What automatic city car - Toyota Ayro, Hyundai i10 or....

yamahatdm900

yamahatdm900

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The wife has finally decided she wants to learn to drive and after trying to convince her to learn in a manual I have finally given up and as usual lost the argument - so an automatic it is.
So looking to get a small city car after a bit of research looking at the Toyota Aygo/Citroen/Pegeout version and the Hyundai I10. I have been trying to find if either have issues with the auto gearbox or in the Toyota case the automatic clutch.
She have been swaying towards the Aygo mainly for the cheaper running costs but Im a bit concerned if there was any well known problems with MMT transimisson.

Or i any others worth considering in missing out.

The budget would be around the 5 grand mark.

Thanks in advance
 
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You’re not confusing the Toyota Aygo with that other fine motor car the Austin Allegro are you?

You would probably get a decent Allegro for £5k
 
Cartus said:
You’re not confusing the Toyota Aygo with that other fine motor car the Austin Allegro are you?

You would probably get a decent Allegro for £5k
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Have you spelt that correctly ? Allagro :D
 
One of the problems with a town car is how many miles will she do each week? If it's not many then she/you may have problems with sensors gumming up, battery going flat, exhaust rotting etc. Much as it pains me, but if that's likely then perhaps consider an electric car perhaps on PCP?
 
MatBin said:
One of the problems with a town car is how many miles will she do each week? If it's not many then she/you may have problems with sensors gumming up, battery going flat, exhaust rotting etc. Much as it pains me, but if that's likely then perhaps consider an electric car perhaps on PCP?
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This , I purchased a Leaf and am getting on really well with it , :)
 
MatBin said:
One of the problems with a town car is how many miles will she do each week? If it's not many then she/you may have problems with sensors gumming up, battery going flat, exhaust rotting etc. Much as it pains me, but if that's likely then perhaps consider an electric car perhaps on PCP?
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Think about 150 miles a week she's going self employed as a personal carer soon.
Electric sounds ideal but live in a first floor flat and no easy way to charge it.
 
Toyota automatic transmission isnt reckoned to be the best, did a bit of research when my daughter wanted an automatic car
She ended up with a Corsa, seems nice and responsive admittedly a bit larger engine than the Aygo

I like Toyota, last car was a Corolla and now have a Yaris so no prejudice when it came to looking.
In fact quite disappointed that the MMT wasn't that good, obviously only my view though
 
tijuana taxi said:
Toyota automatic transmission isnt reckoned to be the best, did a bit of research when my daughter wanted an automatic car
She ended up with a Corsa, seems nice and responsive admittedly a bit larger engine than the Aygo

I like Toyota, last car was a Corolla and now have a Yaris so no prejudice when it came to looking.
In fact quite disappointed that the MMT wasn't that good, obviously only my view though
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That's what ive read in a few places but saying that the wife wouldn't probably notice :-)
 
yamahatdm900 said:
Think about 150 miles a week she's going self employed as a personal carer soon.
Electric sounds ideal but live in a first floor flat and no easy way to charge it.
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That sounds like a good enough mileage to not cause issues so long as you get to give it a good run occasionally.
 
Look at a Yaris hybrid,most automatics suffer on mpg compared with the manual version,they also end up in a higher VED bracket due to higher emissions.
The Toyota hybrids use a cvt box ,my Auris hybrid with a cvt box does 55 /60 mpg with local driving and is a doddle to drive, and being a 2016 reg has zero road tax.
Just look at what taxi drivers use-toyota hybrids with cvt boxes.
 
