just a quick question i have an 05 superb elegance tdi 130. i drive about 50 hours a week round town 1st 2nd 3rd all the time and is started to take its toll on my left knee i have had the car for 5 months so still owing a lot so no chance of trading in for an auto so was wondering what entails in changeing gear box to an auto. thanks.

An awful lot.

Gearbox

Control unit

Selector

Wiring looms

Pedal box

Radiator

Pipework

Dash cluster

Maybe even things steering column and lock

Probably looking at more that the cost of the car to get that lot in.

It will cost more than changing the car.

You have my sympathy: I've just lost quite a bit by changing my perfectly fine fabia vRS for the Leon for similar reasons.

You might want to contact a motability dealer. There may be a way of reducing the clutch pedal pressure required.

You might want to contact a motability dealer. There may be a way of reducing the clutch pedal pressure required.

Exactly what I was thinking.

The clutch on these cars is hydraulic and I think uses the same system as the brake lines (hence if you change the brake fluid you change the clutch fluid at the same time, i seem to have read that somewhere here but I might be totally wrong), so I don't think you can change "fluid pressure" or something to make life easier.

There may be something mechanical they sell though, and I suppose there's always hand controls.

You can't do anything with the standard clutch. The weight of the pedal arises from the diaphragm spring in the clutch itself which has to provide the clamping force to the clutch plates in order to transmit the required engine torque.

It's because the torque of the diesel is so high that the clutch is moderatly heavy. The torque of the diesel is one of the main reasons the car does my job so well.

The high torque of the diesels is also the reason why the autos are such lemons and is why VAG developed the DSG. It should be a good system when they get it right...

rotodiesel.

IIRC, they change the clutch hydraulics for an assisted version (vacuum I think).

A vac servo for the clutch would indeed be a possibility - not easy to do on the B5.5 though because everything is so tight.

rotodiesel.

A vac servo for the clutch would indeed be a possibility - not easy to do on the B5.5 though because everything is so tight.

rotodiesel.

Wouldn't that be a bit tricky on a derv? They don't have vacuums in the same way petrol's do, right?

How do you think the vac brake servo is operated on our diesel cars? Half of the tandem pump is a vac pump - gives one hell of a suck, too.

rotodiesel.

How do you think the vac brake servo is operated on our diesel cars? Half of the tandem pump is a vac pump - gives one hell of a suck, too.

That's kind of what I meant - the vac is provided by a pump. Last time I took a brake system apart on a petrol it was powered by the vacuum from the inlet manifold...

Fair do's about the suck though - perhaps it's not as bad as I thought