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Automatic car: unexpected benefit

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135

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    #62
    Comhrá
    Registered Users Posts: 4,754 ✭✭✭Comhrá


    I have a 2016 Audi A4 1.4 TFSI petrol S tronic and I'd never buy a manual again. Smooth, very quiet and comfortable.

    150ps is adequate if not spectacular from the 1.4 engine but overall it's a very nice combination. A doddle around town in traffic.


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    #63
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Dero wrote: »
    Depressing? You're clutching at straws now. :pac:

    Heh, what's that?


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    #64
    Padre_Pio
    Registered Users Posts: 4,895 ✭✭✭Padre_Pio


    I love my auto.

    Thought I'd miss the fun of a manual, but honestly 99% of my driving is commuting or going to the shops. For that it's just so easy to use.
    My BMW has a sport mode which drops a gear and makes it more responsive, perfect for overtaking, as well as tiptronic, but I never bother with that.


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    #65
    BraveDonut
    Registered Users Posts: 1,020 ✭✭✭BraveDonut


    Got my first Auto in February and will not be going back.

    Coupled with the automatic handbrake option I sometimes forget how to drive her manual when I get into it.


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    #66
    corks finest
    Registered Users Posts: 8,628 ✭✭✭corks finest


    BraveDonut wrote:
    Got my first Auto in February and will not be going back.


    Automatic is the only way to go,,,,had a bad accident a few years back and without automatic then I'd have been snookered,school 13 km away , smallie would have had to get 2 buses etc


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    #67
    DaveyDave
    Registered Users Posts: 6,182 ✭✭✭DaveyDave


    I don't understand why automatics are so taboo in Ireland. Majority of small Japanese cars are CVT as standard but over here they're reserved as an option on the top spec model only.

    People in Ireland are very stubborn towards automatics. The GF is learning in one and is getting a lot of grief from coworkers and some friends, some of which don't even have a car or license.

    Anyone I know who has one swears by them. Close friend of mine didn't like the thoughts of them and ended up with a hybrid and loves it.


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    #68
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    To be honest, I would learn and do the test on a manual if only for the option later on.


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    #69
    Emmersonn
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,128 ✭✭✭Emmersonn


    Driving for 20 + years and never drove an automatic until I visited my son in Australia. Drove his automatic and loved it. I'm on my second now and love it. Would not go back to a manual.


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    #70
    Stallingrad
    Registered Users Posts: 4,138 ✭✭✭Stallingrad


    Another unexpected benefit if you do sports. Autos are great for when you break your left leg/knee/ankle, you can be behind the wheel much sooner than a manual, which can be invaluable from a work point of view. I tested this with great success recently.


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    #71
    BlackandGreen
    Closed Accounts Posts: 310 ✭✭BlackandGreen


    As a professional driver, you can pry the manual gear stick out of my cold dead hands before I'll submit to automatic bollocks.


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    #72
    Henry Ford III
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 17,619 Mod ✭✭✭✭Henry Ford III


    I drive both and I can appreciate the ease of operation for the auto box particularly in urban traffic.

    Given a choice it'll still be manual though. Much more involving.


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    #73
    corks finest
    Registered Users Posts: 8,628 ✭✭✭corks finest


    DaveyDave wrote:
    People in Ireland are very stubborn towards automatics. The GF is learning in one and is getting a lot of grief from coworkers and some friends, some of which don't even have a car or license.

    My teen will learn and drone only automatics,going for a little honda fit import for him when he gets his licence ( been practicing in his mother's old BMW automatica) in a car park( no other vehicles) since 15


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    #74
    mickdw
    Registered Users Posts: 23,260 ✭✭✭✭mickdw


    Autos are the way forward but saying that, I think it is a big mistake to be learning people to drive on automatics.
    There is an amount of feel and mechanical sympathy that comes with knowing how to drive a manual that is lost on autos.


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    #75
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    mickdw wrote: »
    Autos are the way forward but saying that, I think it is a big mistake to be learning people to drive on automatics.
    There is an amount of feel and mechanical sympathy that comes with knowing how to drive a manual that is lost on autos.

    Really limits you in terms of future cars too, just in case, or rentals


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    #76
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    My late grandmother drove a Hudson Terrane car, bought used post-war. It had crash gears, requiring double-declutching, and was a bit of a monster to drive. She taught my Dad how to drive in it, so he used to tell me all about it. By the time synchromesh gears came in, my grandmother had stopped driving, but I’m quite sure she wouldn’t have yearned for the old days of “more feel” in the gears and transmission.

    I’ve gone automatic for many years and now have a hybrid which is a joy to drive, has superb braking, reverse camera, and even warns me if I go past the speed limit and applies brakes automatically if I were to react too late. Cars are becoming ever more refined and easier to drive, and gears are most surely going to become a thing of the past except in a few select sports cars and retros, where drivers want that. Rental firms are slow enough to catch up, but thankfully each time I have have managed to get one, even out in the Hebrides. .


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    #77
    ?Cee?view
    Registered Users Posts: 2,834 ✭✭✭?Cee?view


    mickdw wrote: »
    Autos are the way forward but saying that, I think it is a big mistake to be learning people to drive on automatics.
    There is an amount of feel and mechanical sympathy that comes with knowing how to drive a manual that is lost on autos.

    You drive a manual.

    You point an automatic.


