After nearly 10 years of various Volvo I .shift , Iveco euro/tonic ,vehicles my company hired 2 DAF CFs ,410 engines , manual boxes etc etc , and given one to drive for 2 days . What an absolute pleasure to be given a truck which was so easy to drive , where I was able to choose which gear to select etc etc . My company run mainly at 44tonnes GVW and our work involves C/D work in city centres . I was able to negotiate rush hour traffic without any problem compared without the usual drama of a semi/automatic . Dont get me wrong I can see in some instances automatics are very desirable for light laden vehicles , or on depot to depot trunking etc . Overal I was very but very impressed with the basic DAF and would be very happy to drive one all week .
Couldn’t agree more, superb drivers truck, always in the right gear every time…well if there’s a driver at the wheel.
I spent the first two years of my driving in an auto XF105, only hauling light bulbs and fittings, it was brilliant.
Now I am usually 44t most of the time and usually drive a manual…My heart sinks when I get an auto, no matter which brand it is…Manuals are definately better when fully laden.
vario is where it’s at, when it comes out in trucks
stevieboy308:
vario is where it’s at, when it comes out in trucks
Hope you don’t mean Variomatic, as fitted to Daf cars in the 70’s, basically a pair of rubber bands similar to a belt drive from a 1950’s tractor to an implement.
Daresay they’d still manage to have at least 4 ECU’s fitted to keep the belts in trim.
The auto box is realy good in my renualt it just like my planner and has no idear what iys job is. Autos are rubish im on container work and the thing dosnt change down fast anough on hills give me a manual any day.
id take a manual anyday as well.
I’m driving a auto MAN, not a bad motor but i feel more in control in a manual
Manual gears have been fitted to trucks since the age of steam, autos have been fitted for a while but have only sold in larger numbers in the lat 10 years
at this stage it is not possible for autos to be better than manuals, that being said autos have a place in fleets where todays driver is unable get decent fuel figures with a manual box!
when the vehicle reaches end of its life manuals are worth more money every time as autos dont export well, when it comes to me as an o/d operating and repairing a maual is simpler/cheaper
Ah Ha…Shugg…the pleasures of driving a truck with a proper gearbox eh? 
Angus25:
The auto box is realy good in my renualt it just like my planner and has no idear what iys job is. Autos are rubish im on container work and the thing dosnt change down fast anough on hills give me a manual any day.
slip in manual mode and downshift when you want?
The problem, from what I understand, is that manual boxes were too difficult for many ‘drivers’ to operate properly. The ‘big fleet’ buyers (ie supermarket fleet buyers) started demanding auto boxes to get consistent fuel milage from their fleets no matter what quality of driver they were using. That would give them easily predictable fuel costs, so they could predict full life costings down to the penny.
Because these fleets buy trucks by the 100s, they are able to dictate (to a certain extent) the specs they want from their suppliers.
It then became more economical for truck builders to put auto boxes into everything they built. So these days a manual box is an extra cost option in most models.
Even the Merc’ Telligent, the auto with a clutch pedal, is now an extra cost option.
It even costs more to service a manual clutch, apparently. I actually liked that box. The computer took any effort what-so-ever out of gear changing, but I chose when to change gear and what gear was selected. Not that there’s much effort involved in changing gear manually, but you would think so the way magazine road testers would go on about it in their write ups.
Truck auto boxes are not at all the same as car autos.
A truck auto still has much the same gear box as a manual truck, it even has a clutch. The main difference is that a computer does all the gear changing. The thing is, a computer/auto box hasn’t got any eyes, so it can’t see a hill coming, so it won’t knock it down a cog and pre-empt a change half way up the hill. The same thing with roundabouts and junctions etc. This is why we are still there, to attend to the steering wheel and to be the eyes for the computer/auto box, to tell it what gear it needs for these slightly more complicated situations.
Of course there are fleets where they don’t even trust us with that much input, so they spec auto boxes with no driver input what-so-ever, other than choosing forward or reverse. They probably get these boxes even cheaper and a penny in the bank is better than 2 pennies that a decent driver might save them, because a poor driver might not.
really ? 
this again ? bugger i cant find a yawning smiley 
the biggest problem with automated manual gearboxes (not automatic gearboxes) is the driver, simple as .
