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        General >> Off Topic Subjects >> man or auto
        
(Message started by: big_neil on Apr 13^th, 2006, 10:22am)

Title: man or auto
Post by big_neil on Apr 13^th, 2006, 10:22am

did the latest 24v scorpio,s only come in auto. I,ve never seen a manual one. If so why?

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by Geoff_W on Apr 13^th, 2006, 10:39am

Neil,

Ford did not put a manual 24v Scorp in the 95 on range into production. A number of people have started threads about converting over to a manual, but technically and electronically the mountain is to big.

(Unless somebody finally went and did it ;D )

Only us poor plebs with weedy smaller engines (and diesels ;D ) got the choice.

Most manual owners will tell you the MT75 is pretty clunky/graunchy so you are not missing anything.

Geoff

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by Bren_K30 on Apr 13^th, 2006, 11:59pm

The advantages of auto become greater in proportion to the power under your pedal.

Now there's a statement to start off a lively debate.

Bren

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by Baz on Apr 14^th, 2006, 1:18am

I have had autos for ages now and have a 20 year old son who is learning to drive in an auto and has bought an auto Astra. My wife drives a new megane (shake that ass) cabrio that is an auto. I personally cannot understand why anyone would want to drive a manual car....all that pressing pedals and waggling sticks about........just push the button, move it down 3 clicks and press the pedal on the right to go. The one on the left stops you

Simple!!

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by Paul B on Apr 14^th, 2006, 7:29am

[]
Loads of people swear by manual boxes claiming they have control of the car in having one.
But these days, auto boxes are much better than they ever used to be.
The auto box on the Scorpio is fantastic when its working nice. And if you use it right, you still have control.

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by JohnJ on Apr 14^th, 2006, 12:04pm

To be honest I drove the Scorpio for 3 years and had to change and bought a 2003 tdci Mondeo and I liked the auto box in loads of ways, loved the kick down and the roar of the engine, you just knew you where pumping loads of fuel into the cylinders.

1 when the car was cold I found the box was holding the Scorpio back (something to do with the oil thickness or something) wasn’t to amused by the non-responsiveness of that. By the time it warmed up for me I was usually at the destination.

2 When travelling behind traffic at around 45-50mph the box was forever changing up and down so press the little green button and stay in third, revving unnecessarily burning up expensive fuel. They should have had an auto override to keep it in top gear so you could actually do 40mph in top gear; the engine was defiantly powerful enough to cope with that.

3 I like manual because I choose what gear the car is in, at 40mph I’m in 5th gear and the car has no problem with that, being ultra efficient thrown into the bargain. (But I don’t like the clutch as the left leg can get tired in heavy traffic.)

The best box would give you the delights of both worlds, Auto when your in lazy mode and don’t care and manual when you want all the control but without the dreaded clutch to wrorry about.

I know,
BMW, VW and loads of other car manufactures have come up with this.

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by Baz on Apr 14^th, 2006, 3:36pm

I find that driving in sports mode all the time tends to result in fewer gear changes as the box doesn't cahnge at lower revs.

Couldn't do with a waggly stick now though, despite the cost of fuel

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by Octavian_P on Apr 15^th, 2006, 8:10am

on 04/14/06 at 12:04:26, JohnJ wrote:

The best box would give you the delights of both worlds, Auto when your in lazy mode and don’t care and manual when you want all the control but without the dreaded clutch to wrorry about.

I know,
BMW, VW and loads of other car manufactures have come up with this.

Ford produces now a box called dura-shift with 5 speed. It's hybrid, half manual half auto. It has a selector with D,N,R and a manual position for it. In the manual mode the shifter moves up one click and down a click, just like haveing + / - . It's pretty cool, in some cases it eaven has paddles under the steering wheel like F1 cars.

PS: i saw this box on a new Fiesta ST that had a 2000 cmc engine and 140+ horses :o

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by Geoff_W on Apr 15^th, 2006, 1:09pm

I seem to remember Martyn Rowe mentioning at Harewood that there is a semi automatic version of the MT75 called the MT75E that is fitted to some versions of the Transit I wonder whetehr that might make a difference.

I wonder if that would retrofit to a manual scorp :)

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by Geoff_W on Apr 15^th, 2006, 1:12pm

And here is a link that talks about DuraShift

http://www.archersofashby.co.uk/Durashift/durashift_5.htm

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by Baz on Apr 15^th, 2006, 5:26pm

Karens new megane cabrio has a semi auto type box. Very similar to the one on the page geoff shows.

Not tried it yet, but you can change gear almost like a manual if you want to.....can't see the point of getting an auto and then turning that malarky on though!

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by Geoff_W on Apr 15^th, 2006, 9:19pm

Interesting point Barry, Ford Seat and VW fitted a tiptronic box on the Galaxy/ Alhambra/ Sharan and I guess that most people just leave it in Auto mode.

Thinking back to my mk3 I used to value being able to concentrate on the road ahead and let the box take care of itself, on reflection that is the biggest thing I miss on my Scorp, but the cruise control softens the blow ;D

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by craig on Apr 16^th, 2006, 8:40am

again,auto's any day of the week,the auto boxes now a days are a lot more reliable than ever if looked after,amanda passed her test in an auto as well,had to do it quickly,so that was the easiest option,and as we will have an auto "indefinately" job done.....
i know there are cars out there with unreliable auto boxes,but i think he majority are fine,10 years ago auto's were frowned upon,but now most new cars have the auto/tiptronic (or whatever) option,and as barry said,who in this day and age would weant to drive a manual anyway... ???

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by sector-9 on Apr 17^th, 2006, 12:30am

Must admit that driving autos has spoiled me and I actually prefer them to manual. I don't think you can beat the smoothness of an auto and of course they're great around town.

That's an interesting point though - why is it the big motorway cruisers that tend to be automatics, and the small city runabouts that are manuals?!

For motorway driving I'd have a manual - no point wasting fuel driving a hydraulic pump and being in a compromised gear ratio when you could easily drive a hundred miles and not change gear! For anything other than motorway I'd have an auto...

Darren

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by Bren_K30 on Apr 18^th, 2006, 11:00am

Oh those were the days. (Yukk) Who else had a Volvo 3 series with the Daf auto ****box in it?

The not so fond memories of looking in the mirror and seeing a load of rubber as the belts disintegrated, the struggle to replace the belts on your back trying to push the axle back with your feet, climbing over hundreds of scrappers to find half decent belts because new ones took weeks to get hold of.

But I still love my autos, apart from what I drive for work - coaches - give me manual every day.

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by PeteB on Apr 19^th, 2006, 8:59am

I'm a manual owner and I have to say its one of the nicer gear boxes I've used...although anything is better than a FIAT (Fix It Again Tony) :D

Pete

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by sector-9 on Apr 19^th, 2006, 8:08pm

The Rover PG-1 gearbox is lovely for quick, accurate changes. Unfortunately the diff. bearings are a weak point - yes, I speak from experience... :(

Darren

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by trogg on Apr 23^rd, 2006, 9:34pm

i like the idea of having a hybrid box it apeals to me to drive auto through rush hour in our town then when the occasion arises use it as a manual.

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by Geoff_W on Apr 23^rd, 2006, 10:23pm

Bren

Volvo got the technology from DAF (Variomatic)

Ford used a similar variant that they developed for the Fiesta

Allegedly could go as fast in reverse as in forward.

Geoff

Title: Re: man or auto
Post by sector-9 on Apr 24^th, 2006, 11:46pm

Though neither were very useful in the service bay! :P (the CTX gearbox had a reputation for unreliability).

Darren