Auto or Manual

What do most people choose for their 4x4 vehicles? Automatics or Manuals?

I quite like the Auto's. Easy to drive, good in traffic, easier for towing IMO. Off road I think they are good. IMO Auto's put down the power better through the torque converters. Easier to drive over obstacles and ruts. The down side is there engine braking on steep descents is not as good as a manual. And if you have a heavy right foot they can be less efficient.


Poll question is available would be good to see what is most common in the 4x4 & Motor vehicles.


TJ

never actually owned an automatic but have driven a few for extended periods and for long distance work I really like them, though it would have to be with a fairly big torquey engine.

However, I think I prefer a manual for most driving as you get to choose the gear rather than the vehicle tryign to pick the gear it thinks you want.

Chris:

I would disagree with your last sentence, particularly as auto boxes have come on in leaps and bounds in the last decade, and many have followed the model of the Mitsubishi Shogun / Pajero.
These were a revolution in their day, and most of the newer models from all manufacturers are not s good as the Shogun, i have automatic as per any automatic vehicle, manual tiptronic which allows me to change manually, and i also have the facility to hold it in a gear without the box changing. In addition if i am descending a steep hill and i touch my brakes with the lightest touch it locks the torque convertor, so a full manual transmission in an auto vehicle, it also locks the convertor automatically if you are hill climbing.Therefore it gives the driver total control.

Prior to owning the Shogun i was a manual for off road man, but the Shogun gives me this, and now i have got one i will not have another manual Shogun, and yes the thumping torque of the 3.2 is perfectly matched to the auto box s the vehicle was originally conceived as an auto, a manual box for the Shogun was an afterthought.
You do have to learn how to use the box correctly, but i love the ability to use 2H or 4H on the road, especially good in the wet.

I loved my 3.9 V8 Rangie with auto box, very smooth on road, although I would agree with Jas about the poor engine braking off-road. When I bought my present 200 Tdi Classic with manual I didn't like it at first,but of course within no time I got back into it. Overall I still prefer the automatic though!

Auto boxes have always allowed you to change gear yourself.

I think that it is easier to select your gear in a manual like Chris mentioned. It can be done in an auto but its not as effective when descending like I mentioned before.
Tip tronic is very handy. Esentially a manual and auto, good for towing.
I also agree with Assassin. The Shogun Auto box IMO was the first true seamless auto box, There are lots and lots of others but I do agree that Mitsubishi designed their shoguns around the auto box and not a manual. And its quite obvious when you drive one, its like one continues gear & very smooth. And i'm happy to say the mk2 auto box can be found in the Terry.

The ability to use 4wd with the centre diff open like the shogun, jeeps & toyota's and landrovers I think is great, I dont have the option in the Terracan, and its either in 2wd or 4wd spilt 50/50. I do use 4wd on the road in the snow or ice but at slow speed cornering you can hear the tyres make a funny scrubbing noise where the front axle is at the same speed as the rear. - I think...

TJ

gemini wrote:

Auto boxes have always allowed you to change gear yourself.

Yes, I realise my wordign wasn't great . What I meant to have said was more along the lines that I'd like an auto to stay in the gear I want it to. A lot of the older systems from what I could see, could be restrained from changin up too many gears but not held in a gear.

One thing on the engine braking, whilst I know it's never going to hold it back like a manual, what I'd found was that if you were to say approach the top of a descent under load and keep some revs, the torque converter was already up to speed a bit so didn't feel liek you'd rolled over the top in neutral Dunno if that's what you're meant to do but I found it helped.

Chris.
It's many years since I did an auto box course at Borg Warner. Yep the old three speed. The instructer shewed us how to change down into bottom gear. Me !! I wouldn't have the courage to flatten the throttle going down a steep hil, hopeing that the box would change down.

The auto box is only an update !! of the Wilson Pr-selector box which IMO was better to drive.
In 1961 ?? A racing driver called Hobbs developed a Mech a Matic gearbox. IIRC auto with gearstic control. It dissapeared from th scene shortly after a two page article appeared in Autosport ?Then a certain German manufacturer brought a similar thing out on their road cars.

I have the same problem at times. Getting the wording right.

Gemeni:

If you look back through the history of automatic / semi-automatic / fluid coupling / torque converter technologies, you will see there is really nothing new with any of them. Most are derivitives of older ideas, and all have been tried before, the real advances came with electronic control systems of the boxes themselves, and electronics generally on vehicles which allow many other influences on the gearbox to be dictated by engine load, speed, and even the angle of the vehicle itself.

BMW had a fully automatic or manual gearbox during WWII, it was designed for military applications, and never went into civilian vehicle production. MB also had a variation on this. Here in the UK companies such as Alvis, Triumph, Standard, Bentley and many more had fluid coupling and automatic box technologies which only today can be made to work as they were originally conceived, basically it came down to automation of vehicle manufacture to the high accuracy we currently have.
If we look back through history we will see many of the big named auto box or transmission specialists such as ZF, Borg Warner, Getrag, and Aisan Warner bought up many of the smaller companies to form conglomerates, and the only reason many of the smaller companies were bought as to obtain their ideas and technologies. It is also the reason much of the auto box technologies were suppressed until fairly recently in automotive applications, if we look to commercial or marine applications we see many of the current auto technologies have been used for years.

The only thing that I find limiting on an automatics is that on most older vehicles fitted with an overdrive for the first 3-5 mins of turning the key the vehicle overdrive will not engage. This is mostly on old design auto's like Terracan, Landcruisers, etc. I had it on both of these vehicles, at first I though something was wrong but after reading the owners manual it does state that this is a saftey feature to prevent engine issues with racing etc. Most modern 4x4's don't use an overdrive feature some even have 7 gears!

My old land cruiser also had a engine cool-down timer on it. After a 30 min+ journey, if you stopped and removed the key, the engine would remain running for 1 minute or more depending on time of journey. This old school design was intended to help the engine and turbo last longer. Not something that is a problem these days.

TJ