My car has a set of cheap consumable items designed for slowing the car to save wear on the expensive drive train

Different driving styles. You wont harm a warmed up petrol engine with revs etc.

Does a decent auto over ride Your use of paddles?

Only if you are going to the rev limit.

Autos for me are for lazy old rich people, stellar mile munchers or people who have tired of driving manuals

🙄

I don’t think they even teach engine braking as the “correct” way to slow any more do they?

Auto boxes these days with paddle shifts are pretty good and for most day to day driving are very convenient. We have two auto cars. That being said for engagement when having some fun in the car a manual is far superior and in tricky road or off road conditions I prefer a manual.

Less macho posturing on this thread than I was expecting

Better help to balance things out a bit then 😆

I cant remember what I was taught but I was told off for gear-skipping (2-4, 3-5 etc)

robhughes – Member
Kryton57.The wot button ?.Got an Msport five.Do you mean the button under the throttle or is there a nitro button hidden somewhere.

Yes that’s what I meant (Wide Open Throttle). Because the kickdown is electronic an therefore no resistance, I’ve met some that get to the WOT button, feel resistance and don’t push hard because they assume that’s the “floor”.

If we are doing faux-posteuring etc:

Autos are for women and Americans 😉

Hora, box doesn’t override paddles unless making engine labor in too a high gear and won’t let you to shift up if speed is too low for gear.

I use the paddles for engine braking, particularly when having fun very easy to blip down through each gear. Take one for a test drive I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Our BM is the same. It’ll only override you if you try and do something silly like not change up at the red line or not change down when the engine starts to struggle.

You still can’t beat a manual for ultimate involvement, but my driving is less like that these days due to the roads being so busy. I’ll admit that our 330 is no rocket ship, but there aren’t many places that you can really exploit the car. It’ll hit three figures with ease. For day to day driving, the auto is lovely.

What’s an automatic like? OK for women and vicars, but for me, complete sh*te – no thanks!

We have a 2011 Vauxhall Corsa Automatic and it’s a breeze to drive. So smooth and if I have music on I can’t even tell when it’s changed gear. Really smooth and piss easy to drive. Great after having a knee arthroscopy as I wouldn’t be able push a clutch down.

Mum drives a Audi S5 Auto and that’s lovely, goes like mad too 🙂

I’d never go back to a manual Car, motorbikes however should always be manual.

Blimey JCL, if you often forget you’re driving you need to assess whether you should be!

Autos for me are easily as distracting as driving a manual while talking on the phone.

It’s one step away from the Dogems.

An automatic gearbox distracting? Select D then drive surely?

Hang on though, a couple of days ago you said you’d had near-misses because you “forget you’re driving” in an auto, but now you find then distracting.

You’re not making sense.

We have an automatic shogun and love it. Mate had a Mitsubishi sports car and hated it , well he had it for 45 mins ,that was the time from swapping the insurance over at the house he’d just bought it from to phoning up with a claim from the third lane of the motor way, thought he’d show the people carrier behind just what it would do, dropped the “clutch” the rest is history!!! Luckily no one hurt beyond repair!!!

Now THAT’S a story (as long as everyone got better)! 🙂

Don’t have much experience of autos, but i’ve never driven one that’s made me go “hmm, that’s the way forward”. Last was a VW Polo hire car in Iceland, had that seven speed box thing and I really wasn’t a fan, although having a diddy little petrol engine that wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding probably didn’t do it any favours. I’m prepared to keep an open mind, but on what I’ve currently experienced, I’ll take the manual, ta. I like changing gear when you’re pressing on, picking your shifts and matching the revs is part of the fun, for my money. 🙂

Auto needs a good engine

We had a 1.3auto mazda 323 in nz – it was hopeless. Would change gear ( i mean make more noise) at random

Then we had a 3.5v6 shogun and it was much more refined.

Next auto i drove was my parents 300bhp merc coupe – it was belting fun even in the twisties.

Autos no longer need ‘a good engine’. It was the case with the old style torque converter autos, they were horrible with small, low powered engines, but DSGs (which are proper manual boxes) and CVT boxes work fine with small engines -in fact better than a manual as they will keep the engine in its power/torque window more of the time than a person having to frequently change gear to get the best out of a small, low torque engine.

Modern autos are great. I’ve driven a lot with hire cars and I even stopped bothering with the semi-auto steering wheel buttons buttons. Unfortunately an auto box wasn’t an option with my Car when I bought it, but I’ll never buy a manual again. This ‘driver involvement’ thing is a bit of a naff excuse these days. Driving modern cars with traction control, abs, stability control and adaptive suspension, on modern roads these days is not involving no matter what gearbox you’ve got.

I doubt those critising autos have tried the latest 7/8/9 speed dsg style units with different sport modes and paddle shifters. Ultra smooth and flexible enough to make manual shifting a redundant old fashioned relic. Perhaps vehicles this advanced/modern are not really in their price range, hence the fixation on old fashioned autos.
😆

Spot the troll

For those who are ignorant of these things (and there are a few on here) let me explain. A DSG or other dual clutch transmission is the same as a manual, more or less, with the wheels ljnked to the engine directly with cogs just like in a manual. Even the gear ratios are the same. In auto mode the computer shifts for you; it can do this much faster than you can (because of the dual clutch system) so the end result is the same as driving a.manual with a good driver, but with instant shifts. In manual mode it shifts when you tell it to, so is identical to a manual except with the instant shifts.

So there is no disadvantage with small engines whatsoever.

There are two downsides. It is harder to pull out of junctions really fast in some (but not all) versions. And if you do certain unpredictable things it doesn’t shift instantly, but it takes half a second or so instead.

