Hi. Hoping to inherit a free Mk1 automatic soon. Was wondering if anyone has experience of these as regards reliability, fuel consumption etc?

Reliability probably pretty good, based on not reading much about them on here, but that may also be explained by the demographic of typical owners.

Fuel consumption probably a fair chunk worse than equivalent engine with manual transmission. Mid-to-high 30s mpg at best I'd guess.

Engine reliability is very good, the gearbox less so but not bad, at this age there can be issues with the solenoids and ATF level and cleanliness is critical.

So,is there a service interval that the automatic transmission fluid should be changed? 

I know that the car has been fairly well maintained by a local garage. 

It is a W reg  but only 60,000 miles covered which is due to it being mainly used by an elderly lady who only used it for local journeys. 

There is no set service interval to replace the ATF only at 60,000 Km to check level and quality  "If contamination or a dark colour of the oil or water in the oil is noticed during a quality inspection, the oil must be changed "