In article ,
NY wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
You drive a manual at present?

Yes. I like to control when the car changes gear so I don't get a sudden
surge of power if the car changes down when I wasn't expecting it - eg
in response to a slight increase in throttle where I'd stay in the same
gear in a manual.

A decent auto only changes down when you demand more acceleration from it
than it can provide in that gear. Not really come across one which does as
you've described.

DSGs are great for *performing* the gear change with a smoothness that
most manual drivers (me included) cannot always achieve. But I would
want to remain in control of *when* the gearchange occurred.

DSG to me is a single clutch box. They are anything but smooth changing.
The PDK (twin clutch) is as smooth as any auto - except if you kick it
down several gears. And if in that sort of hurry, smoothness likely
doesn't matter so much.

I've driven autos and found them difficult to predict - I find myself
*fighting* a gearbox that changes down to readily, so I back off the
power if it changes down unexpectedly, and the damn thing changes back
up - hitting the happy medium of moderate, controlled acceleration can
be difficult. Most of my auto experience was a long time ago in the
1980s, on my Dad's Ford Sierra and various Honda Accords, but I have
driven a few Ford Fiesta-size auto loan cars when my car has been in
the garage. .

Autos have come on a long way from those 3 speed days. And small modern
autos tend not to be state of the art. Being for a basically cheap car.

The first pretty decent auto I drove was the ZF 5 speed which arrived in
an early 90s BMW 5 Series. Modern TC autos for a similar cost car have
even more gears.

My PDK has 7. Seems enough. Very tall gearing for restful cruise and best
enonomy, and a low enough first for crawling in traffic and fast take off
from rest.

A similar TC box would likely be more refined for actually moving off from
rest - but with a slight MPG penalty. Only you can decide which you
prefer. But what the maker offers can make that decision for you. ;-)



All autos creep on the level, unless the brakes are applied. My PDK
works just fine provided you don't mind the brake lights being on all
the time. It even has a hill hold feature.

What it doesn't seem to like is the handbrake on and being in drive for
long periods on a hot day.

Which is why I would always put an auto into neutral if I was stopped
for more than a few seconds - exactly as for a manual - so I can come
off the footbrake and use the handbrake. I might even use park, but
only if I was stuck in a traffic jam with no chance of setting off in
the next five minutes - and only if the brief flash of the reversing
lights as I moved from park to drive wasn't going to scare the car
behind ;-)

The reverse lights on mine have a slight delay. They don't flash when
going from park to drive. Using park simply saves the extra operation of
applying the handbrake. As on most cars you have to apply the footbrake
before you can select drive anyway.

You'll probably say that I'm trying to drive an auto too much as I'd
drive a manual, as regards neutral and handbrake when stopped ;-)

And some modern manuals have auto parking brakes too. Not driven one,
though.

I think you'd be pleasantly surprised by a decent modern auto.

--
*I'm pretty sure that sex is better than logic, but I can't prove it.

Dave Plowman London SW
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