Well, she test drove a venga this morning with a manual box.. mine.. and likes the driving position..

Budget is unimportant.. right car is.

At reaching her half century ...... has decided to be a bit more independent...

Problem is that we don't need 2 cars.. she walks to work at the local hospital, and our mileage is only about 7000 ish a year.... therefore fuel consumption not a factor...but the venga auto is truly poor.

Edited by oldroverboy. on 31/08/2017 at 13:33

I often ponder what I would get if I replaced either the 7 speeed DSG Yeti or the 4 speed TC Hyundai i10 auto.

Fully accept that there are not many TC options (Mazda a decent option perhaps though).

But after 6 years driving enjoyment of the Yeti it must be said that another new DSG hasn't been ruled out. The extra two years purchased warranty would be obligatory but I would take a chance on VAG having now sorted things. Overall it might, just possibly, not be 'quite' as supemely smooth as a TC when taking off but I reckon it's a cracker of a box with imperceptible changes on the move. Six years on I would have got rid of it if I hadn't thought so.

Another option would be a new Vitara too, with two sorts of auto box available in different versions, there's TC and twin clutch automatic as I recall. It's got a good NCAP rating. And my local dealer offers a free continuing warranty after the manufactureres expires if they service it annually - maybe other dealers do too.

Haven't ever looked into, or been offered, long life servicing. Low mileage so straight forward main dealer annual serving regime. The Hyundai is now six yrs old and now gets done just up the road at an indie. Yeti still goes to a reasonably local main dealer (they collect and deliver so no travelling) .. mainly because they say there could still be some goodwill from Skoda in the event of a major catastrophe... even after six years, which I find unlikely, but it's a nice car with low mileage and they don't charge vastly more than an indie.

What about Peugeot 2008 with a Warner Aisin EAT6 box? I haven't tried one but they look good in theory and there don't seem to be problems.....yet.

No frogs, no italians, no german(s) or variants thereof.

Maybe not small enough, but maybe MINI; the auto is amazingly economical, apparently?

Funnily enough, my partner and I have a similar dilemma, though unlike you we have set a budget of 10k for a replacement of an i20 manual with an auto.

I drive a Ceed diesel auto which I love, and since I have been so happy with my KIA, in all respects - the car's performance, reliability, warranty, and the dealer has been good too (I am keeping my Ceed!!) - the Rio seemed the obvious choice, and we had a test drive, but the 1.6 petrol engine is just disappointing and the tax band poor, that it just wasn't a viable option. In actual fact, years ago I test drove the petrol Ceed auto, but the diesel was so much better; and so despite all the scaremongering about how unreliable diesels are I went for the diesel and it has been zero trouble!

Going back to replacing the i20, the only small auto on our list at the moment is the Toyota Yaris hybrid; unlike the larger Prius and Auris hybrids, the Yaris hybrid seems to depreciate quite quickly making it a reasonable second hand buy, since I gather there are quite a number that come off PCP contracts after two years. I suppose the Yaris is too small to be used as a taxi, and second hand buyers of supermini cars are more price sensitive.

My partner isn't particularly keen on the look of the Yaris, but from a practical point of view it makes sense, and one does get the quality feel that I don't think one would get in say a Suzuki Celerio. The equipment levels are pretty good, with many having climate control and a reversing camera. On the negative side, some of the Yaris' we viewed had very dark headlining that made the car feel dark and dreary. The dealer said that the colour of the interior does vary depending on the trim level and colour.

I'm curious as to why the yaris hybrid auto is on your list but not the conventional 1.33 auto?. The 1.33 is cheaper than the hybrid, but is also appreciably lighter so handles better. In the honest John review, the yaris (which is a cvt) is described as having one of the best auto gearbox available on a small car.

And if the yaris is on your list, so should the jazz, which has a nearly identical mechanical specification coupled with a more spacious and practical body (my wife and I have had our current style jazz ex cvt for 4 months now and we both love the car).

The mazda2 is another small auto which definitely should be on your list. It has a conventional auto gearbox coupled to a 1.5 n/a petrol engine. It is an exceptionally light car for it's size coming in at around 960kg, which is about the same as a Kia picanto.

