Sorry to be so OT, but I've been searching and asking without much joy. Apologies to anyone who has seen earlier postings elsewhere.
I've had 3 Carlton/Omega automatics. The gearboxes were fine on the first 2 - went to 200k with no gearbox problems. The 3rd is just under
100k, and the gearbox is fine - it's just the rest of the car that they ruined by the "facelift". I've been looking at big-inside cars to replace it and had almost decided to revert to manual with a new Nissan Note (also have a scrappage trade-in), but its wheel well won't take a full sized spare. Other similar vehicles are all too small internally so heads front or back hit the roof or sides of the car or knees have to be removed to get in the back..So we ended up looking at a s/h Skoda Octavia with DSG gearbox. The Fabia is too small.
Does anyone have any fact-based opinions on these? Does having 2 clutches and 2 gearboxes in there make them twice or half as likely to fail? These gearboxes seem to mainly come attached to dual-mass flywheels. I read that gearbox repair costs are £1000, £3500 or cheap because the clutches can possibly be replaced separately, but everything I've read seems to be based on guesswork or hearsay. . Anyone have any fact-based views? I seem to remember from my Ford Prefect days that ordinary clutches had to be replaced several times in the life of the car.
PS changed the Defender for an auto Disco (now up to 160k) because of knee problems, hence the auto love-in, but maybe a car clutch would be lighter and OK. Need this vehicle to outlast me, and there is very little spare cash. The mature lady we transport every day can't easily get into the Disco..