"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
No TC transmission I've ever driven jerks away from rest, unless faulty.

All of the automatic cars that I have driven in the 1980s to early 2000s (my
dad's Citroen GS with C-Matic manual-torque-converter transmission, his Ford
Sierra and Honda Accords, and various Fords and Vauxhalls that I've been
loaned) have exhibited the same behaviour. With the car stationary on level
ground and no brake on (eg just released footbrake) you apply power
gradually and suddenly there is a bit of a lurch as the car starts to move,
akin to letting a manual clutch in a bit too smartly. Most of these were at
least 15 years ago, but the most recent auto that I drove was a Japanese car
(I forget what, not not a Honda) which was probably a few years old when I
drove it a couple of years ago.

It's not normally a problem, except if you are manoeuvring very slowly and
precisely (eg to line up with a towing hitch), which required me to get the
engine going just fast enough to start the car moving and then hit the brake
to control the movement. With a manual clutch it is much easier.

But a modern automatic may well behave very differently. I doubt whether any
automatic that I have driven has had more than the standard 3 gears.

I wasn't particularly a fan of automatics, and then I had to endure the
journey from hell in a Focus that had a duff gearbox which kept changing
down further and further the more I pressed the power: on a motorway I could
have 50 mph in any of the gears, but it took a long time of very gentle
acceleration to get any faster than 50. And once I did, some pillock would
pull out ahead of me, causing me to brake, and then the process would have
to begin again. If I had not just begun a long journey home and wanted to
get back ASAP rather than have to wait for a replacement car to be found and
delivered, I would have run the breakdown number and got them to replace it.

Sadly that experience has rather unfairly coloured my impression of autos.