Regarding the celerio, much as I have a soft spot for it's almost wilful lack of any kind of styling, I wouldn't have an auto version. It (and the ignis, Avant) has a single clutch automated manual gearbox, and they don't have a good reputation. Slow jerky gearchanges and delayed throttle response when trying to pull away (out of a busy junction or on to a busy roundabout?, no thanks!).

But going by your comments re your Kia c'eed (and just so you know, I'm in the same boat with our jazz, having come from a hyundai i30 diesel auto), I think the only small auto you will be happy in, will have to be a turbo petrol for the torque. But this invariably means going down the dual clutch automated manual route as I can't think of any small turbo auto which has a cvt or conventional auto.

Suzuki Ignis auto is automated manual, not TC.

Hi,

I'm a big fan of the humble Celerio. I've bought three now; one for the wife (an auto), one for my daughter-in-law (a manual) and another auto for myself because I liked the wife's so much.

The wife used to drive an old Aygo with the MMT (automated manual) gearbox. The box was okay-ish but was a bit rough (much like the entire car) and had a tendency to stick in 1st when you ideally wanted it to change up. The difference between the Aygo and the Celerio is MASSIVE! The Celerio AGS (automated manual) is quieter, smoother and changes up and down more logically. It also doesn't 'jerk' (car journalists do talk a lot of rubbish at times!). I particularly like the way it changes down from 5th to 4th when you're going down a steep hill to give you a bit of engine braking (just like a manual). Before we bought the Celerio, we test drove the auto versions of the new style Aygo and the Up!. The Celerio was noticeably better than both, especially the Up! which was if anything worse than the wife's old Aygo.

Last year I helped get my daughter a new Hyundai i10 auto. It has a conventional torque converter box. She's very happy with it but she's lucky if she gets 36 mpg from it. In contrast, since I've had my Celerio, it's averaged 70.4 mpg!!! (that's all conditions, winter & summer, both short trips as well as motorway driving and calculated from the odometer & tank fills; not the trip computer).

You can easily pick up a nearly new Celerio AGS for around £7k and you get a lot of car for your money. It may have zero street cred but it's spacious, had a decent sized boot and importantly for my wife, a doddle to drive. My advice is take SWMBO to a Suzuki dealer and get her to take one for a proper test drive. It's one of those cars that really does grow on you...

Interesting to read your comments Peter, as they certainly contradict what I have read about the celerio AGS.

My wife gets a motability car and when we last changed (may) I had been looking to downsize from our hyundai i30, so looked into the celerio as an option. Although my wife wasn't convinced that the celerio would be big enough for our needs, the main factor which put me off going any further (such as arranging a test drive) was the motoring press reports on the gearbox!. I should point out that one of the requirements of our new car was that it should be narrow (as we now live in a narrow street in an old part of town), or at least narrower than the i30. So as I'm sure you can confirm, the celerio is very slim indeed!. As it is, we plumped for a honda jazz, which being a cvt, also suffers from a lot of negative reviews. 5 months into our time with it, I have to say, we are both very impressed with the car, and while it isn't as economical as your celerio, it is certainly more economical than the i30 (diesel auto). Running solely around town, it does around 50mpg, out of town you it is more like 62ish.

But I'm glad you like the celerio, I also have a soft spot for them!. Knowing that the AGS gearbox is actually fine, means that in 2.5 years time, when I will be thinking about new cars again, I can feel confident looking more closely at small suzuki's. It would definitely be more convenient as we have a dealer in town (the Honda dealer is just over 30 miles south, in Aberdeen).

Often look to see what small car might replace the i10 4 speed torque converter auto. when the time comes. I think I dismissed the Celerio (a) coz of the three star rating given by NCAP and (b) coz it had the ASG type of transmission.

But am encouraged by your praise of the gearbox - and if you say it's better than the VAG group transmsission then that's encouraging (even if the VAG box doesn't set a particularly high bar to overcome). And if you look at the little diagram relating to front occupant protection on the NCAP site it doesn't actually look that bad despite the meagre 61% figure awarded for adult occupants. The video of it hitting the block doesn't look any worse than many others - and even the windscreen remains without a crack in it , which plenty others don't.

Agreed re, mpg on the i10 - mine is nearer 32 much of the time.