With commensurately big repair bills?
Is there a manual engine braking option? (as opposed to the car doing it automatically)
Sick of manual gearboxes? Maybe good news is coming
- Thread starter richardg
- Start date
Is there a manual engine braking option? (as opposed to the car doing it automatically)
They certainly are. Mine has 6 speeds, the top gear is only suitable after 50mph. At the UK limit of 70 mph the engine is turning at about 1800 rpm, indicated. It has to be because with a theoretical max speed of 155mph this equates to ~4000 rpm which is about max power (probably actually coming at 4250 or so), with the redline coming at 4500 (it's a big diesel).
I honestly don't know at what point cars needed to become so powerful. OK, mine is a special case, I get that, and in my defence I bought it for long trips, it returned 47 mpg on a 500+ mile trip on Monday. Good enough. That's better than an EcoBoost Fiesta. But I grew up with Peugeot 205s and Golfs that had 115 bhp and we thought that they were quick. Indeed in the pre speed camera days they were driven a bloody sight quicker across country than any of the current crop of 300 bhp monsters. Yet even a Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost boasts 140 bhp. Drive it, you wonder where the hell they all are, granted, but it claims 140 bhp.
Yeah and as one of the best gearbox/gearchanges in modern times the EP3 should be a joy in any situation.
Ford have always had really good gearboxes, I don't know why. Other manufacturers must know but don't seem to be able to perform the same trick. The list is long - Type 9, aside from its ratios which were geared around sales reps on the motorway at 90 at one end and getting heavy caravans moving at the other, with the others tossed in at random, was lovely to use. The earlier Type 4 4 speed was reckoned to be better again. I remember the early FWD boxes in the Fiesta, both 4 and 5 speed, having lovely shift quality. The Puma being a Fiesta in a party frock, I'm not surprised that the gearbox was a delight. I never had one, a shame. At the time I was doing big trips to the hills most weekends, it wouldn't suit, so I ended up with rather boring saloons to lug all the kit.
My last car, with a 4 speed auto box, could be less predictable, big jump between 2nd and 3rd with top speeds of 80 and 130 so if you pushed a bit too hard going round in 3rd it would click down into 2nd with a massive increase in torque. Potentially embarrassing.
gustav_errata
pfm Member
Nothing beyond routine maintenance as of yet.
If you're driving for pleasure, a good manual transmission adds to the enjoyment.
But let's be honest: the vast majority of people driving on the roads are not driving for pleasure, but rather because they need to be somewhere. For that use-case, an automatic is better than a manual... assuming that using a car is your only viable option.
But let's be honest: the vast majority of people driving on the roads are not driving for pleasure, but rather because they need to be somewhere. For that use-case, an automatic is better than a manual... assuming that using a car is your only viable option.
awkwardbydesign
Officially Awesome
If it had 6 ratios, it can't be a CVT, surely?
As was pointed out to me when I was training, most people behind the wheel aren't drivers, but pedestrians in a hurry to get somewhere with the least effort and concentration. Road markings? Signs? Stop lines? Parking safely? Driver stuff, not for me! And if you view others (or maybe even yourself if you are honest) it explains a lot.
John Phillips
pfm Member
The multitronic box, IIUC, combines automatically selected fixed ratios with the usual (but chain-driven) conical pulley variable ratio arrangement via its software, to achieve a stepless continuously variable gear ratio. My experience was that this way of making a CVT does work well. But yes, perhaps I should have thought that people might be thinking of a CVT as just a pure conical pulley type and made this clearer.
Tumeni Notes
pfm Member
OH's VW Beetle - not an "extreme sport car" - has a six-speed manual, and our Vauxhall Insignia 2.0 has a 6-speed semi-auto ...
.. you have a word or two missing there. Explains what?
Minio
Kind of Sort of Not really...
Only this morning driving my C4 6 speed manual. The high economy gearing is no fun.
Negotiaing junctions and wishing it was automatic.
