Car & Bike Automatic transmission cars available in the Indian market?

d_himan said:
No disrespect but your friend is over-reacting. I have a 3 year old i10 AT and a 12 year old Accord AT in Mumbai. Bumper to Bumper traffic of course.These cars have a traditional 'torque converter' automatic. Your friend is right about the gearboxes heating up since our conditions are severe. The key is to keep changing the Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) every third service or so (at least once every 15,000-20,000 km). It would cost around Rs.1200 or more. All of Maruti, Hyundai, Honda automatics are of this type. Incidentally, I get 8-11 Km in i10 and 7.5-10 km in Accord in Mumbai's traffic - surprisingly similar which leads me to believe i10's transmission isn't efficient.
While the newer DSG gearboxes in Volkswagen/Skoda are much more responsive and efficient, there have been plenty of horror stories on transmission failures. Caveot emptor.
The CVT, while being more efficient than torque converter automatics, is a bit like Kinetic Honda. Lots of noise and acceleration follows. However, newer gen ones in the Corolla are much better.
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What he was saying was that, contrary to popular belief that me and many other 'car noobs' believe in, manual transmission is better for the traffic conditions of India.
 
rdst_1 said:
What he was saying was that, contrary to popular belief that me and many other 'car noobs' believe in, manual transmission is better for the traffic conditions of India.
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Yes, manual is better given that there is far lesser technology involved, but only slightly. The old-school torque converters last long if taken care of, even in torrid Indian conditions - my 12+ year old car being a prime example. Second, if you're buying second hand, you know for a fact that there can be no clutch abuse. Third, if you drive in truly horrendous conditions - like a 12 km ride taking 40-60 minutes, you will NEVER go back to manual, EVER - people don't know what they're missing!
 
raksrules said:
As i mentioned, i have no budget as of now but I MAY buy in next 2 years probably. There are few IFs before i make that decision. But i want to get some information beforehand as i will most probably get only automatic.
But any one had to ask me, i would want to go for a used car before buying a brand new because i have never driven on Indian roads (bike riding does not count). So first would want to spend less and gain some experience and then only get a new car.
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raks , I also thought of this option of going second hand and getting experience and then going for a new but trust me , it will only take a month to get to grips with car , then you wont feel like changing it , just go for a new one and love the experience
 
kippu said:
raks , I also thought of this option of going second hand and getting experience and then going for a new but trust me , it will only take a month to get to grips with car , then you wont feel like changing it , just go for a new one and love the experience
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Yes.. plus you get warranty on your new vehicle. check out this article to clear your dilemma http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying-car/17751-article-buying-new-car-vs-used-car.html I have skipped second hand car for good reason (safety and budget). And as its an automatic it shouldn't be much a problem to completely get acquainted with your new toy ;)
 
So which is a good automatic small car to buy at this moment ?
Astar is sort of cheapest new automatic one can buy but from what i have been reading, it has been stopped production and will be replaced by Celerio which has AMT - Automated Manual Transmission which is not really fully automatic.

Also checking olx etc i see lots and lots of Honda City Automatic second hand for less than or around 3 Lakh (many with CNG kit) from 2001-2004 type years. Any particular reason for that ?
 
raksrules said:
As i mentioned, i have no budget as of now but I MAY buy in next 2 years probably. There are few IFs before i make that decision. But i want to get some information beforehand as i will most probably get only automatic.
But any one had to ask me, i would want to go for a used car before buying a brand new because i have never driven on Indian roads (bike riding does not count). So first would want to spend less and gain some experience and then only get a new car.
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Is that you, Rakesh?
 
dont go for a used automatic , you wont know what you are getting ... celerio is making lots of good noises , i will definitely wait for it
 
djmykey said:
Try out Brio Auto.. a PM in my office is singing praises of it a lot.
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Let's see. Actually it is pretty expensive for me. Like 7.5 OTR for automatic version. With me never driven car i am not sure if i want to plonk a big amount initially.[DOUBLEPOST=1390104132][/DOUBLEPOST]
kippu said:
dont go for a used automatic , you wont know what you are getting ... celerio is making lots of good noises , i will definitely wait for it
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Yes and i am hoping celerio will be priced sensibly.

On team bhp forums i see people raving about the Nissan Micra CVT but that is even expensive than Brio automatic.
 
A-Star/Celerio is good for your requirements.. although even if you haven't driven car Driving auto is not that difficult you'll hardly stall the car (mostly happens with new drivers) Trust me, even I don't have much experience but I am more confident on a Automatic rather than a manual. Remember to take 0 depreciation insurance.
 
max_demon said:
A-Star/Celerio is good for your requirements.. although even if you haven't driven car Driving auto is not that difficult you'll hardly stall the car (mostly happens with new drivers) Trust me, even I don't have much experience but I am more confident on a Automatic rather than a manual. Remember to take 0 depreciation insurance.
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Actually i have driven car but in USA. It was automatic Honda Accord (awesome big sedan, loved it). But driving in USA does not count here because of the better driving experience there due to far less traffic, better roads and we dont expect people will just jump on the road from random directions.

And yes i want an automatic only. Although this new AMT thing looks promising with no clutch involved, lets see what it offers.
 
So Celerio has started making some more noise in form of ads in newspapers and TV. I read up on Team BHP and auto car India about it and it seems there is option to go full automatic (D mode) and or clutch-less manual, just that the gears are sorted of inverted (push forward for gear down, push back for gear up).
But it seems the AMT version is skimping on safety features.
Lets see how this thing is priced. On paper, having option to drive manual as well as fully automatic is definitely promising.
 
For celerio only LXi and VXi get the AMT, ZXi only gets manual transmission.
So VXi with AMT gets only driver side airbags, and no ABS.

Its a shame as I really wanted to get Celerio but cannot compromise on safety features.
 
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