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its just human nature (as a generalisation) to have opinions that cant/wont be changed. like the whole holden vs ford, LR vs any other brand.
to the O.P. if u can drive both transmissions, do so. from what ive learned, they are both durable and if serviced, will last a long time, while performing consistently. its a nice feeling, knowing that u are in control of when and how the car changes gear, as well as a pleasing action for most of us. but really, the auto's are a good way to drive a bit smoother when off-road. makes climbing, descending, sand, mud, braking and difficult starts easier too until you have the experience and confidence to do it all.
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ummm.......had one of those , 3 on the tree once....wasnt to bad,but used to jam every so often,usually happened in traffic....nothing a good hit on the linkages didnt fix...till next time
then came the 4 speed..a major improvement...but no bench seat,although some of the jap stuff around had 4 on the tree& later on even 5 on the tree.
as for the 3 speed autos they were the pits,not much of an improvement on the 2 speeds they replaced
cheers
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manual for us..
After having a manual TDI200 for 6 years for towing a horse float we bought an auto '99 TD5 two years ago with only 120.000 Ks because we could not find a manual with SLS and ACE. We had generally been manual drivers for many years but accepted the consensus that towing with an auto was the way to go and bought it with some reservations but prepared to give it a go.
We found it very smooth to tow with but in the end we just could not come to terms with the way it works on the TD5. The problems for us are:
- too few gears. we live in the Strzleckis and have an 8 KM long 300 Metre hillclimb from the nearest town to our place. With only 2.5 litres pulling a full horse float we did not expect to run in top gear but 3rd was just too low for us.. to maintain 70 km/hr the engine is revving at well over 3000 revs rather than using the torque at lower revs like we are used to.
- lack of torque converter lock up under 80 km/hr. After years of manuals the feel of the engine revs not matching road speed was uncomfortable for us. Under load this adds to the high revving mentioned above .. and is a source of inefficiency and higher fuel consumption on the auto.. while dropping back to idle under no throttle is also a problem - see below.
- inability to use the engine's low rev torque with in the bottom three gears.. The computer controlling the gearbox keeps the engine above 2500 revs under almost any throttle opening when working. Like other turbo diesels the TD5 has heaps of torque between 1800 and 2500 revs that is totally inaccessible in the auto.. another reason why the auto is less fuel efficient.
- lack of engine braking - the free wheel in the torque converter means that the brakes have to be used more than we are used to.. gentle braking is the essence when towing horses... and there is a sense that this reduces the feeling of control - it is not recommended to free wheel in a manual so how is it OK in an auto..?
We recently bought a manual TD5 because we just could not stand the auto.. We are much happier with the manual and feel it performs better.. more gears for towing and we are able to use the torque of the motor better. We feel that we will get much better economy as well.. We are rural residents so do no city driving where the heavy clutch might be a trial.
The whole character of the car is different and it seems to be more responsive to us..
So it is the manual for us every time..
Trevor Hoare
