Done it thousands of times on Dry, wet DSG and ZF boxes and no problems yet touch wood.

 

Where are I do occasionally miss a manual shift a that is not a good place to be ie going in to first at maximum revs in second, ouch.

 

Keep touching wood.

 

When you are not running an auto with full lubrication and/or hydraulic pressure you not only run the risk of higher wear rates you run the risk of when you return the box to Drive it attempting to do a gear change with low hydraulic pressure and misstimeing the shift or not moving the clutch or brake band quick enough and damaging the box.

 

That is why there are clear warnings in the manual not to do this and why there are restrictions for towing many automatics.

 

Lee

Edited 2 April, 201610 yr by logiclee

Thanks Lee. I like a high top gear if there's sufficient torque: I feel it reduces engine wear & may put the engine into its most fuel efficient rev band when cruising on, eg, a motorway.

My old Passat does about 31.5 mph/1000 in 6th (manual), & the torque is such that I feel it could pull a bit higher a gear than that.

I asked the question because I'm thinking of buying one of those cars.

Dave

 

I'll be perfectly honest and say some modern 6 speed manuals are too highly geared. It means 6th is too high for all but high speed motorway work and leaves too wider gaps in the other ratios for normal driving.

The DSG has gearing around 35mph/1000rpm which feels better to me.

 

Lee

For the nerds looking for the latest toys and driving assistance, its probably here

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/03/audis-new-2017-a4-is-for-nerds-by-nerds/

I'll be perfectly honest and say some modern 6 speed manuals are too highly geared. It means 6th is too high for all but high speed motorway work and leaves too wider gaps in the other ratios for normal driving.

The DSG has gearing around 35mph/1000rpm which feels better to me.

Lee

 

A few years back was lent a Leon ecomotive with the super high gearing.

 

What an awful over geared car, totally ruined driving pleasure, all on  the alter of economy but one tended to rev it harder as the between gears gaps was too high and not change in to 6th unless at Motorway speeds.  Defeated the aim.

Edited 3 April, 201610 yr by lol-lol

I'll be perfectly honest and say some modern 6 speed manuals are too highly geared. It means 6th is too high for all but high speed motorway work and leaves too wider gaps in the other ratios for normal driving.

The DSG has gearing around 35mph/1000rpm which feels better to me.

 

Lee

Valid point. I need to road test one up 'Hamburger Hill' on the A30 in Cornwall.

 

Dave

Our max motorway speed limit is enforced at 110kph (~70) and I doubt if we'd ever see 'top' outside of the Northern Territory.

For us it'd be a waste of money and complexity.

It is nice that there is now a choice of various 2 pedal cars with some performance.

Edited 4 April, 201610 yr by GoneOffSKi

It is nice that there is now a choice of various 2 pedal cars with some performance.

 

 

I hope Subaru have improved their CVT. The early models were very poor.

 

Lee

You certainly would hope so and that seems to have been acheived.  They do drive very nicely IMO.

Many VW dealerships in the US seem to be going over to being Subaru Dealerships.

There is a huge market there for the AWD vehicles with CVT boxes.

 

I loved my Justy CVT's.  

But then i really liked my Rear Wheel Drive Volvo 343 CVT, Punto Speedgear (CVT) and latterly my Toyota iQ CVT.

All very good cars on winter roads.

Edited 4 April, 201610 yr by GoneOffSKi

I hope Subaru have improved their CVT. The early models were very poor.

 

Lee

Yes, I love it in my XT. It really needs the SI Drive so you can tell the car what you want from it, whether you want it to be smooth and economical or give you all the power etc. It has a lot of clever tricks you wont get with a manual.

 

Its a bit laggy and weird-feeling in eco mode, but that's what its supposed to be But in S# you get stuff like virtual antilag where it keeps the revs high when you lift off by subtly shifting the gearing so when you put your foot down you get instant power. Launching it is an art as it uses a torque converter as the linkage to the CVT, but once it locks up, which it does quickly, it can really move.