Automatic transmissions

[Burnerman]

When I see these I run a mile, but I'm trying to recommend a car manufacturer who seems to know how to make auto boxes...for a friend.
I've had much aggro with Renault and Citroen, and now I'm in bother with an auto Focus.
If you drive an automatic vehicle, can you give me the nod as to the mileage and reliability of it? It needs to be a smallish vehicle, Fiesta, Polo size, so no Beemers or huge Audi's!
Looking forward to any comments.
Cheers!
John

 

[KingboyD]

Honda make pretty good AT`s!

 

[Burnerman]

Thanks for that...the punter concerned really fancies a Honda Jazz but it may be out of her price range. Any comments on that one?
The Nissan Note is another possibility.
John

 

[Donkmeister]

It's one size up from the Fiestas, but I had a Peugeot 308 auto as a hirecar last year for a few days. Around town and in traffic queues I found the auto a godsend, but I found the gearbox too slow to respond when I needed to accelerate to change lanes on a motorway. Kickdown had a delay of about a second, I reckon, and made the driving experience rather frantic... not what you expect from an auto!

Sport mode made the gearbox more responsive but it seemed to hold the lower gears indefinitely so you'd be barelling along at 5000rpm until you turned off Sport.

I may be generalising, but I think the problem is that small cars are so heavy now (the 308 is 1.4 tonnes kerbweight - more than a Ford Granada!!!), so you need a pretty meaty engine to make an auto gearbox work satisfactorily.

Unfortunately, they don't seem to combine autos with meaty engines in cars of that size, so you have to put up with the low performance or buy a bigger car.

Perhaps the CVTs are nippier, I haven't tried one though so can't say.

 

[EddieM]

Nissan Micro Auto's are horrible, clunky 3 speed overdriven, no reliability problems though.

 

[Burnerman]

I'm off to see a Honda Jazz later.....hopefully they'll have a good reliability record!
John

 

[Mickymoody]

I know it's late in the thread, but never had an issue with autoboxes, until the other day, Toyota, and Vauxhall autoboxes, perfect. Nissan - forget it, searching up and down, racing. Not good.

 

[millerman]

My Wife just got rid of her Astra Auto after years of trouble free motoring. Remember, a lot of car manufactors dont actually make their own auto box's, they source them from else where. To me, a real auto box has a torque converter, i think i'm right in saying a CVT box does not, its all controlled electronically therefore the shift may seem a little jerky/irratic. I'm sure a gear box teccy will put us right.
Ditto the comment on Honda, well known reliability.

 

[Nige F]

Suzuki Alto 3 speed auto 3 cylinder engine

 

[chainsaw_masochist]

Suzuki Alto 3 speed auto 3 cylinder engine

Nige, is that a recommendation or a confession?

 

[Albumen]

I had a Ford Scorpio auto. Had to replace the autobox twice. Don't know why I bothered.

I've now got 2 Volvo 940s both auto. No problems with the autoboxes. But not really any problems with anything else either, these cars were built to last. The highest mileage one has 160,000 and I think that's the the original box.

 

[Mickymoody]

I think in general, that if you have a lower powered car, then the auto can cause drivability problems, as I've experienced, plus the extra weight, in a small car, plus excessive use of the front brake causing excessive wear on the brakes, which are obviously smaller, but overworked in a smaller car.

I generally tend to knock an auto into N when coasting, to prevent this, but regularily use 2, to work the engine.

But I like auto's, not my 1st choice, but in the right car, big engine, big car, no issue.