MatBin said:
One of the problems with a town car is how many miles will she do each week? If it's not many then she/you may have problems with sensors gumming up, battery going flat, exhaust rotting etc. Much as it pains me, but if that's likely then perhaps consider an electric car perhaps on PCP?
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Sorry but thats pure nonsense,
my 2011 diesel astra that after 6months of doing 60 mile round trips ended up doing 2.5 miles each way for the last 7 years
My wifes 14 year diesel fiesta did no more than 7 miles in any one go.
My mothers corsa is 12 years old and has done less than 45,000 miles and never leaves the town she lives in.
We only replaced batteries on them after 8-10 years and cant recall the last time we replaced an exhaust - possibly the wifes fiesta after 11 or so years

Granted we were luck that the particulates filter didnt clog up on the diesels but other than that sensors arent going to clog up because they do to few miles
Im fairly sure metal doesnt know how many miles its done so seriously doubt it will rot any quicker because it didnt do enough miles.
 
My car does 2,000 miles per year max. My previous car, a 2009 Focus 1.6 petrol which I sold last year, had 22,000 miles on it. Never had a new exhaust but did need a new battery after 9 years. Was like new when I sold it.
 
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AgentOrange76 said:
Im fairly sure metal doesnt know how many miles its done so seriously doubt it will rot any quicker because it didnt do enough miles.
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If you do insufficient miles, the exhaust doesn't heat up enough to burn off any condensation that can form inside, the condensation then starts rusting the exhaust from the inside.
 
AgentOrange76 said:
Sorry but thats pure nonsense,
my 2011 diesel astra that after 6months of doing 60 mile round trips ended up doing 2.5 miles each way for the last 7 years
My wifes 14 year diesel fiesta did no more than 7 miles in any one go.
My mothers corsa is 12 years old and has done less than 45,000 miles and never leaves the town she lives in.
We only replaced batteries on them after 8-10 years and cant recall the last time we replaced an exhaust - possibly the wifes fiesta after 11 or so years

Granted we were luck that the particulates filter didnt clog up on the diesels but other than that sensors arent going to clog up because they do to few miles
Im fairly sure metal doesnt know how many miles its done so seriously doubt it will rot any quicker because it didnt do enough miles.
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I am just quoting what my BM dealer told me when we had those troubles with her 1 series 2.0 diesel.
 
yamahatdm900 said:
Electric would work well mileage wise bits it's the inability to charge if at home that's the stumbling block.
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Unless there's multiple overnight charging options near where you live, electric isn't for you unfortunately.

I've looked at automatic city cars about 2.5 years ago:
(bought electric in the end, best decision ever. But we have driveway charging)

I second Toyota hybrid for city driving. It doesn't have clutch, the gearing is cleverly done using planetary gears, it has timing chain that doesn't require regular change. During city driving, there's no parts rubbing and wearing. The 12v battery doesn't start the engine so less likely to get drained from short journey. The drivetrain is designed for stop/start traffic. Earliest Yaris hybrids should be around £5000 now. (2.5 years ago they were ~£8000)

Types of automatic to avoid for city driving are:
- automated manual. They are just normal gearbox with computer operated clutch. eg. Fiat dualogic, my wife's Panda occasionally wouldn't engage next gear while driving, very dangerous. Many dealer saw the gearbox and straight refused to take the car, without asking if there's problem with gearbox!
- Dual clutch gearbox. It lets the clutch rub against eachother when you half release the brake while creeping forward in traffic, not a great solution. Some aren't even cooled in oil so they overheat and wear out quicker in slow traffic, eg VW's DQ200.
- CVT, they still have clutch rubbing at very slow speeds. I hear Nissan are quite unreliable. Although I hear Honda and Toyota CVT are quite reliable

Types of automatic I'd buy for city driving:
- Toyota's eCVT as noted above
- Torque converter. This doesn't have a clutch, at low speeds, the torque converter is liquid coupled so shouldn't have any problem with stop/start and slow moving city traffic. Downside is its inefficiency, but shouldn't matter with low mileage.
Check this out: https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/askhj/...etrol-hatchback-with-torque-converter-gearbox
 
wyx087 said:
Unless there's multiple overnight charging options near where you live, electric isn't for you unfortunately.

