We love our 1.9 Roomster 3, has been a lovely car, so much pulling power and economical too. Unfortunately due to my wife's arthritis we have to reluctantly change it for an automatic, and the 1.9 was never offered with an auto on the Roomster.

We want another Roomster, but can't afford a 1.2 TSI DSG, so it will have to be an older 1.6 Auto.

There are a few about in dealers, but we are not expecting a lot on trade-in, or maybe there's someone somewhere with a 1.6 Auto to swap, can't face going through the private sale procedure after some bad experiences in the past.

What I'm wondering is what to look for fault wise on a 1.6 auto, is there a cambelt change that should be done as on the 1.9, or anything to be wary of.

Any advice would be appreciated.

My father had a Fabia I with a 1.6 auto with 4 speed gearbox. It has a cambelt like the 1.9TDI. I have loan the car several times, and it is a great disappointed to drive :-( compared to a 1.2TSI with DSG gearbox

It will drive well but fuel economy is not good.

Sorry to hear of your wife's problems.

As already mentioned, Tiptronic is nice to drive.

Sadly, a "slush" auto in any car will increase fuel consumption.

Figures below are from Skoda's 2009 brochure:-

.......................................1.9TDI..........Tiptronic

Urban MPG..........................42.2..............27.2

Extra Urban........................61.4..............45.6

Combined...........................53.3..............36.7

Road Tax Band................E (£120)........I (£175)

Hope this helps

Thanks both for that, those consumption figures are quite sobering. On the fairly quiet roads around here we regularly get between 55-60 mpg from the 1.9, love the engine.

Food for thought, being pensioners we are on a limited budget, may have to have a re- think.