second hand auto gearbox

they are a better make than average. there were not many auto corollas about, only estates I believe. Toyota autos in Lexus are good for half a million miles, one I worked on last week had 200,000 on the clock and drove like new.

IMHO it's not a good rule of thumb to go just by make with autos. Apart from Renault, obviously. It depends more on how much spare capacity they have for an individual application as they're not specifically designed for every one.

Thanks. would you be able to explain that simply for us simple souls? i.e. spare capacity?

It would think he means that when a gearbox is designed there will be, for instance a maximum amount of power it will be reliable with, so if that gearbox goes on a large engine then it will likely not last as long as if the same gearbox is used with a little engine.

In your case it really is academic I believe.

The only vehicles I would seriously avoid auto boxes on would be french cars and fords.

If you are buying new then it is even less important since there will be a guarantee.

If you are buying secondhand and are really frightened of buying anything, just in case, then move over to buying new.

There are plenty of inspection services available which will include driving the car and giving an opinion of faults with the gearbox.

Mrcheerful

Conventional autos have clutches that wear. The torque convertor handles the entire engine output. These are perhaps the most common things to fail

- but hopefully only at high miles.

Most auto boxes cover a range of engine 'sizes'. Even nominally the same auto box may have internal differences. But if used at the upper limit is likely to have a shorter life than with smaller engines.