Electro Pneumatic Selection
Dave, you’re almost right re the earlier ones, you pushed it to the left, then forwards.
Smcaul: you are dead right, it always used to pick a gear lower than ideal. I found the trick was to make sure the splitter flap was down, let it select a gear, then whip the flap up b4 you released the clutch.
I also used to find them rather slow at changing up if climbing heavily freighted………. and the newer versions aren’t that much faster.
Manwell: when slowing for junctions etc. you don’t need to push it forward aswell as pulling it back, just pull it back, then declutch when your ready and it will pick the (hopefully) correct gear.
How I drive a manual (in)telligent shift now:
To move off from lights: push lever forward (without using the clutch) once for 2nd (having selected high or low with the flap……high usually), twice for 4th. anything upto 30 seconds before the light goes green. When it does, declutch and the gear will engage.
Thereafter to go up the box I tend to drive it on the flap as its much easier to move:
If very heavy & on gradient: 1 flick, THEN declutch, up ½ gear
If solo: set off in 4 high, flick 4 times, goes to 6 high, another 4 flicks and your in top.
Moderate load:
Set off 3 low (one push forward of the selector and one flick up to get that)
3 flicks, goes up 1 ½ to 4 high
then whatever suits you/weight/traffic best, but basically
1 flick gives you ½ gear
2 flicks full gear
3 flicks 1 ½
4 flicks 2 gears
preselect everytime, then declutch when you want it.
The gear indicator panel will flash to tell you what you have selected.
I find 1 1/2 is usually about right… let the engine do the work its designed to do rather than doing it for it!
On braking coming upto junctions etc. just pull the selector back, (Now if your good, you shouldn’t now still be braking, match revs to roadspeed and declutch and it will drop nicely into the right gear). Yes, you can do it while still braking, but then when you let up the clutch, if the road is at all slippy, you are inviting a drive axle skid.
To make the exhaust brake work efficiently, (yellow band on rev counter) [ and preferably well up it] just keep flicking flap down, then declutch to engage the lower gear. If you engage a gear too low such that it would over rev the engine if you let up the clutch, the buzzer will sound to warn you not to let up the clutch in that gear.
Hope that’s helpful to some. Any further questions PM me or ask here so all can benefit from the and I’ll try my best to answer.
Now having said all that, last weekend I had a 2 week old 54 plate motor with the shift on the arm rest. That’s a different story all together so I won’t confuse the issue here. (Basically, I didn’t find it anything like as easy to manage as the 03 models and it often simply just totally ignored a request for a gear change)…. usually on a busy round-a-bout. 
Think Unintelligent shift would be a more accurate description.
Liberace: sticky fingers off this one…its taken me weeks to get the time to re-type it, but i’ve got the measure of you now mate, its produced and filed in “word”, so I have a copy. 
Why do you find an EPS box particularly useful when in crawling traffic?
Gardun: thanks for the tip on adjusting the wiper delay time…useful one that.
Regards, Jonathan.
Ex Trade Plater. Ex O/D. Ex LGV C+E Instructor. DSA ADI RoSPA Gold (car)
. Another tip, when coasting towards slowing traffic or a r/bout in a high gear and the coast is clear to accelerate, pull the lever back then push forward before pressing the clutch, and the box will select the best gear to continue to pull away in. Also beware when the engine brake is engaged, it will select the lowest gear possible on down shifts 
, and refuses to change up more than half a gear on upshifts 
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