Pedal box may be different, transmission tunnel may be different, but more importantly, the ECU will be different for manual and auto cars (even older cars often had different carb. jetting for an auto) - all in all, it's really not worth doing.
hi a relative of mine has a vw golf automatic its only 4 years old with hardly any mileage. my question is this is it possible to convert it to a manual ? has anyone done something like this? or too expensive hassle etc ?
Gearbox, flywheel, full clutch, pedal box, speedo, clutch cable at a minimum. On some engines it may mean a new crankshaft or machining the old one to enlarge the hole for the spigot bearing.
I'd quite like one for my day to day car, even though I like pissing about trying to heel and toe with the manual box. When you're in town with traffic lights and starting, stopping, slowing down, speeding up etc. all the time, it gets a bit tedious going up and down the box. I'd want a manual car for fun though.
That's what I thought until I actually tried one. I was always dead set against slush boxes, but I went to view a car a few years ago that had accidentally 'overlooked' stating the fact it was auto in the ad. Took a testdrive anyway (bearing in mind I had no idea how to go on with an auto box, heh) and was so impressed that I still bought the car.
The only thing I missed was the ability to lay the wheels out on demand, and in hindsight that's perhaps for the best :)
it's sheer bliss :) stamp on the loud pedal to go stamp on the big pedal in teh middle to stop what could be simpler? and it's perfect for left foot braking as well :) (unless there is a dirty great steering column inbetween your left and right legs that is :) )
So you think they didn't think about the US market when they designed it???? !!!
There is NO car (or floorPan I have ever come across that didn't allow for every engine / g-box combo that was thought about. And then some.) And I have never seen ANY front drive gearbox that would need to go "under" the car anyway!
You've not looked under an Alfa with a flat-4, then ;-)
Well, I suppose it would..... but it's not _designed_ to work like that, plus, as someone else has said, the ECU will more than likely control engine and 'box.
Yes, 3-speed. Most autos were like this once, you know.
I've driven a new 530i auto, well, its about a year old, E34 i think they're called, are they good? I'd prefer to think not cos i'm not a beemer fan, but the sensible part of me says they probably are. And an 827i auto, that probly is crap.
I just found it to be boring, it was nice and easy in town, but i like changing gears, that my opinion, i wouldn't have an auto cos of it. :)
Haven driven that Omega, I really do like autos, especially around town. There's so much wear on my left sole now from all the clutch usage that I get wet feet when I walk in the rain :-(
One thing I really like about autos is the effortless switch between neutral and drive - the way you don't need to pull the release lever to switch between the two. Makes it absolute bliss in traffic. Coupled with that, the fact that you can pretty much completely drive in stop-start traffic just with your hands (one on the gear selector, one on the steering wheel) - no need to brake as switching from drive to neutral pretty much stops the car anyway as it's only going very slowly.
Only thing I don't like about the idea of an auto box combined with a turbo-charged engine, diesel or petrol, is the fact that you're not in complete control of what gear you're in. For me the great thing about a turbo-charged engine (particularly derv) is that you can change up fairly early, and just trundle along, keeping the revs reasonably low, but the extra performance is there if you want it. With autos that choice is taken from you - ok, so modern autos have a lot of electronic gizmos to sense your driving style (Volvo?), but personally I'd rather be in complete control - that Omega did seem to kick down all too easily, which was good in some respects as it was very rev-happy for a diesel, but it would have been nice to be able to stick it in top and leave it there, though when you did that (by being gentle on the throttle) it did seem a bit gutless lower down (still a great engine, though I really can't see the point in an uneconomical diesel).
But basically, although I love autos around town, I'd rather a manual overall, as I'd rather the improved fuel economy of a manual, particularly with a diesel engine, where there seems to be more of a drop in economy between manual and auto compared to a petrol (don't know exactly why, but it has been mentioned here before).
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