killsville:
Saaamon:
Its hardly a skill using gears…That sounds like an invite to start another ‘Twin Splitter’ thread!
Lol more than likely, im sure there is skill when it comes to them old fruity boxs but something like a 4 over over is hardly challenging. Its all about moving on and having an auto is one less thing to worry about, but they’ll always be those who’ve something to prove and bang on about real drivers use a stick etc.
On the whole, I think it boils down to what each manufacturer’s respective manual & auto gear boxes are like to fully decide which to choose.
My personal picks would be:
Man : Manual. 16spd.
Daf: Manual. 16spd.
Iveco: Auto.
Scania: New 2 pedal auto.
Merc: Auto.
Volvo: Auto.
Renault: Auto.
To be fair, each have plus and minus point and it can be a bit hard to choose. Think i’m leaning towards manual on the whole though as i’m driving the old Scania opticruise and it isn’t brilliant. Stick me in a manual & i’d probly be wishing for an auto though!
I drive a stralis and think the box is pretty ■■■■ to be honest, on the other hand i find daf auto’s are pretty good. I find the iveco stays in the same gear even if it not pulling and the revs are dropping, say up a steep hill, where as a daf is more up for dropping a couple of cogs.
I always knock an auto in to manual once i’m on the limiter then you can control when it drops a cog on a hill or pre drop a gear for the climb.
I think the problem most people have with manual gearboxes is that they are frightened of them.
A synchromesh gearbox is slower than a slow thing to change, whereas a constant mesh is very fast and needs to be thrown across quickly. That was the reason for the double declutch. If you hesitate with a Fuller it will grumble at you, it may even make you come to a stop. They simplified the twin splitter by removing 8 of these changes and put them on a button
Syncros are quite forgiving but make me cringe when someone is trying to force a gear and the synchro rings are screaming.
These automatic boxes are no different, but it takes the physical change out of the equation, which in turn makes the gearchange smoother.
As a driver of 8 months in a DAF auto I have to say I’m not looking forward to the snow. Bloody thing lurches and spins pulling away in the dry. Not ashamed to admit I’ll be asking for some tips from my colleagues in winter.
However. Every time I hit traffic I’m glad to have auto. As soon as I need to reverse and there’s a bump or gentle slope I hate it. As was said “kangaroo in reverse”. Mind you transit vans do the same when manual!
I’ve done the thing where I leave it in manual and scream along in 4th going nowhere. I reach for window buttons next to the seat instead of on the door. In there car I reach for the exhaust break and grab the wipers and fumble the dash when looking for the hand break and gears in my vectra. Makes me feel upper class twit of the year ready to run myself over!
