Only one EV charger at home?!

I'm a Brit and prefer autos, I see no point in doing mundane things like changing gear. But there aren't many about here. I've owned 3 autos and 9+ manuals.

It's shocking how stinky those old cars are.

My womem insisted that I get an automatic. Manuals are hard to drive on the hills here.

It's an Audi 6-speed with the clever dual-clutch Borg-Warner transmission. I grudgingly admit that I like it.

Frankly, manual transmissions are obsolete technology, like points and hand chokes and crank starters.

You lack Soul. (Kia and otherwise.)

My wife usually has automatics, but I’ve always had stick shifts. Apart from parking valets and traffic jams, they’re perfect in all respects. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Nope, don't do the best cruise control properly.

I like the Audi 6-speed transmission. It has no mushy torque converter, which is the bit I don't like about automatics. Engine to wheels is nicely low-impedance.

I can shift it manually, which I do sometimes in the mountains. It shifts incrementally, like a motorcycle.

My 2 litre Polo is similar, as was the previous Golf R. Excellent gear change action.

I drove a 1936 Standard 14 once, all the car brakes had leading shoes, so when I shot backwards during a 3 point turn and braked nothing happened and I collided with a parked car.

I disagree.

For years, I have driven a manual car, but in recent months I have been mainly driving a BEV, which is very nice to drive, still with occasional use of a manual car, which I have remained perfectly happy to drive.

For the past few days I have been driving an automatic (a hire car while attending a funeral in Ireland) and I have remembered why I disliked them after previous experiences.

Pulling out of junctions or onto roundabouts meant waiting for bigger gaps, as it changed gears and failed to accelerate for a time, before it sorted itself out.

Overtaking meant beginning to accelerate up behind something and then seeing if it was safe to pull out, rather than the other way around, due to the extra lag delaying the start of accelerating.

Instead of dropping to a lower gear for better acceleration, it dropped and then, as I continued to accelerate, dropped again, gaining little speed, but revving the engine madly.

I found that I was having to modify my driving, as it fought against me. That has never been the case for any manual or for a BEV.

You don't get that with best automatics.

Was it a turbo?

Was it a CVT? The AT in my Toyota doesn't behave like that.

That can be a problem. Try applying the brakes and then giving it some hot pedal. Usually that forces a kickdown. Or engaging 'sport' mode if it has one. Or using manual override.

Mine is fine for accelerating from rest *unless I have to abort the manoeuvre* Then it can take up to a second to sort itself out collect the right gear and get the turbo spooled up.

Sport mode sorts it out. As does using the paddles

It wasn't that sort of lag (which should have been compensated by it being a hybrid anyway), it was much more a case of dropping into too low a gear and revving hard to no real effect, before changing up again to actually gain some speed.

Whatever, it was horrible to drive.

No, it had distinct gear changes - and a display on the screen of which of the seven speeds it was in.

Sport mode did help, but it still bogged down at inopportune moments.

Kickdown actually seemed to be part of the problem, it was kicking down to such a low gear and staying there so long, that the engine was revving madly, without actually getting much change in speed.

No paddles for the driver to choose a gear.

I'll just stick to my manual car (just a bog-standard 1.8 Zafira) or our BEV (instant acceleration and no gear changes).

My son bought an auto (CVT) Civic, as he does stupid mileage. 30k plus a year.

It does the job, it's reasonably economical, it will accelerate when you ask it to. It's got radar cruise control so it will just keep a steady distance from the car in front in stop start traffic.

And it's boring as *****.

Andy

Many years ago I had an automatic Cavalier. I didn't like it, but it didn't behave like that.

Sport mode though was a waste of time. It made it hold a lower gear when on intermediate throttle settings. Floor it, and it would change down anyway and run up to the rev limit.

I'm surprised that they've got worse over the years.

Andy

I suspect the many cars, especially turbos, are programmed to cheat emissions tests. Driven like grannies, they pass. That's why there are so many 2L turbos that, eventually, are sort of driveable.