manual or automatic
Hi. I currently tow or 4 birth caravan behind a transit van and I am looking at getting a car to tow. We are looking at the A6 estate 2.7 diesel. There appears to be a bigger choice if we go for automatic. Having never owned an automatic car are there any pitfalls to towing with an automatic as opposed to a manual. Thanks John
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Hi,
Having been a "manual " driver for the last 60 years or so -I have just bought new Honda cr- v 1.6 Dream Diesel Automatic due to recent clutch knee problem.
With 9 gears I have found towing an absolute dream - it always knows what gear it wants - even though I have the option of " flappy paddles" if I want to enjoy " manual" trim.
I am towing 1484 kg Adria - 24 ft long with no issues whatsover.
My opinion- go for it.
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Thanks that great to know and I hope knee ok
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There have been loads & loads of auto vs manual threads on here .... if we had a search facility you'd have had half a chance of finding them. The general feeling is that, apart from a few 'I want to be in control' manual die hards, is that once you've crossed over to a proper 2 pedal gear box, you'll wonder why you ever faffed about with 3 pedal for as long as you did ... especially while towing. You only have two feet, so why would you need three pedals?
You do need to have a drive of differing auto's though first. The Audi that you're considering is, I think, an automated manual DSG gearbox and they drive completely different from a torque converter auto as fitted to Mercs, Land Rover & BMW. Vauxhall dropped their Easytronic automated manual. Audi also do CVT autos, but having only ever driven a DAF Variomatic type auto as fitted to a Fiesta many years ago I couldn't really comment. I know that I'd only ever tow with a torque converter auto.
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DSG and Torque converters don`t drive completely differently, our last towcar was a VW DSG, now we have a Merc Torque Converter and whilst I prefer the Merc and they are technically different they do the same thing. The VW DSG was slower on pick up from a standing start and I did`nt particularily like the sound of the gear change, rather like a slipping clutch. Merc is more sophisticated as regards combination with cruise control etc but that goes with the price. VW had some reliability issues with early DSG gearboxes but I have`nt seen much reported over the last few years.
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The only similarity between the two gear boxes is that they both just have 2 pedals. DSG gearboxes have two clutch plates .... maybe that's why you liken it to a slipping clutch .... because that's what was happening.
As I said, the OP needs to drive the two different flavours of gear box as they do drive different eg a DSG doesn't creep like a torque converter does. I drive an automated manual every day ... OK, it's not as clever as a VWs DSG, but its initial take up is virtually the same as the DSG courtesy Passat we hada few years ago. I do have experience of both types of gearbox. And my towcar is a R Class Merc with a torque converter auto
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AS MM says VAG Group DSG works differently to torque autos. But, at the end of the day you have 2 pedals on both types and they are both 'autos'. I have a VW Tiguan DSG and it is an excellent tow car, previously I had a Passat DSG, both have been trouble free cars and I can't see me going back to a manual car. There are no problems towing with an auto; if you want 'manual' control in say mountainous areas you can operate the gear lever (or paddles) to manually change the gears or act as a break when going down steep hills but 99.9% of the time I just leave in auto when towing.
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I changed to auto in 2001 with the first of four Toyota land cruisers . Today I would never consider going back to manual transmission. Just try pulling a heavy caravan through heavy traffic on the motorway! I wonder just how many times your left leg has to go up & down in those conditions? Seriously, today one of the first questions a salesman will ask when valuing your big car today is " Is it manual or automatic ?" if it is manual, you will get a frown and a much lower price! Manual has passed its sell by date and is very old hat!
TF
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I've only had an auto for about 25 years, but like you, all our cars are auto. I do on occasion drive my daughter's manual, the fact the pedals are small under my size 10s and they're offset to the left makes for an interesting drive ..... I have to look down every now & then to see where the pedals have gone to!
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Why is it on this forum, that when someone disagrees with a comment made about anything, the other person is always 'wrong'. For some reason nobody seems to be able to have an opinion?
You are entitled to your opinion as I am mine. IMHO they drive different .... for example, they don't creep which slow speed manoeuvring is not as easy as it could be .... drive is on or off, you can't as easily feather the clutch as you can with a manual.
You drive your DSG & I'll drive a 'proper' torque converter auto.
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