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[Webby the Bear]

the best manual car ive ever driven was a mazda mx5. absolutely awsome car and it helped i was driving thru sunny texas at the time........ buuuuut while i was driving it thinking it was great, do u know what i really wanted to be driving? thats right a MUSTANG!!!!! 4get transmission (apart from the fact the auto gear stick in a mustang looks like it could launch several nuclear weapons lol) its the car that won my heart ; )

[Broomies Mate]

the best manual car ive ever driven was a mazda mx5. absolutely awsome car and it helped i was driving thru sunny texas at the time........ buuuuut while i was driving it thinking it was great, do u know what i really wanted to be driving? thats right a MUSTANG!!!!! 4get transmission (apart from the fact the auto gear stick in a mustang looks like it could launch several nuclear weapons lol) its the car that won my heart ; )

Not a Corvette or Camaro?  You should be banned! 

[Webby the Bear]

hahahaha no way. something with a bit of heritage that aint plastic lol ; )

[Kevin Wood]

That's why I said day to day driving it's a personal choice, but anyone that claims to enjoy driving for drivings sake, or likes to push on in twistys can't have an an auto, or they are hypocrites! 

Every auto I've driven has been 100% acceptable for normal driving, but a complete nightmare for hooning it, and I don't mean blasting down a dual carrige way I mean down the lanes...... Pembrokeshire b roads are something specail

Nail on head. When pressing on you need to be in the right gear to exit the corner before you enter the corner. An autobox can't see what's coming. Until you hoof it out of the bend you're coasting in neutral.

Yes, you can manually hold an autobox in a lower gear but the ratios are so widely spaced this gets tiresome IMHO. Maybe you don't lose much performance but the satisfaction that comes with peddling a manual car along at a decent rate is gone, irretrievably, IMHO.

Having said that, an auto Omega is great for commuting, etc. when there's no prospect of any fun to be had.

Kevin

[aaronjb]

Having said that, an auto Omega is great for commuting, etc. when there's no prospect of any fun to be had.

That's precisely why my Omega is an auto (well, ok, it also had something to do with it being the only diesel I could find at the time!) and the MR2 is manual (and not the flappy paddle version)..

This morning it was sunny and nice so I took the MR2 with the roof down.. and regretted it as soon as I was stuck in traffic having to mess with the silly racing clutch all the time..

[Phil]

Nail on head. When pressing on you need to be in the right gear to exit the corner before you enter the corner. An autobox can't see what's coming. Until you hoof it out of the bend you're coasting in neutral.

Yes, you can manually hold an autobox in a lower gear but the ratios are so widely spaced this gets tiresome IMHO. Maybe you don't lose much performance but the satisfaction that comes with peddling a manual car along at a decent rate is gone, irretrievably, IMHO.

Having said that, an auto Omega is great for commuting, etc. when there's no prospect of any fun to be had.

Kevin

I'm guessing you haven't driven a 'modern' car with an auto box recently.

Vauxhalls own AF33 box is a 5 speed with triptronic, no flappy paddles its a push the stick over and manually shove the lever up and down. It is every bit as good as a manual and you CAN choose what gear you want to be in and use it as 'engine braking', if you want to pull away in '3rd' you can, if you want to change up or down before, during or after a corner with or without touching the accelerator, you can. if you have chosen a gear then 'boot it' it doesn't take over and kick down again, if you hit the red line it'll stay bouncing off the red line (normally with the wheels spinning  ) They only time it won't let you go down a gear is if the gear you are aiming for would mean its bouncing off the red line, and you wouldn't want to do that in a manual either, would you?.

Bearing in mind its now an 8+ year old design its massively advanced compared to the AF25/35

The AF40 6 speed version is supposed to be even better

[Dishevelled Den]

I may be old-fashioned but I prefer the 'box to have all the say.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Nail on head. When pressing on you need to be in the right gear to exit the corner before you enter the corner. An autobox can't see what's coming. Until you hoof it out of the bend you're coasting in neutral.

