I drive autos and DSG's in Snow.

I change down gear manually not touching brakes, i also decelerate on ice shifting back to 'S' off the accelerator.

I hardly ever touch the brakes.

 

The total PITA IMO is an e-brake in snow, ice, freezing conditions when you do not want to apply a parking brake and doing so can cause issues.

Just now i have a Auto with rear wheel drive, all wheel drive, low box and locking diffs. and most thankfully a manual parking / hand brake.

Edited 27 February, 20206 yr by Roottootemblowinootsoot

3 hours ago, olderman1 said:

 Probably not so bizarre, there's some truth in it, but it's somewhat patronising and disrespectful to the older generation.

 

Would it be more patronising and disrespectful if SurreyJohn wasn't a part of the older generation (whatever that is by the way)?

 

I'd agree that to assume someone who prefers a manual gearbox must therefore want to forgo other automated features in their car is indeed an incorrect (and in my opinion too, bizarre) assumption.

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Would it be more patronising and disrespectful if SurreyJohn wasn't a part of the older generation (whatever that is by the way)?

Not sure what you're asking here ? If Surreyjohn is not of the older generation e.g. Baby Boomers, then yes it's disrespectful and patronising. If he is of the older generation, then his comments are not disrespectful, he just has a different opinion/wants and needs to many others of a similar age. Perhaps he might clarify to which generation he belongs as in my experience, it's younger generations that diss the older ones because they didn't live in the same era, so have no experience of what life was like in the 50s/60s/70s.

 

With regard to auto boxes, I am of the Baby Boomer generation and for 50 years I resisted an auto box, mainly due to extra cost plus perceived unreliability and also because I wanted to manually control what gear I'm in.

Due to the amount of stop/start traffic that abounds nowadays and mild physical constraints on my part, I'd been thinking for 2/3 years that maybe I should get an auto box next time I changed my car. As it turned out, the Kodiaq that attracted my attention (pre reg) had a DSG, so I took the plunge. I have to say I'm enjoying the DSG and would struggle to find a case in the future to revert to a manual box.

That said, there are many things in my car that I'd prefer not to have because they're auto or semi auto, partly because I think they're unnecessary, but mostly because I spent the majority of my driving years in vehicles where everything was done manually and so that's what I'm used to.

14 hours ago, SurreyJohn said:

Just out of interest, do those who say they like manuals, also insist on :

 

I will answer your question.

 

no auto setting on lights - 100% dont need them & want them

 

manual temperature control, no climatronic - Have had it on the last 2 cars but the Yeti doesn't, I am more than happy to be without it,  I frequently have cause to over-ride it using manual settings, it has proved to be reliable so far but if I had ever had to pay out to replace something expensive and uneccesarily complicated I would choose manual thereafter.

 

manual switched wipers - absolutely 100%, I have the auto-wipers on the MK2, they work well if splashed by an oncoming lorry but the intermittent function is not a patch on the older manual version and is never in sync with the actual rainfall.

 

manual radio tuner with no presets, not really a fair question in context but would be happy to manually tune if the station name came up, most of my recent radios have been so complex that I have often failed to set presets and as for the traffic info that shouts over and crashes the GPS 😞 even when the radio was not selected.

 

manually winding (not electric) windows - yes would be happy to live with them especially after having had problems with electric ones, not for everybody though, if someone is a rock ape who forces things if they show resistance then electric would be better.

 

manual starting crank handle (rather than electric start) - would like one (and a decompressor) in addition to the electric starter.

I would never have considered a torque convertor auto box over a manual but was very tempted by the first ranges of DSG's, have always hankered after one but having read all of the problems suffered by the later models I will never have one.

 

I want my cars to be reliable and cost as close to nothing to run (fuel aside) as possible, to date I have been very succesfull, a big part of that is choosing wisely and eschewing "gadgets"

Good luck starting a modern high compression diesel with a manual crank. 
 

Manual windows aren’t much fun when you need to open or close a window other than the driver’s. 

28 minutes ago, olderman1 said:

Not sure what you're asking here ? If Surreyjohn is not of the older generation e.g. Baby Boomers, then yes it's disrespectful and patronising. If he is of the older generation, then his comments are not disrespectful, he just has a different opinion/wants and needs to many others of a similar age. Perhaps he might clarify to which generation he belongs as in my experience, it's younger generations that diss the older ones because they didn't live in the same era, so have no experience of what life was like in the 50s/60s/70s.

