new vehicle
 

hi again just home from my travels, been to holland germany and northern france in new truck. still a renault magnum but a 58 plate 500 twin steer unit, auto this time. a bit different no gear lever at all just a stalk on the right of the column. one switch for neutral and drive the other for reverse, thats it. had one occasion on some hairpin bends on a steep hill at oberndorf where it could do with dropping two gears it only did one and sraight away did another by which time it was too slow and the road speed had all but dropped away but she recovered well and went to the top no bother. a very nice vehicle but bought it is an owner drivers dream but not quite so good for double manning as the bottom bunk is sectional and the passenger seat is the twist around aircraft type with no suspension. not good for 4.5 hours at a time. but we will see how she goes on, alan. will add some photos next time i am home i wish you all well bye.

Any photos?

Our automatics are the same they just can not see a steep bank coming like a driver can.

We had some auto scanias that would stop on steep banks when running heavy because they could not change themselves down quick enough.

We have new auto daff cf,s at work but i drive our 6 year old fodens with eaton box because u cant beat a manual.

Better mpg from manuals also.

A basic fact is that automatic transmissions are less efficient than manual transmissions (frictional losses) though if the 'management' is good (better choice of ratios and lock-up converters) it IS possible to beat a ham-fisted driver mismanaging a manual transmission through mis-shifting.
Of course, an automatic transmission can reduce the stress for the driver (unless he feels that he could 'do better' . . . ).

I drive an Iveco Strallis with an "AUTO"box. Strictly speaking, they are not AUTOMATIC gearboxes but AUTOMATED ones. The inside workings are the same ass a manual but the gear changing is done by computer and servo's.

One good bit of advice I got, very soon after getting the motor, is that the gearbox is predictive. Not BLOODY PSYHIC!!!

Having said that, it does as well as I can manually and we regularly get 10mpg from it. I think the worst week I had was 8.79 on varied work, but with a high proportion of 44500Kg+ weighbridge tickets

I'm not sure I'd go back to a true manual box now. UNLESS it was an Eaton Twin Splitter!!!