I still cant understand the perception of a manual gearbox makes you a better driver or have more control ,some ‘auto’ boxes could still need some refining , but the i-shift is probably the best out there at the moment, & the rest arn’t really that far off.
shugg:
What an absolute pleasure to be given a truck which was so easy to drive , where I was able to choose which gear to select etc etc .
having driven i-shift & the like for the last 10 years , you would know there is a manual option for you to choose any gear you like
shugg:
I was able to negotiate rush hour traffic without any problem compared without the usual drama of a semi/automatic .
Drama ?
so instead of pressing the throttle every now & again you had to push a clutch down, select a gear & let the clutch out every two -three minutes every time you needed to move 10 - 15 ft ? in rush hour traffic. good luck with that hip replacement
i drive farm delivery in some of the tightest , dirtyest, sliperyest places & conditions any of you are ever likely to encounter, & i can do these deliveries in 32t GVW 8 wheelers & 44tGVW artic alike with an indifference as to wether it’s an ‘auto’ box or a manual. It has in the past on here been said that the auto drivers arnt as good as their manual counterparts due to driving auto boxes , well what about the few of us who manage to drive one as well as the other , does that make us better than the rest ?
i read soooooo many threads about manual vs auto the impression i come away with is that drivers who create a song & dance about auto’s have doubt with their own ability as a driver 
sent from my PC whist drinking coffee
Apart from the I-Shift, I’ve not been impressed by any manufacturers offerings. My merc is lovely when loaded, but totally undrivable when empty. What’s the point of an auto if you need to drive it in manual half the time
Juddian:
stevieboy308:
vario is where it’s at, when it comes out in trucksHope you don’t mean Variomatic, as fitted to Daf cars in the 70’s, basically a pair of rubber bands similar to a belt drive from a 1950’s tractor to an implement.
Daresay they’d still manage to have at least 4 ECU’s fitted to keep the belts in trim.
Variotronic, I think the vario game has moved on, not a rubber band in sight! But it is an old design though.
the one thing that really puzzles and annoys me is an auto with a clutch pedal■■? why■■?
MolePower:
really ?the biggest problem with automated manual gearboxes (not automatic gearboxes) is the driver, simple as .
I still cant understand the perception of a manual gearbox makes you a better driver or have more control ,some ‘auto’ boxes could still need some refining , but the i-shift is probably the best out there at the moment, & the rest arn’t really that far off.shugg:
What an absolute pleasure to be given a truck which was so easy to drive , where I was able to choose which gear to select etc etc .having driven i-shift & the like for the last 10 years , you would know there is a manual option for you to choose any gear you like
shugg:
I was able to negotiate rush hour traffic without any problem compared without the usual drama of a semi/automatic .Drama ?
so instead of pressing the throttle every now & again you had to push a clutch down, select a gear & let the clutch out every two -three minutes every time you needed to move 10 - 15 ft ? in rush hour traffic. good luck with that hip replacementi drive farm delivery in some of the tightest , dirtyest, sliperyest places & conditions any of you are ever likely to encounter, & i can do these deliveries in 32t GVW 8 wheelers & 44tGVW artic alike with an indifference as to wether it’s an ‘auto’ box or a manual. It has in the past on here been said that the auto drivers arnt as good as their manual counterparts due to driving auto boxes , well what about the few of us who manage to drive one as well as the other , does that make us better than the rest ?
i read soooooo many threads about manual vs auto the impression i come away with is that drivers who create a song & dance about auto’s have doubt with their own ability as a driver
sent from my PC whist drinking coffee
Your company are very lucky to employ someone of your driving abiliy and calibre , however my post was meant as a personal observation only , I suggest you get out of rural Somerset where traffic levels are very light and try a city centre at rush hour and have to deal with kamikaze bus and taxi drivers among others . As a conclusion anyone who has the ability to use a PC and drink coffee at the same time must be slightly unhealthy and I suggest you visit you GP and have your medication checked , and by the way both my hips are in great shape .
shugg:
MolePower:
really ?the biggest problem with automated manual gearboxes (not automatic gearboxes) is the driver, simple as .
