Small, economical automatic car

Does such a thing as an economical automatic car exist? By economical I mean genuine, real-world 45mpg+. Diesel or petrol, not some bloody hybrid. Must be about Fiesta-size, 4 door, cheap to run, i.e. no silly tax bands.

What experiences do you lot have with similar cars? Thank you.

SP

Peugeot 107/Citroen C1 auto. It's a big inside as a Fester, bigger in the front seats. Can also be driven in Tippy mode. A genuine 50+ mpg, 65 with care, tough as old boots and £0 or £20 tax depending on the year.

Interesting, what's it like to drive?

SP

Basic, but a hoot. Nearest modern substitute for the original Mini.

I tend to go for larger vehicles these days (anything smaller than Astra/Focus size is too small when you have a child)...

My mother in law loves her Yaris though and has had two - both diesel (you get around 70mpg with the manual version), you can get 4 adults in there but luggage space is limited.

can't help out at all on the automatic gearbox options though, I've driven manual my whole life except for a short spell owning an automatic Metro (was like driving a bloody go-kart!).

I rented a manual 107/C1/Aygo (can't remember which) the last time I was on Shetland. It's just what a small car should be and it seemed to drive quite nicely. Super light by modern standards too, I put it on the weighbridge I was working on and it was 860kg.

They do a 5 door version as well. Just sold my 3 door turbo conversion, and it was big enough to carry kids and a pushchair, though its not something you'd want to do habitually unless it was the 5 door.

No DPF or DMF to rape your bank account like you would on a diesel, yet it easily matches diesel economy.

Number 1 in its class for reliability (the newer rival VW trio are proving to be horrendous on this front), cheap tax, cheap insurance, cheap servicing, even the tyres are cheap, and its got a bit of genuine character too. Because the auto is a robotised manual box performance and economy are virtually identical to the manual, unlike a traditional slush or variomatic auto which'll rob you of performance and economy.

completely leftfield - I've been running a 1.9 JTD Doblo for the last 3 years. Got 71.4mpg today and 65.4mpg on they way back (head wind).

Cheapish tax, cheap parts, huuuuge boot, cheap tyres and in 80,000 miles it has only needed a cambelt change, fluids and the EGR blanking off.

*but its not small or automatic, but it is economical

Micra

Trebant?