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[Taxi_Driver]

Manual definately more controllable - gives that extra variable a driver can use mid corner to control the car.  Selectronic and similar systems still do not give that level of control.

...

I agree.....both my current merc and a previous one has/had tiptronic on the autobox.....when playing with the tiptronic....i used to think....'come on... i asked you to change gears seconds ago!' And that few seconds could mean you are around the corner by the time it did change.

[Taxi_Driver]

I sometimes drive the Omega quite hard and the manual is much more controllable through the corners as you can lift to gain a little engine breaking and the dam think doesn't change up.

I can get drive the 2.5 faster through corners than the 3.0 estate which has sports suspension and a bigger engine!

What happens when in sports mode or you use the shift to make it hold a gear......can you throw it round corners faster then?

[Auto Addict]

I sometimes drive the Omega quite hard and the manual is much more controllable through the corners as you can lift to gain a little engine breaking and the dam think doesn't change up.

I can get drive the 2.5 faster through corners than the 3.0 estate which has sports suspension and a bigger engine!

What happens when in sports mode or you use the shift to make it hold a gear......can you throw it round corners faster then?

Why don't you try it TD?

[Auto Addict]

I think that because

a) I own an auto
b) I own a manual to
c) I am a mod
d) I do like to drive hard on rare occasions

That clearly I have the controling vote...!

There you are then.......

[Marks DTM Calib]

I sometimes drive the Omega quite hard and the manual is much more controllable through the corners as you can lift to gain a little engine breaking and the dam think doesn't change up.

I can get drive the 2.5 faster through corners than the 3.0 estate which has sports suspension and a bigger engine!

What happens when in sports mode or you use the shift to make it hold a gear......can you throw it round corners faster then?

Neither mode truely locks the gear so no....

I must admit that on the manual I use 3-2-1 quite a bit to gain the economy of engine breaking and ECU overrun.

[Paul M]

Funnily enough I just got back from the US... as many of you will know it's near impossible to hire a manual car there. I got the latest 2006 Mustang with 5-speed sludgebox... 4.0 litre engine, god knows how much power the torque converter was gobbling up cos it felt like a 2.0 litre. But that wasn't too much of a problem, just had to drive with the pedal on the carpet to get any grunt.

When trying to navigate twisty roads (yes they do exist in the US, you find some mountain paths that are *really* twisty!) this thing was near hopeless. See a sharp bend approaching in a manual, you get into a low gear before entering it to both help control the car's speed round the bend and also ensure there's plenty of power available on the way out. Enter the slush-o-matic, as you enter the bend you're off the gas, so the gearbox sits in a high gear as you obviously don't need any power. Great, no engine braking all the way through the bend. Try to accelerate back out... no power... bit more gas... no power, the gearbox is finishing off a coffee before shifting down... bit more gas... finally it shifts down a few gears, oh crap too much gas now! OK you survive that one, drive 50 metres along the straight to the next tight bend and repeat the whole thing

For someone who actually enjoys driving, particularly thorugh challenging and involving roads, sludgeboxes just ruin the whole experience. Apart from the whole "wrong gear" syndrome, the rubber-band effect of the torque converter just makes the reaction of the throttle unpredictable at the limits. I've never tried an SMG or similar, but those are proper manual gearboxes with a normal friction clutch that are hydraulically activated (and also change bloody quickly) so I'd expect it's a far better experience, pretty similar to a normal manual with a bit less effort.

I've tried the BMW "steptronic" (more aptly titled sludgetronic) and that's almost as bad... still got that horrid torque converter and the response to the buttons is crap. It would maybe make driving through twisty roads better as you could select the appropriate gear before entering the bend, but it would always feel like an auto with all the associated drawbacks. I do fancy trying an SMG sometime, not convinced I'll prefer it over a full-blown manual but it's got to be better than a slushy.

BTW I do a reasonable amount of driving in traffic, and while the clutch can become a PITA in really slow stop-start stuff, it's a very small price to pay for not feeling like a passenger once you're actually moving.

My "2 cents" - can anyone guess which way I voted in the poll?  

[LouisCorney]

Look what I've started....  

[bob.dent]

Look what I've started....  

You certainly did Louis, thats why I thought we better put it to the polls

[Kev]

Maybe i'm getting old, i like my auto.

I only tend do drive fast on the motorway anyway, so the bend thing isn't really an issue. Of course when i say fast, i mean 70.  [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Another point, my dodgy wishbones probably wouldn't be too happy if i started throwing it into bends. Need to get them changed.  

[Taxi_Driver]

I sometimes drive the Omega quite hard and the manual is much more controllable through the corners as you can lift to gain a little engine breaking and the dam think doesn't change up.

I can get drive the 2.5 faster through corners than the 3.0 estate which has sports suspension and a bigger engine!

What happens when in sports mode or you use the shift to make it hold a gear......can you throw it round corners faster then?

Why don't you try it TD?

Dont be silly AA  ....mines a 2.2, i need a runway to get any kind of speed up  

[Jay w]

in the Omega i would have auto over manual every day, purely because, for me, the miggy is a cruiser not a racer.

however my project car is manual and will be driven like it is stolen, there is lot more control to be gained from selecing the gears yourself.
i have used the sports mode button before now to cause the gearbox to act as a brake, it kickes it down a gear and with your foot off the throttle the gearbox is braking for you....

[Andy B]

..... i have used the sports mode button before now to cause the gearbox to act as a brake, it kickes it down a gear and with your foot off the throttle the gearbox is braking for you....

But ... annoyingly the Omega's auto will change out of 4th lock-up by itself when you're going down hill!   I could do that if I wanted to!

[hotel21]

Never driven an Omega auto, so don't really know, but any other autos I've driven - both enthusiastically and in Miss Daisy mode - I have used the hold option in the change mechanism.  

1/2/3/D hold prevents kickdown when partway around a twisty and unsettling the car or having the VIP in the back spilling the Gin, but I much prefer manuals.  To me, it allows you to drive the car as you want, not how the designers want you to, ensuring that efficiency limits on the mechanicals are maintained.  

My tuppence worth.

Broocie

[hotel21]

..... i have used the sports mode button before now to cause the gearbox to act as a brake, it kickes it down a gear and with your foot off the throttle the gearbox is braking for you....

But ... annoyingly the Omega's auto will change out of 4th lock-up by itself when you're going down hill!   I could do that if I wanted to!

In that case, you must be travelling at one helluva lick downhill!!  Should be in 2 or 3 hold to get the braking!!

[Andy B]

.....
In that case, you must be travelling at one helluva lick downhill!!  Should be in 2 or 3 hold to get the braking!!

err! ...... about 50 mph exactly to avoid my picture being taken by any of the 3 speed cameras on the Elland by-pass. Gearbox stays in 4th but comes out of lock-up on the hill but then locks up towards the bottom.