I still cant understand the perception of a manual gearbox makes you a better driver or have more control ,some ‘auto’ boxes could still need some refining , but the i-shift is probably the best out there at the moment, & the rest arn’t really that far off.shugg:
What an absolute pleasure to be given a truck which was so easy to drive , where I was able to choose which gear to select etc etc .having driven i-shift & the like for the last 10 years , you would know there is a manual option for you to choose any gear you like
shugg:
I was able to negotiate rush hour traffic without any problem compared without the usual drama of a semi/automatic .Drama ?
so instead of pressing the throttle every now & again you had to push a clutch down, select a gear & let the clutch out every two -three minutes every time you needed to move 10 - 15 ft ? in rush hour traffic. good luck with that hip replacementi drive farm delivery in some of the tightest , dirtyest, sliperyest places & conditions any of you are ever likely to encounter, & i can do these deliveries in 32t GVW 8 wheelers & 44tGVW artic alike with an indifference as to wether it’s an ‘auto’ box or a manual. It has in the past on here been said that the auto drivers arnt as good as their manual counterparts due to driving auto boxes , well what about the few of us who manage to drive one as well as the other , does that make us better than the rest ?
i read soooooo many threads about manual vs auto the impression i come away with is that drivers who create a song & dance about auto’s have doubt with their own ability as a driver
sent from my PC whist drinking coffee
Your company are very lucky to employ someone of your driving abiliy and calibre , however my post was meant as a personal observation only , I suggest you get out of rural Somerset where traffic levels are very light and try a city centre at rush hour and have to deal with kamikaze bus and taxi drivers among others . As a conclusion anyone who has the ability to use a PC and drink coffee at the same time must be slightly unhealthy and I suggest you visit you GP and have your medication checked , and by the way both my hips are in great shape .
MolePower:
really ?the biggest problem with automated manual gearboxes (not automatic gearboxes) is the driver, simple as .
I still cant understand the perception of a manual gearbox makes you a better driver or have more control ,some ‘auto’ boxes could still need some refining , but the i-shift is probably the best out there at the moment, & the rest arn’t really that far off.shugg:
What an absolute pleasure to be given a truck which was so easy to drive , where I was able to choose which gear to select etc etc .having driven i-shift & the like for the last 10 years , you would know there is a manual option for you to choose any gear you like
shugg:
I was able to negotiate rush hour traffic without any problem compared without the usual drama of a semi/automatic .Drama ?
so instead of pressing the throttle every now & again you had to push a clutch down, select a gear & let the clutch out every two -three minutes every time you needed to move 10 - 15 ft ? in rush hour traffic. good luck with that hip replacementi drive farm delivery in some of the tightest , dirtyest, sliperyest places & conditions any of you are ever likely to encounter, & i can do these deliveries in 32t GVW 8 wheelers & 44tGVW artic alike with an indifference as to wether it’s an ‘auto’ box or a manual. It has in the past on here been said that the auto drivers arnt as good as their manual counterparts due to driving auto boxes , well what about the few of us who manage to drive one as well as the other , does that make us better than the rest ?
i read soooooo many threads about manual vs auto the impression i come away with is that drivers who create a song & dance about auto’s have doubt with their own ability as a driver
sent from my PC whist drinking coffee
■■■■ right! If you find changing gear such a challenge that it makes your day exciting, or you can’t handle an auto box thats not my problem. Just get on with the ■■■■■■■ job it aint hard after all.
well i am sorry but i am a auto man but i have had a MAN and i found this wasnt very good at roundabouts and aslo the daf was very much the same,the renault seemes to be the best that i have found ,the scania auto i didnt like with the clutch pedal ,
yes some manual gearboxes are good but the erly daf were bad news on your shoulder when cold and also the renault premiuim has a horrid manual notchy arm renching gear change ,manual is ok with me as long as its a nice easy shift!
but i would always go for auto over manual on light work!
By coincidence rather than design I’ve not had either a manual truck or car since 2000.
Have driven manuals sporadically and don’t feel I’m missing much. Biggest thing you appreciate in manual is better control in slow speed manoeuvring but don’t have any problem with auto once you get used to it.
Best thing with auto is you can dedicate 100% attention to mirrors and pedestrians in busy city centres.
Mostly drive a truck with Astronic and find myself intervening very little beyond the odd kickdown when I get to a hill.