Thread: D2a Manual vs Auto

Hi Guys

Thanks for all the good information. I do have to agree (based on other 4wds I have driven) that autos are a better at hiding the turbo lag and improving drive ability. That said I am pleasantly surprised that the manual seems to have a good rep for reliability now. Prior experience, mainly classic RR related, tended to give the feeling that the ZF auto was a pretty bullet proof piece of kit.

Yep I do so love the open centre diff. Low range in the Range Rover made it so easy to back the van up my driveway, without worrying about the drive train binding up.

Thankfully I have a nice old 4AGE Corolla for everyday duties so the Disco, when find one I am happy with, will be mainly for holidays etc rather than a daily driver. I'm also lucky? to be happily single ATM so I only have to myself (and the dog ) to convince as to any purchase.

So looks like I can live with either, but I'll certainly look more critically at the history of any automatics I look at.

Cheers

Steve

When we were looking for ur D2, we wanted an manual. Both of us have only ever owned and driven manuals. We looked and everytime we found a manual that ticked the boxes, it was too many km's for our liking.

When we seemed like we'd found the ideal vehicle, it turned out to be auto, and on a leap of faith we bought it ... no regrets. Not one.

It's great offroad & on the beach. The auto makes offroading a doddle. It tows fine, but I don't tow very often, and when I have to, it's been a large car trailer (recovering kids cars). I find the best approach is to put it in 3rd. Accelerate until it locks the torque converter, then it pulls like a train ... once up to 85-90kmhr, shift to 4th, ease back on the accelerator a bit to allow the TC to lock in 4th, then maintain a comfy 90-95kmhr. I'm surprise how well the 2.5L engine does (no chipping, just turbo wastegate wound up a bit) towing 2-2.25T ... and it's quiet economical doing it to (I've checked it at around 12-13L/100km on the open road).

We don't do any city driving, but the auto would make life easier, but I'm sure it would be haevier on fuel than the 12L/100km average we get for all driving combined (with tyres around 4% oversize).... which includes a bit of beach/dune driving as we live at Stockton Beach, and those drive do use a fair bit more fuel and road or bush.

I had to learn how to "drive" the auto box to make best use of it, and I quite often find that I manually downshift to 3rd for larger hills so it holds a locked TC up the hills. Offroad with the MANUAL mode engaged in low range, the auto works like a clutchless manual holding whatever gear you select.

For us, it's sort of been a best of both worlds thing, and as I said, no regrets at all.

The small torque converter in the auto models is horrible. It is mismatched, and really crud once you've done some performance mods. I have an Ashcrofts Heavy Duty replacement here that I can wait to fit, has some great reviews.

Personally I still like my auto, only gets better with more power and hopefully once the new TC is installed.

I remember being in a traffic jam up to, over and well past the old gateway in my D1 5 speed,, 3 hours of moving twenty feet at a time.
As Fluids said,, no regrets changing to an auto with my last two,

Now if they just made a 5speed auto with top at .9

Running 32" (3" increase over factory) on my truck did improve the auto somewhat. The top gear is now lower revs on the highway, I much prefer it, it's quieter in the vehicle.
However, you need to increase the engines power to compensate for the decrease in acceleration from the larger tyres.

Ooooooo .... wouldn't a 5 speed auto just be the ants pants in a Td5 D2 ??

My brother bought a Holden Adventra (full bag of fruit V6) and it has a 5 speed auto ... not my cup of tea, but still a bloody nice car none the less, and the 5 speed auto is just magic ... a GM LE-380 or similar ??

Originally Posted by Fluids

Ooooooo .... wouldn't a 5 speed auto just be the ants pants in a Td5 D2 ??

My brother bought a Holden Adventra (full bag of fruit V6) and it has a 5 speed auto ... not my cup of tea, but still a bloody nice car none the less, and the 5 speed auto is just magic ... a GM LE-380 or similar ??

A 6 speed ZF such as from the Falcons would be even better. Don't Mercedes do an 8 speed automatic now too?

5 would be plenty,,
(doesnt the 6 just have two overdrives?)

but I need top/OD ratio around .9