 

You've lost me.

 

It read to me that you already knew SurreyJohn was of the older generation, afterall it was you who first made reference to the older generation in response to xspartx's reply to him...

 

 

What exactly did you find patronising and disrespectful?

 

Either way, it's not particularly relevant to our preferences on gearbox types so I'll dib out.

9 minutes ago, MrTrilby said:

Good luck starting a modern high compression diesel with a manual crank.

13 minutes ago, J.R. said:

 

manual starting crank handle (rather than electric start) - would like one (and a decompressor) in addition to the electric starter.

 

 

31 minutes ago, J.R. said:

 

Yes, you could add a decompressor and heavier flywheel to the engine to make it possible to hand crank it. I’m not sure how that added complexity would improve reliability though. I’m also not sure where you’d access the crank handle on a transverse engine. Each to their own though. 

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It read to me that you already knew SurreyJohn was of the older generation,

No I didn't know that, I assumed he was of a younger generation, because as I said above, it tends to be a younger generation who are disrespectful to their elders.

 

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What exactly did you find patronising and disrespectful?

Having assumed that Surreyjohn was of a younger generation, I find their general attitude towards older folks disrespectful. There was a particular person on another channel who was extremely good at being disrespectful to the older generation and I find it really grates.

Apologies to Surreyjohn if he's on an older generation, he's welcome to his opinion and apologies for straying off topic a little.

 

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Either way, it's not particularly relevant to our preferences on gearbox types so I'll dib out.

Perhaps you shouldn't have dibbed in in the first place 😉

9 hours ago, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

I drive autos and DSG's in Snow.

I change down gear manually not touching brakes, i also decelerate on ice shifting back to 'S' off the accelerator.

I hardly ever touch the brakes.

 

The total PITA IMO is an e-brake in snow, ice, freezing conditions when you do not want to apply a parking brake and doing so can cause issues.

Just now i have a Auto with rear wheel drive, all wheel drive, low box and locking diffs. and most thankfully a manual parking / hand brake.

if you don’t want to apply a parking brake, then don’t.

 

I regularly don’t. But some times do.

@BoxerBoy   I dont in freezing weather. But then there is taking off your seat belt and opening doors and it coming on, and other people driving and parking and there it is on and you need to go out and get it off.

1 hour ago, MrTrilby said:

Yes, you could add a decompressor and heavier flywheel to the engine to make it possible to hand crank it. I’m not sure how that added complexity would improve reliability though. I’m also not sure where you’d access the crank handle on a transverse engine. Each to their own though. 

 

I realise its impractical but then I was simply answering truthfully a somewhat silly question, I included the decompressor because if I didnt someone would soon have mentioned it, having tried many many times to crank start a Thwaites dumper and realising why the fattest blokes always kept their jobs on building sites in the past I have no desire to ever try hand cranking a diesel angine again!

 

Of the cars that I have had with starting handles they were very usefull indeed for servicing (tappets, points etc) if nothing else, I had a couple of split screen Bedbugs which I could start using a socket & ratchet on the dynamo pulley!!!!

 

My Volvo would perfect for someone.

Manual AC, manual gearbox, manual windows, manual wipers. No crank for the engine, but easy to push-start.

Easy to push start? lol

 

Maybe down a hill with wind assist!!

I drove manuals for 40+ years, as like many others, I preferred the control of a clutch compared to the torque converter automatics.

DSG changed all that. Manual gearbox with electronic clutch. A perfect solution for relaxed driving.

There are circumstances where I like better control of the gear I need.

Solution - move the gear selector to the left and use the gears manually.

It works exactly the same as a manual gearbox, with the same control of gears but without the pedal on the left.

Why would you want to drive anything else?

Yes, in snow, I would prefer to start off in second gear, which you can’t do with DSG, but it changes into second so quickly after moving off, that I don’t think it’s necessary.

On 27/02/2020 at 21:45, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

But then there is taking off your seat belt and opening doors and it coming on, and other people driving and parking and there it is on and you need to go out and get it off.

 

That reads like one of Donald Trump's press conferences.   

@Scot5

I am learning that from your satirical posts.