What's the cheapest automatic?

[sbasak]

What's the cheapest used automatic car available in the market? Is there anything available around 3 lakhs? How reliable will it be?

[devarshi84]

hyundai santro automatic.

maruti used to offer the wagonR AX model.BUt I guess they have discontinued now.

[racing4cure]

satro automatic would be the best bet...also u could look into a second habd maruti zen or wagon r...?? definitely santro is the bset bet.

[Samurai]

Among small cars Santro is the only automatic you should consider. Maruti automatics stink because they are 3-speed.

But I wonder whether you can get used auto Santro. I have an automatic Santro which I had put up for sale in April since I didn't have extra parking. I didn't get much real response, and I found a parking, then I pulled it off the market. It recently got upgraded to alloys and tubeless.

Well, it is a great city car. I prefer Santro over Baleno while driving the crowded/narrow city roads.

[Technocrat]

One of my distant uncle(he is actually my dad's colleague) has a maruti 800 Automatic since past 5 years, he has only leg(he had to get one of his legs amputed due to cancer) & they had ordered it from MUL. Donno whether MUL still takes such orders or may be they do only for special cases like these. No idea about the price tho

[jkdas]

I guess you get a santro auto. And it should be above 3lac, unless you skip ac and stuff. And it should be available at teh Hyundai dealer.

[scooby05]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

One of my distant uncle(he is actually my dad's colleague) has a maruti 800 Automatic since past 5 years, he has only leg(he had to get one of his legs amputed due to cancer) & they had ordered it from MUL. Donno whether MUL still takes such orders or may be they do only for special cases like these. No idea about the price tho

Maruti have stooped making it.I had bought one on order in 1987. Used it for 5 years then sold it. Was a fantastic car to use in city. on the highway touched 120kmph, what more!!
If a person hunts around can still lay a hand on one of them.

[Dippy]

Hey

I used to own an automatic Maruti 800 AT before I bought my Zen but I have to say the Maruti technical guys are are not well versed with auto transmissions. They get scared as soon as you mention autobox. You have to get work done from an outside specialist.

A Santro AT or better still if you can afford it you could get a good used Honda City Automatic..extremely reliable and their transmissions are good too

[2fast4yaa]

a small car with an automatic transmission is pretty good on indian roads since it cuts petrol costs and also puts less strain on the clutch system since half of the time many people either under or over shift.....dont u think so?

[revtech]

actually an automatic transmission will be less fuel effecient than a manual transmission. so by haveing an automatic your no way cutting fuel costs.at times in does make sence to have an automatice with the amount on traffic but then with an automatic you cant rip your car and hear her scream when the road is clear.


Rev

[Bomi]

I sold my OLD Honda City Automatic after 3.5 years and 48k kms for 3.75 lacs in Delhi. It was a decent car until the AC compressor conked out and Honda ripped off Rs.32000 for a replacement. After that, my personal motto is "Honda sucks".
Test drive the Santro automatic, please. I found that it would move into its top gear (dont remember whether its 3 speed or 4 speed) only at speeds above 60kms. This could result in poor fuel economy.

[sbasak]

Wow! I didn't know that Maruti 800 had an automatic version!

I've never driven an AT car myself & I always prefer MT. However, my wife finds MT extremely cumbersome so I'm thinking of moving to AT.

If I buy, I'll buy from the following - Santro, Zen, Esteem (my family doesn't like WagonR and Honda is out of my budget)

Those who use AT cars for long time in India, can you suggest how do you find them in long run?

[1] They will definitely consume more fuel than MT but how much more?

[2] After driving AT cars regularly, do you feel put off if have to drive MT cars? (a friend of mine said that after driving AT cars for several years in USA, he can't drive MT anymore!)

[3] How reliable is it? People told me that because of India's traffic & poor road, AT tends to fail and repairing is quite expensive.

Thanks for replies.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by sbasak

If I buy, I'll buy from the following - Santro, Zen, Esteem

Keep away from Maruti auto anything, they are all 3-speed. Santro Zing AT is your only real choice.

Originally Posted by sbasak

Those who use AT cars for long time in India, can you suggest how do you find them in long run?

Santro AT is my 5th automatic car, first in India since 2003. Very reliable, never had any problem.

Originally Posted by sbasak

[1] They will definitely consume more fuel than MT but how much more?

I get 8.5 to 9 in city and 14 on highway.

Originally Posted by sbasak

[2] After driving AT cars regularly, do you feel put off if have to drive MT cars? (a friend of mine said that after driving AT cars for several years in USA, he can't drive MT anymore!)

Driving MT is like cycling, hard to forget. My current cars are Baleno (my 3rd MT car) and Santro AT (my 5th AT car). I have been switching AT/MT quite regularly without much issues.

Originally Posted by sbasak

[3] How reliable is it? People told me that because of India's traffic & poor road, AT tends to fail and repairing is quite expensive.

Well, people sometimes just makeup things. I have once owned a 12 year used Corolla and an used ford that had 200,000+ Kms on it. Never had any transmission related problem.

[sbasak]

Just now checked Maruti's website. Seems that they no longer makes automatic Esteem! Infact, they no longer offers any automatic.

Satro Xing AT is 4-speed, so it's good

[sbasak]

This is a good article on automatics in India

http://www.cybersteering.com/cruise/...arma/auto.html