Manual or Autmatic better and why

[MercuryT]

Ok I'm bored so thought I'd start a thread that my mates and I regularly argue over.....ha

Do you prefer manual shifting or modern quick autos with paddles etc?

To be honest. I'm unsure.

For a Sunday drive i prefer Manual. Love the connection with box and engine......full control, pure.

Then in peak hour (most of my driving) i love my 6 speed paddle DSG as chuck in auto and forget it, but when traffic opens still enjoy shifting as it holds to red line etc.

My last car had a HD clutch and damn exhausting some days, stop start and gone 100metres!!....Haha

So what's your preference?

[Franco Cozzo]

Autos for cars with forced induction - they're faster and there's no doubt about it.

If you've got something like an NA V8 you can't beat the manual experience.

I distinctly remember driving someone's BF XR8 with the ZF and thinking this thing really needs a manual box with the characteristics of that engine.

But if it was an XR6T - ZF all the way.

[MercuryT]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Autos for cars with forced induction - they're faster and there's no doubt about it.

If you've got something like an NA V8 you can't beat the manual experience.

I distinctly remember driving someone's BF XR8 with the ZF and thinking this thing really needs a manual box with the characteristics of that engine.

But if it was an XR6T - ZF all the way.

Sorry. Not a fan of ZF.

Kept overriding me in manual mode........hated it frankly as seemed useless compared to a real manual. My Dad's Audi also overrides whenever it feels like it.

No doubt quicker in Auto "leave it alone" form as such a great auto box.

DSGs are great as basically don't interrupt unless necessary. I love mine daily but miss a manual on days off.

Still yeah a manual stick if no traffic existed no doubt.

[Grippy]

Auto for daily use, manual for everything else.

I have a BA F6, and rowing through the gears getting back on boost with the T56 is a heap of fun in a Barra turbo.

[mad2]

currently have a BA & 4sp auto which is nice for 'normal' driving but hopefully going manual (only 5sp) before i get too old lol. driven most over the years but have a bit of a soft spot for driving a manual.

but everyones differant

[falconhell74]

In this day and age auto's go quicker but manuals are always more fun to flog
So manual for me

[roKWiz]

Auto is nice in the van (not my choice) and may change one day but I like all my trucks having manuals, nothing like mixing the soup bowl.

[Franco Cozzo]

Everyone loves DSGs until you have to replace the box

[MercuryT]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Everyone loves DSGs until you have to replace the box

I'd just buy another car. Sell mine for parts.

Franco ZFs are hardly cheap either and not as good.

My friend (I tried to help) just put a new one in.

10K. Now has a cooler.

[MercuryT]

Back on point.

Manual or Auto.

Daily.

[nitro50th]

If I was living in the city I'd have an auto for the daily and manual for the weekender. I drove through Melbourne in stop/start peak hour traffic with a manual and it was a killer.

But I live in a rural area so have manual in both. I've had a few auto's and got bored with them pretty quickly. Luckily we drive the wife's auto if we go to the city now.

Manual all the way.

[MercuryT]

Originally Posted by nitro50th

If I was living in the city I'd have an auto for the daily and manual for the weekender. I drove through Melbourne in stop/start peak hour traffic with a manual and it was a killer.

But I live in a rural area so have manual in both. I've had a few auto's and got bored with them pretty quickly. Luckily we drive the wife's auto if we go to the city now.

Manual all the way.

Yep great post.

Until manual testedin peak hour I loved it.......ended up hating it!! Not a ZF fan (manual shift way overridden) so moved on.

But manuals by fat most enjoyable i agree in right conditions.

[Citroënbender]

“Better” is a subjective, divisive term. Scrunch or fold?

I prefer an automatic with at least one overdrive and a lockup converter.

[five 7]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

“Better” is a subjective, divisive term. Scrunch or fold?

Definitely fold theres more control.

[MercuryT]

Best manual I ever drove was a 90s Mazda Mx5.

Damn that felt sweet.

[NX74205]

Depends on the car. I like luxury cars more than performance cars, and I couldn't imagine a manual box with one of those luxury barges. It just wouldn't work.

But for most everyday cars, I don't see why it can't be a manual.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by NX74205

But for most everyday cars, I don't see why it can't be a manual.

These days probably cause most don't know how to drive one.

manual, city or country any day.

[Ford17]

Always have had manuals, but for an auto BA turbo.

Found myself constantly fiddling with the shifter's manual mode, as if trying to give my left hand something useful to do.

[1970XW351]

Having had a manual XW since I got my licence with a few slight dalliances (all manual) it is only in the last four years I have had an auto BA and I am not impressed by the thing at all. It is all too quick to jump up a gear but finnicky about kicking down.. Like you'll push your foot down a bunch and it will continue to lug along in top gear but be picking up speed, then you squeeze down just a whisker more and suddenly it's screaming it's heads off two cogs lower, somehow going slower until it sorts itself out again..

Whereas in a manual you are in the right gear at all times, compression braking to slow down and all the perks when it comes to taking off vigorously. As for stop go traffic, I used to get stuck for up to an hour at a time in barely crawling (mostly not) "traffic" when they were upgrading the Ipswich motorway out of Brisbane years ago. It certainly didn't kill me, or make my life miserable in a manual. I think as a people, we need to toughen up a bit and not look for the easiest way all the time.

Cheers, Tony

[MercuryT]

Originally Posted by Ford17

Always have had manuals, but for an auto BA turbo.

