Hi,

I'm a new driver and am planning to buy one used, 2005-54 reg Skoda Fabia 1.4 16V Classic 75HP AUTOMATIC car. Can any experienced driver please suggest me if the above car would be good for a new driver. The asking price is

Welcome to Brisky

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I've never read a good review on that car and a chap on here (psion5 I think) couldn't get rid of his quick enough. The performance was also seriously lacking, considering it supposedly had 75bhp. :( Certainly significantly slower than it's manual counterparts.

What's your criteria for a car, maybe we can suggest a few that might fit?

Chris

Have a look at a 1.2 12v 64 bhp..........Ideal

Have a look at a 1.2 12v 64 bhp..........Ideal

Unless it has to be an auto :(

Chris

Hi Chris,

Thanks very much for your help. Thats really much appreciated. My husband drives a Toyota Avensis. I'm looking for a small, good automatic car. As I'm a new driver, doesn't dare to spend too much now. So after a good value for money, convenient car .:(

any suggestions would be of great help,

many thanks.

the automatic yaris is a nice car.... quite pricey tho

Are you limited to an auto as they usually have higher tax bands, higher fuel consumption and higher repair costs?

sorry to yes, but unfortunately yes. I'm limited to auto and a comparatively small car.

how about auto nissan almera, quite reasonably priced............any comments?

Do the two seater Smarts count as automatic? A great round-town choice as a second car, cheap to run and nice and compact for parking etc for a new driver.

Otherwise a Nissan Micra rarely gets a bad review and I would have thought that a Japanese auto box is better than a European one?

I can recommend Vauxhall Corsa automatics (old model, not the new one). My girlfriend has a Corsa 1.4 automatic and it's great. Very easy car to drive and she's had very few problems over the last 5 or so years. It may not be the fasted car around but its fine for most people. I'm quite happy driving it, and I've got a VRS! In fact we drove over 2000 miles in it last year exploring Scotland, so it can't be bad!

Something like this maybe... http://sis.virtual-showroom.co.uk/(s3qr0pazh2ynho45rv0z4e33)/templates/stockListA/stockItem.aspx?clientCode=RayMorrisAutomaticCars&mode=search&stockID=8228|2261

This particular car is maybe a bit over-priced, but the spec is probably what you need (I wouldn't get an engine smaller than 1.4, because anything smaller would start to suffer).

The New model Fabia is avalialbe with a 6 speed tiptronic automatic with a 1.6 Engine, I don't know if it's avaliable from launch though

Try a Nissan Micra - CVT auto, one of the best little cars around, very economical and cheap to tax and insure.

So many around on the second hand market, i nearly brought one myself instead of the Fabia, but the Nissan dealer wouldn't give me a good part ex price.