I'm looking for some advice on buying a small automatic car. The car will be shared between myself and my girlfriend and needs to be a "conventional" automatic box as opposed to a semi-auto or CVT. The car needs to be of Fiesta / Clio size but not any smaller as I am 6' 3" and dont fancy hopping in and out of a Micra every time I fancy a drive. Budget is 5k max.

Im not too bothered by style, reliability is the most important criteria, followed by economy and driving enjoyment.

So far a 2006 / 07 used Fiesta 1.6 (this is the conventional auto version as opposed to the 1.4 semi) seems to fit the bill and comes in under budget but I keep reading bad reports about the reliability of the auto box on some Fords, is this model one of those with suspect reliability?

Im also thinking of an 07 newer shape corsa as an alternative as ive heard Vauxhall auto boxes are quite reliable and according to the official figures they return decent MPG.

The car will be used for the daily commute (20 mile round trip) and possibly one 300 mile Motorway trip a month on average.

Any thoughts on these cars or any alternatives would be much appreciated.