I've looked at automatic city cars about 2.5 years ago:
(bought electric in the end, best decision ever. But we have driveway charging)

I second Toyota hybrid for city driving. It doesn't have clutch, the gearing is cleverly done using planetary gears, it has timing chain that doesn't require regular change. During city driving, there's no parts rubbing and wearing. The 12v battery doesn't start the engine so less likely to get drained from short journey. The drivetrain is designed for stop/start traffic. Earliest Yaris hybrids should be around £5000 now. (2.5 years ago they were ~£8000)

Types of automatic to avoid for city driving are:
- automated manual. They are just normal gearbox with computer operated clutch. eg. Fiat dualogic, my wife's Panda occasionally wouldn't engage next gear while driving, very dangerous. Many dealer saw the gearbox and straight refused to take the car, without asking if there's problem with gearbox!
- Dual clutch gearbox. It lets the clutch rub against eachother when you half release the brake while creeping forward in traffic, not a great solution. Some aren't even cooled in oil so they overheat and wear out quicker in slow traffic, eg VW's DQ200.
- CVT, they still have clutch rubbing at very slow speeds. I hear Nissan are quite unreliable. Although I hear Honda and Toyota CVT are quite reliable

Types of automatic I'd buy for city driving:
- Toyota's eCVT as noted above
- Torque converter. This doesn't have a clutch, at low speeds, the torque converter is liquid coupled so shouldn't have any problem with stop/start and slow moving city traffic. Downside is its inefficiency, but shouldn't matter with low mileage.
Check this out: https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/askhj/...etrol-hatchback-with-torque-converter-gearbox
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That's a massive help thank you. Hadn't thought of an hybrid just thought they would be out of budget. No real problems with high mileage early models? Battery life?
Having a more detailed look at what I think she would do probably 4 rounds trips of 25 miles a week on country roads and the rest in town.
 
The electric components of hybrid should last lifetime of the car without maintenance.
Batteries degrade rather than breakdown. The absolutely worst to expect is worse MPG due to less and less driving can be done on electric.
 
Coincidentally we are just about to put my mums Toyota Yaris up for sale. Its a 2010 model D4D, 1.4 diesel AUTO with flappy paddles. Red, 5 door. It only has about 20k on the clock (don't quote me on that but its very very low). Unfortunately she can no longer drive due to ill health. We were looking around the £3,700 mark. Its just been in to have any outstanding recalls completed. We are in NE England. Feel free to message me if interested. Apologies if ive broken any forum rules.
 
yamahatdm900 said:
That's a massive help thank you. Hadn't thought of an hybrid just thought they would be out of budget. No real problems with high mileage early models? Battery life?
Having a more detailed look at what I think she would do probably 4 rounds trips of 25 miles a week on country roads and the rest in town.
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If you go for a Toyota hybrid make sure it has a full Toyota service history, not done by your local corner garage.
There is a reason for this , every time Toyota service the car they extend the initial battery warranty by a year up to a maximum of 10 years
 
jpgreenwood said:
Coincidentally we are just about to put my mums Toyota Yaris up for sale. Its a 2010 model D4D, 1.4 diesel AUTO with flappy paddles. Red, 5 door. It only has about 20k on the clock (don't quote me on that but its very very low). Unfortunately she can no longer drive due to ill health. We were looking around the £3,700 mark. Its just been in to have any outstanding recalls completed. We are in NE England. Feel free to message me if interested. Apologies if ive broken any forum rules.
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Shame I didn't live closer I'm down in Oxfordshire so a bit far unfortunately.
 
troutfisher said:
If you go for a Toyota hybrid make sure it has a full Toyota service history, not done by your local corner garage.
There is a reason for this , every time Toyota service the car they extend the initial battery warranty by a year up to a maximum of 10 years
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Thanks for the info I have all ok and see what's about.
 
plloydie said:
Wife drives an i10. She's a nervous driver and only drives when absolutely necessary and covers less than 1500 miles a year. The only item she's had to change on the car in 9 years of ownership are the tyres due to them being perished. It's never had an advisory apart from the above.
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Thanks Paul thats useful to know.
 
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