Yes, you can manually hold an autobox in a lower gear but the ratios are so widely spaced this gets tiresome IMHO. Maybe you don't lose much performance but the satisfaction that comes with peddling a manual car along at a decent rate is gone, irretrievably, IMHO.

Having said that, an auto Omega is great for commuting, etc. when there's no prospect of any fun to be had.

Kevin

I'm guessing you haven't driven a 'modern' car with an auto box recently.

Vauxhalls own AF33 box is a 5 speed with triptronic, no flappy paddles its a push the stick over and manually shove the lever up and down. It is every bit as good as a manual and you CAN choose what gear you want to be in and use it as 'engine braking', if you want to pull away in '3rd' you can, if you want to change up or down before, during or after a corner with or without touching the accelerator, you can. if you have chosen a gear then 'boot it' it doesn't take over and kick down again, if you hit the red line it'll stay bouncing off the red line (normally with the wheels spinning  ) They only time it won't let you go down a gear is if the gear you are aiming for would mean its bouncing off the red line, and you wouldn't want to do that in a manual either, would you?.

Bearing in mind its now an 8+ year old design its massively advanced compared to the AF25/35

The AF40 6 speed version is supposed to be even better

There ok but, they are a bit slow to respond.

I tried a few when buying the mum bus (note, the auto box shoved the Tax right up due to the increased emmisions) and scared a few sales men/women

[Kevin Wood]

I'm guessing you haven't driven a 'modern' car with an auto box recently.

Vauxhalls own AF33 box is a 5 speed with triptronic, no flappy paddles its a push the stick over and manually shove the lever up and down. It is every bit as good as a manual....

Yes, they are getting better (in the wrong wheel drive world!) but still nowhere near a manual IMHO.

You "make a request" to change gear using the stick, but still have no real control over the change other than whether it's up or down. The box decides exactly when it'll change, how much torque reduction to use, how hard to make the change, etc.

Let's say you got a bit deeper into a fast bend than you intended before changing down. With a manual you would realise this and make sure the change was subtle enough not to unsettle the car, perhaps add a blip of the throttle to match the revs, and be gentle as you come off the clutch. With an auto you are a passenger at this point.

I still maintain that a manual is what you want for enthusiastic driving, and with an auto you might as well save the effort, stick it in "D" and enjoy the scenery - IMHO, of course.

Kevin

[FoxyV6]

i wouldnt have dreamed of owning an auto before my omega. drove my uncles auto mondeo, what a croc of c*ap that was. So all my cars where manual. However as i do alot of long journeys now the manual box was frankly a pain in the ass (tiring and aching legs are not nice when stuck in traffic).
the omega is a godsend in that respect, comfort and i get out after 5 hours driving not feeling like ive been dragged through a spin dryer. total bliss

[Webby the Bear]

a lot of comments saying that autos arent any good but arent these based on old/normal autos as opposed to supercar autos. although driven the same way two different autos.

[Martin_1962]

Lets just say the the Omega auto is one of the best

[Broomies Mate]

Lets just say the the Omega auto is one of the best

I think the 4pot petrol models are pretty useless with Auto tbh  :-/

[Martin_1962]

Lets just say the the Omega auto is one of the best

I think the 4pot petrol models are pretty useless with Auto tbh  :-/

Still one of the better autos I have driven

[Squidy]

I Refuse to get into a debate but.... 

i would have a manual over a standard auto (with planetary gears) but would have a semi-auto (dual clutch) over a manual, only because it suits my driving, i don't like a car deciding what gear it thinks i need, because on a good road quite often an auto will change down mid corner, NOT what you want when your belting it!

with a semi-auto its best of both, hassle free cruse and super fast changes on a proper box when you want them.

the daft thing is the omega is one of the easiest manuals ive ever driven, i've never had a car that effortlessly drives around at 30mph in 5th till now