Poll: Poll please: Do you drive an auto or manual car?

[Morba]

Notice there are a few other auto drivers on the forum now.
Can we have a poll to see the sort of split between the 2 transmissions.

for the sake of the poll, auto = any car without a clutch pedal.

 

[Morba]

i care about driving and i have fun in my auto

mickey_d, zip isnt UK ;]

 

[Morba]

I drive a manual.

As I drive small engined shopping cars its the obvious choice but if I had a car that suited an auto gearbox and it didn't sap too much power or economy then I would consider it.

i would prefer smaller cars being auto tbh, you dont buy one for its 'power' or 'economy'.

 

[Morba]

The mrs only has an auto licence though.

im in the same boat and for the mo both cars have to be auto :<
tho tbh i dont mind

 

[Morba]

Long distance cruising in a manual is easy, just get it up to 5th and drive. There is no need to touch the gears unless you have a really sharp bend a really slow car in front or if you have to over take. Its not really that much harder

not sure if its the same in oz, but motorway jams etc arent uncommon here.
i generally hit a few when doing a 300mile journey, its in the tailbacks n stuff that an auto becomes priceless

 

[Morba]

always been odd as what to class mine as , obviously is a manual based gearbox but as it has no clutch pedal some may class it as an auto

certainly would not buy a conventianal auto

yeah, thats why i put the stipulation of no clutch, for those with SMG etc

 

[Morba]

yep , saw that but I don't class mine as an auto , SMG always causes confusion especially come insurance time

how is it classed for insurance and license?
do they class it as auto so its covered under an auto license?

 

[Morba]

Manual.

Ill be sticking to manual for a while, although Auto does tempt me as I sit on the M3 every morning in a queue.
The cost of repair/replacing the box has always put me off Autos.

so so true :/

 

[Morba]

last time I drove an auto, its was in a merc A class and had this rubbish auto box, but you had to change gear like a manual, but without depressing the clutch as it didnt have a clutch pedal

probably the worst car I have driven in my life!! Then I forgot about not having a clutch and did a double footed brake infront of uni.....was embarassing to say the least.

semi auto box, you prolly didnt realise there was an option to put it in fully auto mode.

 

[Morba]

I have driven both manual and automatic cars and as a result am finding the choice of transmission for my next car rather difficult.

I've driven several BMW's with the Steptronic gearbox and actually, it's really rather nice. In automatic mode, the cars are a pleasure to drive around town. It really takes very little effort at all and makes traffic far less tedious.

It also means that when you engage sport mode and stamp on the accelerator pedal at the traffic lights, your car does 0-60 in the time the manufacturer states, every single time, with no brutal clutchless gearchanges required.

And then when you get out onto the open road, slide the car into Steptronic mode. This then gives you manual control over the gearchanges and it is actually very good - it changes more or less when you ask it to, and will hold the car at the redline for a while but changes up of its own accord if it thinks you've forgotten. Excellent.

But... the downsides. Firstly the fuel economy is often considerably worse with the automatic version, secondly there is the worry of repair costs should the box fail - a replacement Steptronic gearbox costs thousands and thirdly although Steptronic is good, and it offers you manual control...

... its not a manual. It comes oh oso very close but just isn't the same as nailing the perfect gearchange coming out of a corner.

Plus you need a proper engine with proper power otherwise autoboxes just suck, and the box needs to be decent. A 2.5 V6 Mk2 Mondeo, for example, a reasonably light car with a potent 170bhp V6, has its performance crucified by the autobox, it's slower than the manual 2.0 16v. As for autoboxes in small engined cars, waste of everyones time.

go fox!
auto convert