Auto or Manual

Diamondmaker

Just bought my 1st atoumatic after driving in the states. I thought...how handy fro dublin traffice.

I just had to think to myself why the hell would you ever drive stick?

Our man in Havana

Manuals are cheaper to run and repair. They use less petrol. Unless your driving a tank autos take the fun out of driving. Lazy persons car.

Litcagral

Yes, small engined automatics are very sluggish and not as 'silky' as larger ones.

Bond-007: Some models do not have the option of a manual. A manual gearbox in many prestige models would devalue the car and make it's resale difficult.

Squirrel

My friend's dad has a sweet 05 523i with the M-tech kit with the Auto box, bought in February. He's regretting not getting manual as he says it's not proper driving, it's too lazy for him.

Ernie Ball

Diamondmaker wrote:

Just bought my 1st atoumatic after driving in the states. I thought...how handy fro dublin traffice.

I just had to think to myself why the hell would you ever drive stick?

Because you enjoy driving?

Just a guess.

murphaph

I was a manual fan but auto for me now too. It's just easier in traffic.

Guy:Incognito

I got an auto a couple of weeks back and have to say I love it, not turning back now.

mike65

I've been test driving Merc e200 autos and I have to say I like the lack of effort!

Mike.

Ernie Ball

When did you all become yanks?:)

mike65

When the traffic became hell! All that stop/start does ones left ankle in.

Mike.

_Kaiser_

I love my Auto Mitsu Mirage

Johnny Storm

Auto all the way! Especially in Dublin traffic.

And for all these "real men" who think autos are for lazy people only - why don't you also get a car with no power steering, no power braking and no starter motor? - that'd be real driving! :rolleyes:

IMHO the real reason why a lot of people don't like autoboxes is that they've never tried one for longer than a 5 minutes test-drive.

signed

A very lazy person.

Diamondmaker

Looks like evryone who has gone Auto wont go back! however, everyone else gives iffy reasons against.
I should add its a 318 Ci with Tiptornic and when you kick it to Sports mode it will change gear approaching 6000Rpm!! Fun..
...and the manual mode allows you change gears at will with NO clutching at all obviously.The hassle of the clutch.
Ok the fuel consumption is apparently higher but what price your physical well being of your joints.
We are going to have so many hip and neck related troubles in our population in years to come due to hard city driving we have to suffer!
The advantages of a good At FAR FAR outway Manual.

Guy:Incognito

Diamondmaker wrote:

I should add its a 318 Ci with Tiptornic and when you kick it to Sports mode it will change gear approaching 6000Rpm!! Fun..
.

Yeah, mine has a sports mode that does that. havnt used it much as you can hear the car gulping petrol.

Diamondmaker

There is sports mode and the kick down. Push the acceleartor harder down than normal and it jumps down a gear, combined with the sports mode its head in seats stuff, RRooaarr...
The extra fuel is used because I go the LONG WAY everywhere now!:D

Yes we are becoming more American in every way and AT is just another way, I guess.
I would never do the SUV thing though...oops I may have turned a lot of my AT felloe supporters against me there!

Guy:Incognito

Diamondmaker wrote:

There is sports mode and the kick down. Push the acceleartor harder down than normal and it jumps down a gear, QUOTE]


Yeah, gotto love dropping a gear to overtake. I sometimes forget and the revs fly up.

Litcagral

mike65 wrote:

I've been test driving Merc e200 autos and I have to say I like the lack of effort!

Mike.

A larger engine would be even better. I find the E200 underpowered (IMO).

mike65

True but I have this thing about coughing up 750 euro a year for road tax!

Mike.

Diamondmaker

"A larger engine would be even better."........

Of Course true but you have to stop somewhere practically!

Personally I think a 2.2 would be all I would ever want but as soon as your there you are looking at a 2.5......etc etc....M3...M5...

There are so many peopleout there happy with 1.4 and 1.6..
Suckers..

kluivert

I drove a new 525i (diesel) auto and it was fecking greater the auto boz was lovely and powers of power, made driving so easy.

Then I drove a new 1.4 Astra auto and i couldnt get the extra bit of power compared to the manual for overtaking.

So autos are grand for bigger engined cars

Litcagral

mike65 wrote:

True but I have this thing about coughing up 750 euro a year for road tax!

Mike.

€750 wouldn't be too bad - mine is €1,109.

mike65

When unkel see this he'll top all of us!

Mike.

Lawdie

Ernie Ball wrote:

When did you all become yanks?:)

Most yanks don't have the traffic we have, to answer you question when it started to take 1 hour 20 minutes (or so) to travel the M50.

Ye, I'd Love to go back to manual, clutch first, roll three yards, clutch first, roll five yards, clutch first, then second, stop, roll ten ...

colm_mcm

A drive in a good automatic would dispel any doubts people have about control and power. most people seem to have an image of a 3 speed slush-o-matic box that takes 10 seconds to down shift and searches endlessy for the right gear.
Things have moved on.

junkyard

I drive automatic most of the time its just so easy especially in a bigger vehicle but if I want to have some fun you can't beat a manual gearbox.