[Cessna182]

Many Altos and Santros are available within 2.5 lakhs. Spares should not be an issue for the next few years. Check on droom.in and other sites.

As for safety, all Maruti cars except the NCAP rated ones are really bad at it even today, and the airbag won't help much because the structure is unstable. Hence it won't be very different if you buy a new Alto AMT vs. an old one. Same goes for the Santro.

If you find very old cars like the Esteem or the Zen for less than a lakh in decent condition, do explore them as well. The scrap value after 2 or 3 years will still be about 20k, so you won't lose a lot of money. Talk to a reliable mechanic to inspect such vehicles. Spares are not an issue for the Zen or Esteem in major cities as of now.

[chiefpk]

My pick is slightly different. See, if you are learning to drive a car you rather need to be doing it on a Manual than on an Automatic. If she even learns to drive an AMT, she won't be able to drive a Manual in case a situation arises.

Therefore, go for a manual for your first instance, IMHO.
If your budget is around 4 lacs, I see some good Swift's around that price and you may consider them. Maintain that and you can easily live around 4-5 years with that Swift. Also a Swift can be easily used as a daily drive for family needs as well.Cheap on pocket to maintain , fuel efficient and also easy repairs.
Cheers!

[JayD]

Since she is just starting to drive, I would suggest getting her a proper automatic and not any of the AMT cars. The AMTs have a tendency to roll back and cause new drivers to panic. If you plan to keep the car for a while, get a Brio At. If you just want something cheap for her to learn on and upgrade soon after, get an A star AT. Has a Torue convertor gearbox, small size and ABS. They would cost half that of a Brio AT.

[akash_v12]

Like many others have already mentioned, it's preferable to teach someone driving in a manual (especially in a country like ours where manuals are more). Now, since this is a 1st car, you should probably look towards medium mileage (25k-50) cars which are relatively ubiquitous around 2-3 Lakh Rupees. Something like an Alto K10, Kwid or older-gen i10 with the manual gearboxes would be the perfect small cars for a learner. However, if you're sure you want to buy an automatic, your best bet would be a Brio AT. She could learn to drive in this and you could keep the car for a minimum of 2 years so that she can perfect her skills and then proceed on with a newer car.

Here are some cars I found on CarWale.

Brio AT When you look at this Brio AT, it already has more than 81K KMs, so you should try and negotiate the price down to about 2.75 Lakhs.
Kwid
Another Kwid

[drmohitg]

I think it really doesn't matter which car you buy for the intended usage. Just buy the cheapest car you can find, of course keeping in mind the quality of the car. Almost all AT boxes would be good enough for a learner and anyways you intend to sell the car in a short time. I have personally driven the i10 AT and feel its an excellent vehicle which you may even keep for longer. It came with a traditional TC unit which is significantly better than an AMT unit offered in Maruti cars. The boxy shape of i10 combined with higher seating position gives a commanding view of all sides which may be useful for a learner.

Having said this, I agree with what others have also posted above. Knowing how to drive a car is a MUST in today's day and age. Although ATs have become prevalent and are the future, it wouldn't hurt to learn a on a manual transmission as you never know when one might need to drive a MT car. I would rather learn to drive one than find me in a fix. And once she has learnt on an AT car, I doubt she will ever be able to adjust to a MT while the reverse is easy.

[IshaanIan]

When it comes to cheap used automatic hatchbacks there are only 2 cars out there that fit the bill while still being sprightly enough to satisfy any bhpian's urges to zip about town:

Honda Brio
Maruti A-Star

Both cars have a small footprint, stable handling, robust torque converter gearboxes and solid reliability

[Abhinav V]

Hi.
We bought an Alto K10 AMT (November 2017) from True Value on 1-August,2019.
Ours had done 10,150 kms when we bought.
Before Alto K10 we used to have a Ciaz. Due to some urgent necessity we were in immediate need of a small automatic car. Though we could keep both the cars, we didn't want to see our Ciaz simply sitting in our house so we decided to let go of it.
For a 4 lakh budget there were Celerios, Wagon Rs and Grand i10s.
But as GTO says it's always better to buy a used car that still has warranty.
I would suggest you to go out and visit true value showroom instead of searching the same online. For me months of online searching took me nowhere.
The day I went to check, a car had just arrived from its first owner's house and the next day it was in my house.
So look for a car that's 1.5-2 years old with less than 10k on the odo.
I am sure you will find a car in mint condition.
Cheers.
Abhinav.

[pradeepkc]

I was in the same boat as you when it came to buying a car for my wife. I ended up getting A-Star. I would highly recommend it. It's TC Transmission, cheap to buy and maintain. There's also good all round visibility. Like rest of the members have mentioned, i10, older Santro and Micra are his options too. I would not recommend getting an AMT Car, they are jerky and will roll back on inclines which could cause panic to new drivers.