In a word, shite. I really don’t like it, don’t feel properly in control without a clutch.

So how does a clutch make you feel more in control? With traction control on modern cars you’re not even using you’re clutch to manage wheel spin when you’re setting off from a standing start. I can guarantee your control of a car is not better in a manual in whatever driving test/challenge you would care to take.

The number of people who can’t use clutches is surprisingly high. Even amongst the macho petrol heads. They ride them at junctions, , can’t do smooth downshifts and always get the speed matching wrong such that you get a big deceleration under engine braking as they release the clutch, and change gear at completely the wrong time. Generally the majority of people would be safer and more in control without the distraction of a clutch and gearstick.

If you’ve a small lightweight Caterham or something, on a track with no other driver aids, then yes, a fully manual car is fun and challenging to drive – but you will be slower, these things require skill to drive fast. But not a modern car with electronic aids covering up your errors, on modern congested roads with speed cameras and lots of things other than driving the car, demanding your focus and concentration.

Yeah to be fair I haven’t driven a proper nice new auto. Just what you’re used to I guess.

My next car will be an auto. Changing gear on an A-B car is just boring unless you’re in a sports car.

I’ll leave manual to my motorbike. Car drivers don’t know what a responsive experience is until they ride a powerful bike. Cars just feel like a comfy place to get from A-B for me now, too many other cars in the way to use any ‘high’ performance.

Yeah to be fair I haven’t driven a proper nice new auto. Just what you’re used to I guess.

I sounds like you are referring to the tendency of old fashioned autos (like he ones you get in hire cars in the US) to almost de-clutch when you lift off. This is very disconcerting at first, because you ate expecting to slow down and you don’t, but it’s very easy to get used to. Any really good driver should adapt in no time 😉 just use the brakes more.

However once again DSGs don’t do this. They stay in gear until you stop.

I’ll never go back to a manual now, unless it’s a track car. Since getting the Jag, I’ve been converted. Town driving it much less hassle, as is any sort of stop-start traffic. Motorways are better to, as cruise control makes much more sense with an auto. None of this silly suspending cruise because you’ve changed gear. It just sorts it out. Overtaking is a breeze as well, can concentrate more on the planning of the move and knowing that when I push the pedal, it’ll go very fast and I don’t have to worry about shifting or missing a gear.

It’s very clever with kick down and engine braking. It doesn’t wait till you actually floor the accelerator, but measures how far and how fast you are pushing it down. If you push it to the floor reasonably quick, it’ll down shift one, if you stamp it down, it’ll down shift as far as it can. Likewise on braking, if you’re gentle rolling up, it’ll not bother down shifting until you’re at a stop, but if you stand on the brake, it’ll downshift like crazy and use the engine braking to help.

Couple all of this with a sport mode that hangs onto gears till it redlines, and a ‘Dynamic’ or ‘Naughty’ button as it’s colloquially known, that alters the car from having much softer power delivery, to ‘gimme everything now’, it’s pretty bang on. I’ve not found a situation yet where I’d use the paddles to put it in a different gear from the one its chosen.

I’ve not found a situation yet where I’d use the paddles to put it in a different gear from the one its chosen.

To be honest I rarely do, but in my car I do sometimes on windy roads. It doesn’t seem to know to hold a gear through a long corner, which one sometimes wants to do. However that’s what manual mode is for. Still loads better than a normal manual box.

Honda Jazz Auto.

Never go back to manual.

As said before unless a powerful bike like my Honda Hornet.

Done this:

Now do this:

As said before unless a powerful bike like my Honda Hornet.

First time I’ve read ‘powerful’ and ‘Honda Hornet’ in one sentence. 🙂

It doesn’t seem to know to hold a gear through a long corner

The Jaguar ZF auto which I think bensales is referring to uses the car’s giros, steering sensors and accelerometers to work out when it would be inappropriate to shift in a corner. Other useful features include the snow mode, where it starts in the highest possible gear and slurs gearchanges to help avoid losing traction, and the adaptive shifting which I think most of the better autos now have.

I can’t think of any reason to go back to a manual – it would be like going back to a manual choke or a hand operated ignition advance, both of which give you “more control” and both of which are rubbish.

I love autos. What’s the point I changing gear? No matter what the car you drive, most of your time is spent stuck behind someone or tricking around in traffic.

…and having just passed my A licence test for a motorbike, boy do I wish there was a DSG for motorbikes!!

Have a look at Hondas DCT system. That’s basically a computer controlled manual gearbox that you can leave to shift in its own or switch to manual.

Redthunder the bird on the left has hobbit feet and the one on the rightis preggers

Plus its Jaaaaz (man)

My Alfa has an auto box, with TCT (flappy paddle shift)
I wouldn’t dream of going back to manual now, it’s just a relaxing drive, no stress motoring.
Eventually manual gearboxes will cease to exist, efficient motoring is where the future is going

@hora

Dont care.

i did both 🙂

Well, test drove a 3series auto yesterday and………. I was totally blown away by the whole auto thing. Superstar and superb gearbox. Going to call up a garage today and see if I can get a holding deposit down on a 330 touring and hopefully go get it later in the week. Thanks for everyone’s comments!

What model/year of 330 touring? I’m looking at getting a late 2000’s 330D in the new year myself.

Great choice – you won’t regret it.

2006 so an E91 shape. I looked at getting a 330D when we last changed our car but an older (E46) shape. Wish I had now…

Been on my list for a while now so looking forward to BMW non-indicating-lane-changing ownership 😀