Advice on buying new automatic diesel?

Hi Fergal,

Well, it depends on which model you're looking at. In general buying an automatic these days doesn't have the fuel consumption (and CO2) penalties of old, although it's fair to say that not all automatics are equal. They can be very expensive up front though (BMW asks €2,500 for an auto) and, depending on the car, you won't always make that back at resale time. Certainly on a Ford you might struggle with automatic resale, but a BMW or Audi should do better as people expect the auto in those.