[Alterlife]

As a counter point to all the AMT bashing going on here... I've had a Celerio AMT for 4 years now and 38K kms in. If you're a sedate driver it's just a pleasure to drive once you're used to it.

Ownership cost is as low as it can be. I had an initial scare with the gearbox but after some (under warranty) tweaks, things have been smooth, fingers crossed.

[anilp]

As many have suggested, I'd recommend a used Honda Brio AT as well. We had picked it up for my wife who was in a similar learning phase some years back.

It's fun to drive and reasonably economic. The engine is peppy enough to still be entertaining even for people who are comfortable with driving. Service costs are very low and reliability is quite good. In fact, even though it's not a highway car, we ended up taking our Brio over our Sedan on a lot of pan India drives because my wife and me like driving it more.

[H Karter]

Anybody wanna go the Converted EV route; its an automatic by default.
Its a perfect wife's car/local runabout vehicle, but also must be road legal.

Senior BHpians may shed some light on legality of such conversions. I haven't come across much information on registeration of such cars.

[ShortShifter]

Originally Posted by srikacharla123

Hello fellow Bhpians, this is my first post so please forgive me if I make any mistakes.

I have been trying to buy a used automatic car for my sister to learn to drive in. My budget is around 4 lakhs, although the cheaper the better. As this is her first car my dad is insisting that it be a cheap car as she might scratch the car a lot while parking etc. I will sell the car in a few months and then buy a proper car for her. I have a Honda Civic Hybrid and teaching her in that car is difficult, it being a huge (relatively) car.

I see a lot of old gen i10s, a few santros and celerios here and there in my budget. I primarily look on OLX and all I see are dealerships posting ads and very few individuals. I am anti dealerships( got scammed in the past ). I was hoping to know if you can help me by suggesting what cars might be best for my purpose. Any references pointing to friends and family selling their cars would be great too.

PS: I live in Hyderabad

Hi, Welcome to Team-BHP. I am on the same boat as you and almost finalised on a used Honda Brio Automatic to teach my sister how to drive, prices for a 2013-2014 Manufactured cars are around 3.2 - 3.5 Lakh range for a good condition car, I would suggest you go for it as you get 2 Airbags, Decent Stereo, Bullet Proof Honda Petrol Engine and easy to maintain car.

The CVT transmission is good enough to zip through the traffic and not prone to failures, expected mileage to be around 10-12 kmpl in the city.

Although you mentioned your prior experience with Dealers, there are a couple of Genuine Dealers on 100 Ft Road, Madhapur who have a Brio Automatic on sale with them for your budget, there is one more dealer at Erragada who has it listed, do give it a shot.

Remember to always insist on complete Service History from a Honda Dealership or take it to a trusted mechanic for inspection before purchasing, never transfer any advance/token amount until you have taken a Test Drive and have seen the Original RC/Documents in person. You can PM me if you need any help with finding one, Good luck to you !

[srikacharla123]

Originally Posted by ShortShifter

Hi, Welcome to Team-BHP. I am on the same boat as you and almost finalised on a used Honda Brio Automatic to teach my sister how to drive, prices for a 2013-2014 Manufactured cars are around 3.2 - 3.5 Lakh range for a good condition car, I would suggest you go for it as you get 2 Airbags, Decent Stereo, Bullet Proof Honda Petrol Engine and easy to maintain car.

The CVT transmission is good enough to zip through the traffic and not prone to failures, expected mileage to be around 10-12 kmpl in the city.

Although you mentioned your prior experience with Dealers, there are a couple of Genuine Dealers on 100 Ft Road, Madhapur who have a Brio Automatic on sale with them for your budget, there is one more dealer at Erragada who has it listed, do give it a shot.

Remember to always insist on complete Service History from a Honda Dealership or take it to a trusted mechanic for inspection before purchasing, never transfer any advance/token amount until you have taken a Test Drive and have seen the Original RC/Documents in person. You can PM me if you need any help with finding one, Good luck to you !

Thanks for the reply. I found an automatic Tata Nano which was in great condition.

[Vishal.R]

We have also started looking for a economical / used automatic for wife.

Wife Leant driving few years back and used to drive an old Santro (manual) in family, but after gap of so many years, recently she felt more comfortable driving a rented Swift AMT from Zoomcar, in comparison to our diesel manual Zest.

Target is Celerio considering the budget.

Most widely available car in market is Grand I10, didn't find any A-Star in Ahmedabad yet.

For used car, budget is caped around 3.5 lac, Plan B is new S-Presso AMT if We don't get good car in the budget.

[CountMe91]

I would go for a Honda Brio AT or a Honda Jazz AT. You could also see Toyota ATs cars if it fits your budget. I dislike AMTs since they are a bit jerky. Honda AT cars are very reliable and command a good resale value as well.