad has recent experience of driving an automatic the chances are that he'll find it very difficult to adapt, he'll either go for the clutch and stand the car on its nose and get rear-ended or forget the creep element and crash into whatever is ahead of him.

Never underestimate the difficulties some people have in adapting to an auto, just this week I had a student (26 years old) go for the non-existent clutch and stamp on the brakes twice within the first 10 minutes of his drive with a clear road ahead and stop the car dead. Thankfully nothing was behind otherwise I'd now be off work with whiplash, or worse,,,,,,

In my experience the term "Old dog new tricks" is most relevant when it comes to driving, once someone is 40+ the time it takes to adapt to a new skill takes significantly longer.

If it was my Dad I'd not let him loose on his own without spending some considerable time and mileage 'retraining' him and even then the big issue is that under pressure people revert to type.

Be very careful with this one is my advice.

Unread post by **myglaren** » 18 Sep 2009, 22:03

On the other hand (not to completely contradict you Richard) my dad bought a Renault 30 TX Auto when he was in his late seventies and took to it like a duck to water, his first time in any automatic. Loved it till the floor fell out of it. Had been driving a Moggie for many years prior to that.

It was also the first automatic I had driven, loved it.