Manual versus automatic transmission gear boxes

robatwork

OK.

Get an auto.

agrinnall

All these pro-auto replies are far too simplistic. Nobody has asked what type of car you are looking for and how you will use it. If you want a large-ish car for driving on motorways, or if you spend all your time city driving, then yes, an auto might well be the best choice. But if you actually enjoy driving, seek out twisty road, get pleasure from being in the right gear at the right time, then a manual box could be best for you.

DUTR

agrinnall wrote: »

All these pro-auto replies are far too simplistic. Nobody has asked what type of car you are looking for and how you will use it. If you want a large-ish car for driving on motorways, or if you spend all your time city driving, then yes, an auto might well be the best choice. But if you actually enjoy driving, seek out twisty road, get pleasure from being in the right gear at the right time, then a manual box could be best for you.

They are far too simplistic for you perhaps, my reply wasn't auto is better end of
However having had the same car with same engine and same twisty roads, I fear your view maybe blinkered for the twisty road scenario.

facade

agrinnall wrote: »

All these pro-auto replies are far too simplistic. Nobody has asked what type of car you are looking for and how you will use it. If you want a large-ish car for driving on motorways, or if you spend all your time city driving, then yes, an auto might well be the best choice. But if you actually enjoy driving, seek out twisty road, get pleasure from being in the right gear at the right time, then a manual box could be best for you.

Certainly not going against your opinion, but surely the whole point of an auto is that it is is in the right gear at the right time all by itself

I can only recall moving a gear selector from D when driving forwards once, in a RangeRover making a very steep descent in lowbox, I felt that locking it in 1 and letting it walk down was needed.

Mobeer

facade wrote: »

Certainly not going against your opinion, but surely the whole point of an auto is that it is is in the right gear at the right time all by itself ...

The problem with an auto is that it doesn't know what gear it should be in, because it doesn't know what mood the driver is in. I went back from automatic to manual and decided I made a good choice. I might go back to an auto in future if I can find an auto gearbox that is not frequently fighting me.

Iceweasel

Mobeer wrote: »

The problem with an auto is that it doesn't know what gear it should be in, because it doesn't know what mood the driver is in. I went back from automatic to manual and decided I made a good choice. I might go back to an auto in future if I can find an auto gearbox that is not frequently fighting me.

I think it was rather you who was fighting the box.

wildincrawley

I prefer a manual gearbox.

No logical reason, just enjoyment of driving, for me!

philgr

The last auto I drove was horrible. Zf 6 speed auto in a hired Insignia estate. The kick down took forever to engage and that made motorway driving a real pain. To get it to overtake safely, I ended up moving it into manual shift and having to change down that way to get it to pass with an acceptable pace. It capped everything off by starting to slip when changing up in higher gears. This was with less than 20,000 miles on it. Personally I'd get a manual providing your licence allows it.

skivenov

My knocking about car is an old-style torque converter auto for one reason - I'm a lazy b*****d as far as it's concerned, I just want to get in it and go forwards with a minimum of effort.

Upsides - Smooth, great in traffic and low speed manoeuvres are easy.
Downsides - Rubbish on fuel, needs its brakes changing twice as often as a manual, slow, uninspiring drive compared to the manual version of the same car. Ijoke that it feels like 140bhp go into the gearbox and 40 come out.

Modern autos normally use an automated manual gearbox. Better on fuel, arguably better to drive, but when they go wrong, and they do, it's never cheap.

If it's got a CVT autobox (basically a belt slipping and sliding around between two cones). Don't even touch it.

However, not all autos are equal by any means, just because you like an auto in one model of car, doesn't mean it'll be good in another, or even in next years model of the same car.

vikingaero

James Ruppert who writes the Bangernomics Column in Autocar Magazine interviewed an automatic transmission repair specialist based in Sussex for advice on automatic gearboxes.

The specialist said that you should buy an autobox on the following criteria for reliability:

(1) Best = 4 or 5 speed Japanese/Korean
(2) Next best = 4 or 5 speed European

Avoid:

(1) Anything with a 6/7/8 speed gearbox
(2) Anything DSG/Powershift
(3) Anything automated manual

Anything DSG/automated manual will go pop sooner than a traditional 4 speed auto. There are countless horror stories of automated manuals and Selespeeds being pants and are horrific to repair and get just right again.

Toyota and Honda make good CVT gearboxes. The previous generation Jazz CVT is well regarded and the CVT in the Prius is very good, as attested by the large number running as minicabs.