 

[ericmark]

The DAF automatic box has come on leaps and bounds from the days of the rubber band. The fiesta I had was very good giving more MPG than manual model however the bearings went on the cones and it refused to change gear. Same car with manual box was a heap of **** revving so compared with auto box. Volvo I think used the same box and as said now fitted in Honda Jazz these boxes are completely different to the epicyclic box with was developed from the Wilson pre-select.
Most cars still use epicyclic and there performance is all about the control. The old mini had a 4 speed and manual select option then the option was reduced and only three speeds were manually selectable.
The old Rover 3.5 had an option to start in second gear to get smother starts and the Yaris has overdrive in 3rd and 4th making it a 5 speed box. I drove the Yaris North Wales to Heathrow every other weekend but also had a Manual Agila which is same size car and the Yaris did far more miles to gallon then the Vauxhall how much down to engine and how much down to automatic box I don't know? The Toyota Crown 2.6l was also a good automatic but my dad had one Toyota between to two we had which had a rotten gear box which would flick up and down the gears like a yoyo. The Vauxhall Royal had a fierce kick down and easy to get into trouble accelerating around roundabouts but I was pushing the 2.8l engine and sedate driving would be fine.
There are so many automatics I have driven from CAT 769 with 16 speed electro-pneumatic change to Waine Bus with 4 speed very like a mini in layout and also semi-automatics mainly buses and I don't have a Teflon licence but still prefer automatics when I can. I have driven a Scamel S30 with 18 forward gears but the CAT 769 was much nicer to drive except for the amount of steps to get in cab.
However with a car I would lean towards the inferentially variable gear box as used by Jazz although you have to keep ones eye on speedo it is so easy for road speed to creep up with engine revs staying consent and with Fiesta I would get onto a duel carriageway at 50 and look at speedo 5 miles latter and realise I was doing 70 hence why so good on fuel. I would not use the 7 speed paddle change option it will likely wear the cones in ridges I would always use full automatic except maybe in snow and ice.

 

[Mickymoody]

I let my girl take my precious gen 4 Celica out for a testdrive, when she was taking lessons, on a quiet backroad. She's had a few lessons, can drive, but......she STALLED AN AUTO!!!!!

Kickdown and Overdrive, and Sport were off, but to stall an auto?

I was always impressed that an auto can hold still on a hill, presumably this 'burns out the centrifugal' clutch, like in a manual car?

You wanted to smell the clutch the day I started off from still, in 5th, and got upto speed, without stalling, in a manual..The clutch stuck to the floor like glue for 3 hours lol! Just for fun, company car.

 

[ericmark]

Most Automatics do not have a clutch but Citron and Toyota did do some with a standard type gear box and some electronics to change gear.
The early pre-select used a fluid flywheel but by adding a third bit and freewheel the torque converter was made and in the main this has replaced the fluid flywheel. The conversion ration is not static and in some can be as much as 4.5 to 1 although cars are around to 2 to 1 and this means you need less gears in an automatic box. However the torque converter also sinks some power into heat and on some massive oil coolers are required.
At speed there should be very little slip but with 4.5 to 1 types there is still too much and an electric clutch is used to lock the flywheel once it nears the 5% slip mark. This also helps in fuel economy. There are a few automatics which don't use the torque converter the Cone type as pioneered by DAF being one. And the Fiesta's really good performance fuel and speed is may be due to the lack of a torque converter.
Some cars do use the centrifugal clutch the Smart car for example but these are not really suitable for easy parking as they tend to jump rather than creep and to move forward an inch is near impossible up a slope.
This is of course the problem with the torque converter although it does allow easy manoeuvring it also sinks a lot of energy at tick-over and to compensate the tick-over speed is raised. With old carbs this also mean less engine breaking because the tick-over speed is so high but with modern fuel injection and engine management the fuel can be completely cut off on over run so this is no longer a problem.
The automatic with selectable gears was very good in snow and ice due to being able to so gradually increase the torque on the wheels but where the start gear was not selectable the start can be rather sharp and these are much worse in snow and ice.
Fluid flywheels are much smoother on take off and were for many years used in road rollers so as not to cause a crease when moved form forward to reverse and the old Daimler pre-select was demonstrated by driving from London to Edinburgh all the way in top gear.
As you can see there are many different types of automatic gear boxes and once one moves to plant there are even more with the famous velvet drive used in JCB's, Narrow boats and many more. As to cars the Fordson four wheel drive was famous but hydraulic drive has now been superseded with an electric drive as used in Toyota and is combined with electric storage to it is claimed produce a very economic vehicle and it does seem strange which all that has been said about automatics drinking the fuel that the car of the future the hybrid is an automatic.