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    #78
    Tazzimus
    Registered Users Posts: 3,933 ✭✭✭Tazzimus


    Auto's always bored me, much prefer manuals. I like to be able to change gear when I want to, not when the car decides it wants to. Tiptronic is somewhere in the middle, some control but not complete control.

    They are handy in traffic, mind.


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    #79
    corks finest
    Registered Users Posts: 8,628 ✭✭✭corks finest


    Deleted User wrote:
    Really limits you in terms of future cars too, just in case, or rentals


    All future cars will be minimum auto


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    #80
    corks finest
    Registered Users Posts: 8,628 ✭✭✭corks finest


    zilog_jones wrote:
    I drove my Prius in the snow last year, "Eco Mode" reduces throttle response so it was very easy to accelerate gently without losing traction, and the traction control would kick in and cut power if I tried doing anything dumb. Continuously variable so no option to change gears anyway. Was easier than any manual in the snow.


    Same
    Honda insight CVT ,never again manual


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    #81
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    corks finest wrote: »
    All future cars will be minimum auto

    Not for the next 5-10 years so up to 15 for 2nd hand market


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    #82
    Odelay
    Registered Users Posts: 3,783 ✭✭✭Odelay


    BlackandGreen wrote: »
    As a professional driver, you can pry the manual gear stick out of my cold dead hands before I'll submit to automatic bollocks.

    They said the same about the steam engine.


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    #83
    Rodin
    Registered Users Posts: 3,130 ✭✭✭Rodin


    I want my car to accelerate when I want to, not having to wait for a kickdown.
    Manual is for proper drivers


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    #84
    DaveyDave
    Registered Users Posts: 6,182 ✭✭✭DaveyDave


    I don't think some people on here have driven a dual clutch or any decent auto setup.

    A good gearbox will downshift before you even have your clutch in.


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    #85
    zig
    Registered Users Posts: 1,206 ✭✭✭zig


    mickdw wrote: »
    Autos are the way forward but saying that, I think it is a big mistake to be learning people to drive on automatics.
    There is an amount of feel and mechanical sympathy that comes with knowing how to drive a manual that is lost on autos.

    True, but there will also be no need for that amount of feel and mechanical sympathy. It will just be a nostalgic thing for us old folk to moan about youngsters not having :D

    I’ve never even driven an auto but I gotta say this thread is tempting me!


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    #86
    Gonad
    Registered Users Posts: 654 ✭✭✭Gonad


    Whenever I drive an auto I always say I would never go back but then always seem to get a manual next . Have had 2 autos and much better drive . Especially on my big 7 seater


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    #87
    Dartz
    Registered Users Posts: 4,366 ✭✭✭Dartz


    The oulfella got an auto. Now he complains about the clutch in my car numbing his foot, and having to pedal it down the motorway rather than just setting cruise.

    OTOH the last time I drove an auto I was rolling to a halt at the traffic lights and plopped my foot on the clutch to let it roll to a halt.

    It stopped a lot faster than I meant it to.


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    #88
    Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime
    Registered Users Posts: 3,964 ✭✭✭Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime


    BlackandGreen wrote: »
    As a professional driver, you can pry the manual gear stick out of my cold dead hands before I'll submit to automatic bollocks.

    As a professional driver, you can shove your gear stick where the sun don't shine

    Been in the auto brigade a few years now, still drive the odd manual car, bus, truck and am always relieved to be getting back into an auto (any vehicle auto).


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    #89
    galwaytt
    Registered Users Posts: 12,761 ✭✭✭✭galwaytt


    Rodin wrote: »
    I want my car to accelerate when I want to, not having to wait for a kickdown.
    Manual is for proper drivers

    you've clearly haven't driven an auto in the last. ...10 years......all "autos" have a manual capability : some by lever, some by paddle, some by thumbswitch.

    There is literally no downside...

    he'll, I've just bought a dual-clutch 1000cc Honda bike as well.....same as "DSG" or "PDK" in VAG speak...

    Ode To The Motorist

    “And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, generates funds to the exchequer. You don't want to acknowledge that as truth because, deep down in places you don't talk about at the Green Party, you want me on that road, you need me on that road. We use words like freedom, enjoyment, sport and community. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent instilling those values in our families and loved ones. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the tax revenue and the very freedom to spend it that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a bus pass and get the ********* ********* off the road” 



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    #90
    Tazzimus
    Registered Users Posts: 3,933 ✭✭✭Tazzimus


    galwaytt wrote: »
    you've clearly haven't driven an auto in the last. ...10 years......all "autos" have a manual capability : some by lever, some by paddle, some by thumbswitch.

    There is literally no downside...

    he'll, I've just bought a dual-clutch 1000cc Honda bike as well.....same as "DSG" or "PDK" in VAG speak...
    You must not have driven a Renault auto recently so.
    By the time it changes gear, you'd have gotten out and walked there


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    #91
    Yakuza
    Registered Users Posts: 5,141 ✭✭✭Yakuza


    When I was starting to learn to drive, I thought autos were the preserve of fat cat businessmen in their jags and mercs (but to be fair, they mostly were in the late 80s!) Until my current car, Id only ever driven the odd auto rental and never owned one. Now that I do, I ain't ever going back!. A bit like electric windows :) It's 4-wheel drive so not worried about the odd dusting of snow we get here and I've the steptronic option (never used in 10 months of ownership) and Sports mode for overtaking (zero lag once selected). After about a week of ownership I was saying to myself that for the last 30 years I'd been manually changing gears, like an eejit :p:p:D


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