Automatic Car - driving tips

gilbert_and_sullivan

Proper torque converter or satans evil device the automated manual?

Different techniques required.

306chris

Be lucky you dont have to drive vehicles with left accelerator and hand controls.

Part of my old job used to be picking up vehicles from customers who'd had them adapted.

Many a time I'd be slowing down to a stop in a manual and think this is sounds rough before realising I was back in a manual and then dip the clutch.

Michtaylor09

I'm surprised that people are saying to only drive with the right foot. I've driven an automatic for over 25 years and always used my left foot for braking. I have no idea how to drive a manual though.

I know have a 59reg Nissan Note 1.6, and get between 45 and 55 mpg out of it on a mixture of country roads and motorways. On the same roads, I only got 28mpg out of my 53 reg Astra 1.6.

The only time I would put mine into neutral with handbrake on is if I was stood for more than a couple of minutes on a hill.

alastairq

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Proper torque converter or satans evil device the automated manual?

Different techniques required.

Absolutely right!

An automatic box [with torque converter] , one maneuvers the vehicle using the footbrake. [off the brake to move ...a tickover, of course....'on' the brake to stop?}

An automated gearbox, one manoeuvres using the gas pedal.

Still, at least with some automated gearboxes, if you don't like the gear it has selected, you can always tell it to use another one!

But then, an automatic never makes a mistake............................

With an automatic, holding the vehicle stationary on the footbrake is fine, up to a point.

But ask yourself...what if you sneeze, or your foot suddenly slackens-off pressure?

Will you wander off into the back bumper of the car in front?


If you think that may be a possibility,then apply the handbrake.


London Transport [the proper one, not today's plastic fakes]....used to have buses with pre-selector gearboxes.

The driver selected the next gear they thought they'd want.....but instead of a pedal operating a clutch, the pedal changed the gear in the gearbox......when the driver pressed it.

These had fluid flywheels.

LT had a rule [flout on pain of discipline] that if stopped any longer than 5 minutes, to engage neutral.


London Transport did an experiment back in the late 1960's...to see how long it took for such a gearbox & flywheel, if left engaged, to explode!

27 1/2 minutes, and the gearbox cover [at the front of the bus] flew apart, with a red-hot chunk of flywheel hurtling down the passenger aisle towards the back.

This is the very last thing the camera they'd used filmed, before it all went very fuzzy.


I'm not suggesting a modern auto box with torque convertor would explode if left in drive...but the oil will get very hot......[which is why most boxes have their own oil coolers?]

epninety

Michtaylor09 wrote: »

The only time I would put mine into neutral with handbrake on is if I was stood for more than a couple of minutes on a hill.

Spare a thought for the poor sod behind you having his retinas seared at the traffic lights? (One of my pet hates)

Stooby2

I'm surprised that people are saying to only drive with the right foot. I've driven an automatic for over 25 years and always used my left foot for braking. I have no idea how to drive a manual though.

Not good as in emergency braking you'll probably mash both pedals to the floor and increase your braking distance as the brakes will have to overcome the engine as well. Right foot only for automatic driving.

You should engage the handbrake at lights or when stationary for any length of time in any car - in a hard rear impact your foot is likely to come off the brake meaning you'll move forward without braking and in an automatic, under drive - and you may hit the accelerator by mistake when you do manage to get your foot back on the pedal.

In autos it also helps to overcome the phenomenon of "pedal confusion" - where you press the accelerator instead of the brake and your brain can't work out what's going on - until you crash. Ideally you should release the handbrake with your foot on the brake pedal, then move it to the accelerator. That movement then makes your brain register where your foot is. Whilst it's fairly rare it does happen.

alastairq

Spare a thought for the poor sod behind you having his retinas seared at the traffic lights? (One of my pet hates)

A warning about the above was in my old Volvo's handbook [proper Volvo, not a Frord volvo!]....the were probably the first manufacturer [by decades, knowing them?} to fit hi-level brake lights......... and the handbook carried a warning to apply the h/brake when stationary, because of the above.

Lum

Don't sit at the lights with your foot on the brake. In particular don't do this if you've gotten the brakes nice and hot e.g. after a spirited drive through twisty roads.

Doing this will transfer a thin lump of pad material to the disc which will then grow over time as future braking attempts keep hitting the leading edge of this lump and transferring material. Eventually you'll be able to feel this as a juddering in the discs which will be diagnosed as warped discs and need a replacement.

Yes this can happen in a manual too but it's more common in autos due to people's tendency to sit with their foot on the brake to prevent creeping.

Switch to handbrake as soon as you come to a stop, and also to neutral if appropriate.


As for left foot braking. If you want to do that it will involve a period of re-learning how to drive. My partner left foot brakes as she has CRPS in her right foot and these days it's as natural to her as right foot braking is to anyone else. It may not be such a good idea to do this if you intend to drive a manual at some point in the future though.

Richard53

Michtaylor09 wrote: »

I'm surprised that people are saying to only drive with the right foot. I've driven an automatic for over 25 years and always used my left foot for braking. I have no idea how to drive a manual though.

I think that's the point. If you are used to driving a manual, then your left leg is used to large and strong movements to work the clutch, whereas the right is used to the much more sensitive accelerator and brake. If you've always driven an auto, then your left leg won't have this muscle memory, and would be OK with either.

I was once driving a minibus full members of my caving club, and in the dark and being unfamiliar with the vehicle, I accidentally hit the foot brake with my left foot when I was trying to change from second to third gear. Big, heavy clutch, and a big heavy shove of the leg. It was like hitting a wall, and I ended up with a bunch of burly potholers in my lap. Took me a year to live that one down.

DaveF327

glenbois wrote: »

At traffic lights - into neutral, handbrake, or just foot on brake?

On a hill in queueing traffic, neutral, handbrake, or just foot on brake?

Any tips?

I drove an auto for the best part of 12 years. Rubbish MPG plus an ageing 2 litre petrol car made me switch to diesel 6-speed manual to eke out every last penny out of a tank.

But I digress.. to answer your questions:

At traffic lights, leave selector in drive, apply handbrake tightly. As long as creep doesn't overpower handbrake and cause slippage, it won't harm your handbrake or cable. Avoid unnecessary shifting to and from neutral to prevent gearbox wear. Release footbrake so brake lights don't dazzle following driver. Merc drivers please note! For the sake of my poor retinas, please!!

In queueing traffic, same advice. On the flat and uphill, it's even more important to keep selector in drive as traffic movement is less predictable and you may be stopping and starting more. Steep downhill gradients may cause creep that overpowers handbrake hold due to gravity, so this would be a necessary reason to consider neutral (+ handbrake) if this happens.

To save cash, use economy mode as opposed to sport. If there's a "snow" or "ice" mode, try that as it should favour higher gears at certain speeds, but only if you're not in a hurry or require a swift overtake.