ok thanks for that but was a bit concerned with the auto
box,how sturdy are they.we do have a renault auto megane 1.9 deisil and the gearbox went at 106000 mls.this car was not abused and we only used it for towing at the most twice a year in the uk.it cost £2000 to have a new reconditioned/gearbox fitted to this car more than what the car is worth.i myself would not have a auto but its the wife she can only drive auto.
Autoboxes on smaller cars are all DSG type now, twin clutch with electronic change. All much of a muchness now I would think. The move away from old type reliable torque converter boxes is due to better fuel efficiency of DSG boxes.
Internet 'evidence' suggests that on all makes DSG boxes do seem more troublsome than manual boxes & when one considers the extra complication it's probably not suprising.
It would take me 10yrs to do 100k miles so I suppose one could say that is reasonable life of a car.