Found myself constantly fiddling with the shifter's manual mode, as if trying to give my left hand something useful to do.

It's a basic box the BTR 4 speeder but is better in manual mode than a ZF imo. The former ok the latter horribly annoying.

[Ford17]

Originally Posted by MercuryT

It's a basic box the BTR 4 speeder but is better in manual mode than a ZF imo. The former ok the latter horribly annoying.

Interesting to know.

The 4 speed auto looked pretty cool in the "Can't get enough of this" TV ads.

[MercuryT]

Originally Posted by Ford17

Interesting to know.

The 4 speed auto looked pretty cool in the "Can't get enough of this" TV ads.

Mate I've driven both a number of times and there is no doubt the ZF a far better box. Runs beautifully in auto mode, makes the 4 speeder look as aging as it is.

I just hate it's "manual mode". Seriously it just does what it wants and that really annoyed me! ha . Just constantly decides what it wants to do, leave at high revs in 3rd then sure enough, 4th it is........

The DSG in mine has overidden once in over a year.....as I was redlining it and it said "enough".....ha. Both pull up to a stop themselves but that's ok as actually ideal.

[JasonACT]

Originally Posted by MercuryT

...leave at high revs in 3rd then sure enough, 4th it is........

High revs in 2nd gear is ~110kph in my 2012 XR6T with a ZF. Mine has never changed up on its own in manual mode - ever. Hits the rev limiter and then you simply slow down a bit. It changes down gears though as you slow down, but only as far back as 2nd, never back to 1st while in manual mode.

I only ever read about one other person who complained about the ZF and how it shifts. I reckon you (both) drove a crook one.

[JC]

Originally Posted by MercuryT

It's a basic box the BTR 4 speeder but is better in manual mode than a ZF imo. The former ok the latter horribly annoying.

I don’t know how you were using your ZF in manual mode, but I’d guess at “incorrectly”. The ZF holds gears until you change, unless you come to a stop, where they will change to 1 as you go under 20kmh. If you then forget to change gear on take off, it will bounce off the limit, just like a manual, and does it in every gear.

There is also a function for emergency kickdown, so if you’re in manual mode and in say 5th and you for some reason forget and need to get down gears fast, you punch the throttle to the floor and it will then change down, and guess what, it will hold the new gear until you change.

There are protections built into the box to stop you making stupid downshifts (like 1st at 100), but if you give it the command to do so, the box will wait for the car speed to drop sufficiently to select 1st. That is not an error - it protects the box, the engine, and stops the car swapping ends unexpectedly. Of course if that was your goal, then you may think it’s stupid, but then I’d say that sort of driving is stupid.

If your ZF didn’t do these things, then there was a problem with your ZF, but not all ZFs, so your comparison is flawed IMO.

[mick taylor]

JC That's right a auto normally has a safety point to save the auto from being destroyed, so it will not let one drop back to 1st say at to high a speed, not to mention that this maybe a safety setting for your average driver, who could loose control or be overwhelmed if the auto kicked back to 1st say esp on a wet road.

My wife had a VS V6 Commodore the auto did everything fine, but not for me I could not live with that myself as I want a gear I demand it to be so.

So if I had to drive a VS V6 or V8 auto myself I would have to modify the auto and the only thing that I would change with that type of auto is I would leave all alone bar for when I use the T Bar, so that it will go back to 1st under 60KM/H such will not harm the auto at all but give me total control over the car as I will be happy with, I do not know how many times I would try and make a manoeuver only to be greeted with 2ed gear at say over 45KM/H and I would be like FFS ! bloody autos are a pain ! and this is the key point of total hatred for the auto that will over ride your demand.

If I held the T Bar in 1st it would change up to 2ed regardless, I was fine with that, because it needed no more that 5500rpm anyway.

[Ben]

I can confirm manual v8 is fun out on the roads doing essential things.

[stevanford]

Depends on car and on use. I'd argue that most modern performance car are almost too fast to use a manual gearbox for performance use.

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[CyberWasp]

Manual all the way.
I actually like the deceleration characteristics of being able to go down through the gears for corners, roundabouts and braking ect.
Brake pads and rotors last heaps longer and you get less brake dust to clean off the wheels.

[kevino]

Originally Posted by CyberWasp

Manual all the way.
I actually like the deceleration characteristics of being able to go down through the gears for corners, roundabouts and braking ect.
Brake pads and rotors last heaps longer and you get less brake dust to clean off the wheels.

Yes manual for me. There is no extra cost for say a 60000 automatic service. No risk of the power shift/dsg/dual clutch/cvt auto blowing up at 115000 say with a 4 k cost.
My brakes never need changing till 150000 as I do mainly freeway kms and use the gearbox for braking in many circumstances say exiting the freeway on a horseshoe curve. In an auto you have to use the brakes.
Ditto for a winding road. With a manual box the driver controls the car.
With an auto the car controls the driver.
But driving as as a commercial driver auto thanks. The manual box is pretty fatiguing in a 12 hour metro driving shift.
Anyone from Ford reading. Improve your sales on S A Focus base models and Acive bring in a manual.

[cheap]

I think you'll need to differentiate between traditional torque converter auto and dual-clutch (or solenoid activated clutch).

If it is between Manual and Traditional Auto - Manual every day.

If it is between Manual and Dual Clutch - probably a DC up until the moment the cost of repairs hits, then I'd wish for a manual