Auto everytime.
Harry Monk:
Tramper:
Anyone who has had to pay for the repairs to an auto box will, like me vote for manual every time!What went wrong and how much did it cost to put right?
The small (6"x 12" ish) black box which controls the clutch shifting. I read a post about Big Joe having the same problem, around £1200 + the vat 
When it comes down to it, they are too compicated for a simple opperation. Push foot down, hydralic presure shifts mechanical lever and clucth moves = Understandable therfore fixable without resorting to Main Dealer at exhorbitant prices - or - microprocessors and wiring in sealed boxes linked to everything else electronic, in some way or another, on the vehicle = Baffled and unable to fix without the intervention of Mr Mian Dealer, who is usually too busy fixing a large fleet to worry about your one vehicle, not really understanding that by him having Mr Stobbart/Dressingtable/wincanton etc etc vehicle in the workshop they have a 100th of their fleet off the road, whereas by one of mine being laid up I have a third of my fleet inopperative. 
Sorry, rambling on now
Lucy:
…An AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) is so called because you have a clutch bite just like a manual, except it’s on the throttle pedal. ……:
OK…well thats definatley thrown me 
Having never driven a vehicle with one can anyone explain that in basic terms?
Cheers, bullitt
Normally I would say Manual gearbox everytime. But I will make an exception with the I-shift, that is a very good auto and you can also persuade it to behave most of the time. 
Having never driven a vehicle with one can anyone explain that in basic terms?
Simple, really.
If you put the handbrake on and lift the clutch with a manual in a forward gear, the cab dips.
If you do the same in a truck with AMT and gently depress the throttle, the cab also dips. That’s your clutch bite.
If you take your foot off the throttle with the handbrake still off it’ll roll if the road isn’t level, hence you need to know about the clutch bite thing to do a hill start.
It’s one of the main reason people complain that these boxes don’t allow you to pull out quickly enough on roundabouts. They don’t have clutch bite. You can’t pull out quick in a manual with no clutch bite, either.
If the truck doesn’t have the starting gear selected when you want to pull out, try blipping the throttle. Usually hurries things up then you can get bite, hold it on the clutch (just like a manual) and be ready to go.
They aren’t like auto cars where you put it in drive and then just use the pedals to stop and go. You do still have to drive them It’s this throttle-based clutch bite which means that with a little practice of the old right-foot control, you can creep in reverse exactly the same as you would in a manual.
Works for me. 
Thanks lucy, got it now…sounds straight forward put like that.
Cheers, bullitt.
then you have the Actros Teligent with a ‘semi’ AMT box 
You still have a clutch, but a rocker switch rather than a stick.
It can either be used as a manual sequential gearbox or you can allow it to choose which gear to select when you decide to shift, it will also flash at you on screen if it thinks you should change gear and suggests which one its wants to select.
Fowler Welch Gateshead Depot has just sent New 3 Man Auto’s back as they were’nt happy with the 7 mpg fuel return they were giving.
Been following this thread with a lot of interest. I have only driven manual coaches and lorries but have been told that the majority of wagons owned by Saints are auto. I have driven auto cars but never trucks.
Do they creep? like auto cars?
Can you manually change gear (obviously without clutch)?
Any advice for hitching/unhitching trailers with an auto?
Cheers
John
Davey Driver:
Fowler Welch Gateshead Depot has just sent New 3 Man Auto’s back as they were’nt happy with the 7 mpg fuel return they were giving.
I know a company that get rid of their year old MAN 430 manuals because of poor mpg and got DAF’s instead.
MAN manual with the button on the stick.
Davey Driver:
Fowler Welch Gateshead Depot has just sent New 3 Man Auto’s back as they were’nt happy with the 7 mpg fuel return they were giving.
They should concider themselves lucky, mines doing 5.2 mpg
Do they creep? like auto cars?
well an auto car shouldn’t if it’s been adjusted properly, they seldom are though either through wear or because they wearnt checked properly at PDI.
Drove a 1970 Rolls-Royce, that didnt creep at all. When you stuck it in Drive it sat back on its haunches slightly, but wouldnt move until you touched the throttle.
ezydriver:
Auto or Manual? My vote goes for Manual.
mostly used gearboxes are both Manual.
The one has just a Computer who shifts the gears,thats why Eaton Twinsplit is not used,as Computer can’t find the Turn to get the Gear without syncronisation.
Lucy:
An AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) is so called because you have a clutch bite just like a manual, except it’s on the throttle pedal.
Lucy I’ve read your previous post on driving auto trucks.( and very interesting it was too, I only drive autos)
Are all auto trucks like this, with an electronically operated clutch rather than a torque converter ?
Do the differences between the different manufacturers have a bearing on the Drivers opinion then ?
I seem to remember the M.A.N. autos being slagged off in other post, but Volvos’ I-Shift sems to get a better review. 
Tramper:
The small (6"x 12" ish) black box which controls the clutch shifting. I read a post about Big Joe having the same problem, around £1200 + the vat
I’ll still go for fully auto though Tramps,
1: I drive the truck, and I stopped buying manual cars years ago .
2: All the truck makers will swear blind that an auto uses less fuel than the manual equivalent, a few years ago merc let some testers loose on a manual Actros, then with 10 minutes of mods converted it to fully auto and sent them on their way again around the same test route and lo and behold, a .5 mpg improvement. So on that basis £1200 to repair the box (had it not been covered by a warranty ) at 60,000 miles per year at 7.5 mpg instead of 7 mpg(£4.55 per gallon) will be repaid within 6 months .
As for auto’s being caught out on hills, remember, they can’t see, they still need guidance and preparation for whats about to come, until some one links them to a contour map by sat nav location they will always act as though on the flat.
So on that basis £1200 to repair the box (had it not been covered by a warranty ) at 60,000 miles per year at 7.5 mpg instead of 7 mpg(£4.55 per gallon) will be repaid within 6 months .
Add to that the saving in not having to replace the clutch through wear.
My vote goes for the manual box as I feel I have more control over the vehicle. Have been in an actros for a while now but have used fully auto semi auto etc etc but I prefer manual in lorries but unfortunately like most of us I don’t have much say in what the company wants to get in,and I would never have an automatic box in a car again all the while my old legs still work.
Both, auto for the motorway and manual, well semi-auto for keepin it goin on single carrigeway
I voted Auto, sometimes you just gotta put your foot down!!