Why didn't you tell me automatics are so good!

[Baxlin]

Originally Posted by Zebster

I guess I'm odd in that I genuinely don't care. I like the manual gearbox in my Volvo but I also really like the lovely DCT auto box in our Kia Sportage.

Meh.

I’m the same, really. Currently we have a CVT in Mrs B’s Nissan, a DSG in my Skoda, and a sequential manual in the JZR. Up to a couple of months ago I had a manual diesel Volvo, and prior to this, a self-regen auto Lexus.

In mpg terms, they rank from best to worst...

DSG
Diesel manual
Nissan and Lexus about equal.
Sequential manual. (But it’s a bike engine, and doesn’t come ‘on song’ until around 5000 revs, with the red line at 9500, and driven like I stole it, so it’s easy to see why it’s bottom of the list.)

Driving enjoyment? JZR and DSG about equal, but the Lexus had this brilliant screen which showed where the power was coming from/going to, but I suppose little things please little minds 😀

[bobmoss]

Thanks everyone for your comments, seems there is quite a range of opinions on this - I didn't realise my excitement would generate so many messages!

To me I think that auto and semi-auto gearboxes are going to be the future (especially when we move further over to electric vehicles) so I'm glad to be getting used to it now.

I've had 30 years using manual gearboxes so I don't think I'll forget how to use one. My feeling is that sometime in the future we'll only have manual gearboxes on "Classic" cars and we'll look back on them with nostalgia and fondness!

[Bonefishblues]

Originally Posted by bobmoss

To me I think that auto and semi-auto gearboxes are going to be the future (especially when we move further over to electric vehicles) so I'm glad to be getting used to it now.

Without question.

[heckflosse]

Quirky old gearboxes are part of quirky old cars. I dont miss the feeble slushboxes of old though. Many BW35s in old Westminsters etc that I owned played up or lost drive altogether. One in an auto Oxford was so slow as to be painful.
progress, eh?

[Whippy]

Manual gearboxes? Going the same place as cartspring suspension, halogen bulbs, carburetors, hood ornaments...the past.

[Polestar Pete]

The choke knob. Now there was a sign of the past, there really was an art to twiddling it to perfection.

[EssexExile]

Originally Posted by Polestar Pete

The choke knob. Now there was a sign of the past, there really was an art to twiddling it to perfection.

Then early automatic chokes just made it worse!

[Baxlin]

Originally Posted by Polestar Pete

The choke knob. Now there was a sign of the past, there really was an art to twiddling it to perfection.

Still have one on the JZR! (And on my mower......)

[Whippy]

I've got a Healey that's still running positive earth!

[Forg]

Originally Posted by Whippy

Manual gearboxes? Going the same place as cartspring suspension, halogen bulbs, carburetors, hood ornaments ...

... and fun.

There's a reason Porsche went to an entirely automatic line-up for 911; it was because PDK Porsches were (and are) faster than manual ones.

And then there's a reason Porsche went back to offering manual cars. It's because buyers were demanding to get some actual fun included in their well-into-6-digit-cost cars.

There's really no sensible reason a manual would be chosen over a modern automatic. Some automatics even hook into the GPS and know when you're going up a hill or down a hill, even use radar to look at the camber of the road.

One of my workmates has a 520i, I think it'd be close to 10 years old by now, and it's got the ZF 8spd slushbox. I was amazed by how well it anticipated what I was going to want it to do, and be in exactly the right gear to do it. And that's what all automatics are likely to be like on anything new that's more salubrious than a Yaris or Rio these soon, if not already.

Manuals are going to be killed by emissions requirements, not due to any technical lack-of-capability in automatic boxes.