Mike Reed
pfm Member
There was nothing negative about my slick 5 speed manual 1994 Renault Savanna. My 14 y.o. Fabia also has a slick, smooth 5 sp. gear change as well (both diesels), so not sure how Ford can be a front-runner in that respect. Gear ratios are a different matter, however, and I remember wishing for an overdrive or 6th speed on long distance fast runs
awkwardbydesign
Officially Awesome
No words missing. Have a think about it.
PaulMB
pfm Member
I wonder to what extent it is true that "almost everyone wants an automatic," and to what extent it is the car makers deciding what they want people to buy. The other day I stopped at my local BMW dealer and asked what models, engines and transmissions were available.
The answer was that if you want 6 cylinders it HAS to be a 400 HP turbo brute. But if you choose that, it HAS to have an automatic gearbox AND 4-wheel drive. No choice whatsoever. If you want RWD, it HAS to be a 4 cylinder model (330). Manual gearboxes are not available, unless you buy an M3, and that is about 500HP and costs the earth.
In addition, the power steering has become all-electric, which according to all accounts simply does not have the "feel" of the hydraulic power steering.
So I'm keeping my 1999 528i, and will throw as much money at it as it needs to be kept in top condition. As long as spares are available.
The answer was that if you want 6 cylinders it HAS to be a 400 HP turbo brute. But if you choose that, it HAS to have an automatic gearbox AND 4-wheel drive. No choice whatsoever. If you want RWD, it HAS to be a 4 cylinder model (330). Manual gearboxes are not available, unless you buy an M3, and that is about 500HP and costs the earth.
In addition, the power steering has become all-electric, which according to all accounts simply does not have the "feel" of the hydraulic power steering.
So I'm keeping my 1999 528i, and will throw as much money at it as it needs to be kept in top condition. As long as spares are available.
MJS
Technical Tinkerer
The first generation Audi multitronics CVTs were indeed completely variable, I had one, again on the 2.5 TDi engine. They were later programmed to have steps. Failures were caused by early PCBs failing with that new-fangled unleaded solder. I suffered that too.
The best thing about it was sticking it in sport mode and revving the engine up to max torque RPM whereby the car would just get faster and faster without the engine note changing. It annoyed many a boy racer at the time. It could be a little slow of the mark with the auto clutch arrangement but I put nearly 100k miles on mine without any mechanical issues.
The best thing about it was sticking it in sport mode and revving the engine up to max torque RPM whereby the car would just get faster and faster without the engine note changing. It annoyed many a boy racer at the time. It could be a little slow of the mark with the auto clutch arrangement but I put nearly 100k miles on mine without any mechanical issues.
Suffolk Tony
Aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment.
I had a couple of Audi A6s with the 2.5 diesel engine & CVT gearbox. 130K miles in one, 90+K in the other, no issues with either & the transmission seemed to work pretty well from what I remember
gez
pfm Member
I have to admit, I used to be a "manual till I die" type. I still do drive a manual, but now having experienced driving autos (even crappy CVTs), my position is more open. In a daily run around I could happily live with even the worst of modern auto boxes (they're nothing like they were 20 years a go with 5 second delays between changes etc). I'm hoping to eventually get a Cayman with a PDK. I've not driven one yet, but if the PDK is even half as good as nearly all reviewers say it is, then I'll be more than happy to give up manual even in a drivers car. It has full manual control anyway, and in all honesty I've never liked car gearsticks, I cut my motoring teeth on motorbikes and car manual gearboxes just strike me as clunky and junk, and always have. All that stupid foot and hand moving just to change gear. At least on a motorbike everything is right there to hand/foot with no messing around.
gez
pfm Member
This, I really don't get the anti paddle sentiment some people have. IMHO manuals should have always used something along the lines of paddle rather than the tractor like agrocultural solution of foot operated clutch combined with hand lever for changing the gear. Just think about it logically, nobody in their right mind would come up with such a solution if they didn't need to, so why it took so damn long to get rid of it is mind boggling to me.