Honda i-Shift automated manual

Cant help really only to say I had a C2 with what appears to be a similar automated manual to your Corsa, nightmare in stop start traffic up a hill, other wise quite pleasant, I had the paddles on the steering column which I enjoyed immensely, other glitches I thought could easily be ironed out were the lack of creep and hesitation during slowing to a stand and accelerating again at junctions, have often wondered if newer systems have improved these faults and maybe hill assist on the Hondas is some way towards those improvements, (not convinced by dual clutches as they seem overly expensive and complicated with lots of negative reliability reports) if I was in the budget for one i'd certainly like to try one, it may be frowned upon by all those who upgraded from a mark 1 jazz cvt and seen as a backwards step but obviously Honda thought it was a good system and their engineering expertise has to be considered. Find one at a main agent and borrow it for the weekend, they're usually amenable.

I love the Big Bang Theory but I'm not sure if that's despite or because of being a physicist.

Completely off topic, but I like your Big Bang Theory quote.

Thanks for the suggestions. It would take a lot to persuade me to go anywhere near a Renault automatic. I researched them a while back and found countless reports of serious problems. Having said that, I think the Modus uses a Nissan box on some models and an automated manual on others. I don't want an automated manual that doesn't have hill assist. That was one of the problems with the Corsa - I found it harder to drive than a manual. The I-Shift has hill assist and also has a paddle shift which I think I would use quite a lot. The hybrids seem to come at quite a premium. Even with my mileage, I don't think I could justify the cost.

My sister bought a Jazz with the new CVT box almost a year ago and it is very impressive. I've heard lots of comments about how awful the previous i-Shift gearbox was in comparison to the first generation CVT, so I guess that Honda listened to its customers' complaints and did the right thing. Having a Prius myself, I have become a fan of the CVT gearbox and my sister seems to be turning into one as well now that she has her Jazz.

I think you will find that the Modus was only ever available with the 1.6lt engine if you wanted an automatic gearbox, which made it not only thirsty in comparison to the rest of the range, but also rather less "green", making not only the CO2 emissions high but VED also.

I have had a good drive in the new cvt jazz and it was a cracker. I thought it was the stand out feature of the car.

How about a Renault Modus then? You can get them for what I presume would be well under your budget. I've driven an automatic version with the 1.6 litre engine - it was a normal torque converter. It was nothing special, but I don't remember it for being bad, which must be a good thing. It was a tad thirsty though, but it was a 2005 MY in 1.6 guise, so other variants will probably be more economical.

Gregor, i dont know if your budget would get you a good enough one, by for Honda reliability, auto box and good economy look out a civic or Insight Hybrid. The cvt works well, and 50 mpg is easy, more with practice. Despite what the press have written about the current Insight i though it quite a nice car when i tried one.

Cheers, Fidji. The Verso S would probably be too new to fall into my price bracket, but it's an interesting idea for the future.