Thread: TD5 manual or automatic

I used to be a manual only person, but since I have gone with autos I have never turned back, and autos are better for resale

Autos are easier to drive offroad, simply because they are unlikely to stall and you can left-foot brake. On the open road, once the torque convertor locks up you'll probably even beat a manual for fuel economy.

Go the auto.

Greg-g,

AUTO all the way mate!!

The ZF auto gearbox is very well matched to the Td5 and is the pick of the transmissions for all forms of driving - 4wd, towing, city driving. It helps keep the turbo engine spinning smack bang in the middle of its power band so making it so much more driveable than the manual.

With the inclusion of Hill Decent Control on Disco IIs, it allows the auto models to travel as slowly as the manuals down hills when off road.

Good luck.

I've not used HDC, but understand it relies on braking downhill. Therefore it is inferior to the overdriving the brakes technique which is the correct way to descend steep hills in autos. I also believe that HDC has a minimum speed of 7kmph? Which is too quick for my liking.

cheers

Well, when the better half suggested (around 10 years ago) we trade the ser111 and her toyo..... in to buy a Rangie I thought RIPPER!!! but she added it had to be auto.....now at that time being full of testosterone I could only believe that REAL men drove manual 4wds. 8O 8O

I thought I could disguise myself to save embarrasment in case anybody saw me driving an auto in a 4wd situation. ops: ops:

I now say that an auto is the only way to go, I have much more control of the vehicle in any 4wd situation and she (the RR) doesn't have the forces going through the drivetrain that I have seen some manuals go through in difficult situations. ........ and perhaps my testosterone level is lower :roll: :roll:

....and the wife is happy..... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] :

Just watch the early Series II disco's. They don't have the CDL. The sII upgrades (easily spotted by the newer headlamp cluster) do have the CDL and most of the earlier ones can be retro-fitted, but not all.
Without CDL the TC only sII disco's do struggle. I've seen it numerous times.

Agree about the CDL (centre diff lock, not to be confused with cross-axle lockers). To see what difference it makes, drive a Defender or Discovery with the centre diff open. The traction control works much harder and the vehicle is simply considerably less capable. Why LR did that in the Discovery S2 is beyond me, but they did.

Hi
Thanks for your help
I'm now the proud owner of a new TD5 Auto Discovery Classic Town with 16" Alloy Wheels.
I don't know why anyone would want 18" Alloys. They ride harder, and I suspect the rims and tyres would be far more suseptiable to damage.
The Leather seats and park distance control are very nice.

Thanks again
greg