Ive never seen, driven or even known anyone who drives an automatic car, does anyone know any of the disadvantages they have? are they less economical to run? im just wondering coz im lookin at cars and a couple are automatic.

In the states there are far more automatic transmissions on the road, than manual ones. The effect on gas mileage is about one mile per gallon.

Don't let the fact that the car has automatic deter you from buying it, if it's in good shape, and is the car you like.

I say give it a test drive and see what you think. I think it's largely personal preference. There's a few situations where I don't like autos:

• if you are going up a hill at a speed that isn't perfect for what the car wants, they tend to jump back and forth between gears
• if you are going down a hill, it will continue to shift up, so you need to apply the brakes to maintain speed
• if you are stopped but in drive (i.e. at a stop light), the car will drive forwards unless your foot is on the brake
• if you accelerate, they tend to downshift even if all you wanted to do was gently increase your speed

Overall, I feel more in control when I'm driving a standard. I find that the major advantage to autos is that it's easier to drink coffee while driving .

As to economy, I think that they are less economical. First off, you do have a bit of a hit in fuel economy - depending on the car, it can be as much as 4-5 mpg difference. I'd say look up the rating online somewhere (for example, Fuel Economy is pretty decent for North American cars, but I'm not sure if there's a British equivalent). Secondly, I think (not sure though) that autos are more expensive to maintain/fix.

hmm, well fuel econmy is kindof a big concern, fuel costs the equivalent of about $2 a litre here, i was gonna lookup the car on that site for a comparison untill wikipedia told me that vauxhall corsas are sold everywhere except the us and canada

I found another site for you: What is my car's MPG? » Fuel-Economy.co.uk
I had the same problem as you when I bought my car - apparently the Acura 1.6 EL is only sold in Canada, oddly enough. Fortunately, it's basically a Civic.

You might want to take a look at diesels. In North America they're harder to come by and generally more expensive in the used market, but they're more efficient, last longer, and diesel is cheaper anyway.

I'm not a big fan of automatics, personally. I think you can get more use out of a smaller engine, if it has manual transmission. You can always downshift when more power is needed, or spin the engine up if you need to accelerate quickly. The same size engine, as an automatic, feels like it has a lot less power IMO.

Well, in my case I drive a VW beetle. If you don't have a stick, I think it's recommended to get one with turbo.

Edit: I think the biggest advantage to automatic transmission is that it's much easier to learn. But if you already know how to drive a stick, there's probably no advantage (aside from eating and talking on a cell phone ).

not here, diesel incurs more tax, because it pollutes more, so theres not much in it,

well talking on a mobile while driving here is illegal, unless your using a handsfree-kit, which i dont.

There are several different types of automatic gearboxes around. The traditional three speed planet gear type are more suited to large engines. Most commonly they are paired with torque converter clutch. This torque converter coupled with only three gears makes very hard going for a small engine.

A consortium of car manufactures developed an idea that came from DAF of the continuously variable gearbox. If memory servers it was Ford, Fiat, Nissan and Citroen. This gearbox is much better suited for small cars as it doesn't have the torque converter and but dose have an infinite number of gears. Have a look for a Ford Festa, Fiat Punto, Nissan Micra or Citroen's Saxo, C2, C3. These will be both fuel efficient and nippy.