Re: top gear on now incase you forget!

:)

> >

and repeated tomorrow for those that read this after :)

Reply to
Vamp
Loading thread data ...

crap those ass's at the bbc have put it back to 9pm again!

Reply to
REMUS

What the f*ck am i watching then...?

Reply to
DanTXD

Must be just wales then?

Reply to
REMUS

You're Welsh?

That explains SO much....

;)

Reply to
DanTXD

Welsh, and pre-pubescent. Explains the Nova fetish and idea that 200bhp is a lot. I have 200bhp in my Supra. I spend a lot of time wanting more.

*grins*

Christ. Why don't Aston Martin just throw those sodding F1 gearboxes away and go back to a nice traditional automatic.

Richard

Reply to
RichardK-PB

Only for the pikeys without Sky, though.

I'm watching it on BBC2 England.

Reply to
SteveH

Pikeys /without/ sky? WTF? I thought only the aristocracy still relied upon the main terrestrial channels now.

Richard

Reply to
RichardK-PB

Well I was born in Shrewsbury, England parents are both english. But i've lived in wales all my life just on the boarder.

f*ck off :p

Reply to
REMUS

"SteveH" wrote

Pikey chav estates are covered in satellite dishes. You've got it wrong.

Reply to
fishman

What's nice about an automatic in something you might want to drive hard?

Reply to
Doki

That's not the point of an Aston. If you want that, buy a Ferrari.

Reply to
SteveH

With a little engine? Bugger all.

With a big engine? Well, you don't drive hard 95% of the time, especially if you've got something half decent. You spend time in traffic. You spend time in town.

Since you can't swap the gearbox depending on journey - go with the one that suits most of your uses.

FWIW, though - I think automatics have a very undeserved reputation in the UK as being for cripples, old farts and women that can't drive. It's a car snob thing. In reality, so many aspects of a moden car are automated; the gearbox is a perfectly valid candidate for automation.

In the US, no-one thinks less of having an auto box. They build them to handle really insane power outputs.

So - you want your grand tourer to be your track car (and FWIW the way that Aston jerked half-way around the corner, I'd say that F1-style box renders it pretty unsuitable), fine. If you want it to be a grand tourer, accept that kickdown is there for a reason, a modern autobox is often tougher and longer-lasting than a clutch whilst also being a little kinder to the engine in regular traffic.

I can drive the Supra hard. When someone is annoying me, I press the ECT button to make it kickdown sooner and hang on longer, and I calmly, with both hands on the wheel, leave them as a little spec in the mirror unless they're driving something vaguely comparable - snappy little Golf GTIs and other boy racer wannabes have no chance. And that's with a paltry 200bhp of 113,000 mile, 14 year old Jap cruiser/banger.

Especially on the twisty roads around here, the auto box means I don't let go of the wheel; it kicks down when I want, changes up when I want - unlike the Aston's box seems to manage ;)

Richard

Reply to
RichardK-PB

Have you actually driven an automatic car with a reasonable amount of power and torque?

Dunno if my 150bhp Carlton qualifies me to comment really but everyone I know who cruises around vehemently stating "automatics are shit" or "I hate automatics" has either only ever driven an Ovlov/DAF variomatic, a shitty CVT metro/micra/whatever (both of which are an aquired taste) or some horribly underpowered repmobile or knew someone's cousin who had a one night stand with a stranger who was a passenger in an automatic. Once. When they were 4.

I like my automatic. I can drive it hard or I can waft, and I still only need to take my hand off the steering wheel to tap the ash from the end of my cigarette.

No silly stick waggling, the car just chooses the quickest way to get to your chosen speed judging by how hard your big toe is against the axminster.

That said, I'll freely admit to wanting to drive a manual from time to time.

Douglas

Reply to
Douglas Payne

This is why I have several cars. I do regret it when I get stuck in Edinburgh in the Beetle, though - damn clutches.

I'll have to drive a Supra manual some time. If I ever got an urge for a faster one, I'd have a 2.5TT (280bhp) manual Aerotop. However, I don't think I'd love it the same way - the Supra is always my preferred transport.

Richard

Reply to
RichardK-PB

Depends the way I see it, an automatic box takes away some of the experiance in driveing, you have some computer decideing when you "should" change gear and you can't double clutch.

Reply to
REMUS

Anaesthetic takes away some of the experience of dentistry, too. Don't worry, little one - soon you shall learn that driving is not always pleasure.

(And it's double de-clutch ;) - TBH, all you're going to achieve doing it in the Daewoo is accellerated synchro ring wear).

10% of the time; you get a car with a nice engine, a clear road, a good gearbox - then you fall in love with the snick-click of changing down and flooring it, the wail of the 12v straight six doppler-effect bouncing off the trees...

Sorry. I was thinking of the old Manta 3.0 I nearly bought with the fantastic Getrag 5 speed. I'll update it for modern cars:

10% of the time you get a stretch without a camera, old fart in Rover 25 1.1i and their three grey-haired hos on the way back from the coffee morning, and you wind the window down, listen to the asthmatic fart of your 16v 1.5 as it frantically tries to hit 6,000rpm and peak power bouncing off the industrial estates, and stir the porridge with the nasty rubber lever sprouting from the floor and linked to the gearbox by what feels like last night's spagetti. *grin* Richard
Reply to
RichardK-PB

I think he was suggesting you had to drive by

"Granny-shifting not double-clutching like ya should"...

Reply to
DanTXD

I've been tooling around in an 4litre XJ6 for the past few days, does that count?

The thing that does it for the autobox for me is this: In a manual car (say the Volvo, as that's RWD too), I can head into a corner in 3rd, off the throttle and onto the brakes and be in the right gear for my speed when I hit the apex. In an autobox, it goes something like this: heading into the corner in kickdown, off the throttle and onto the brakes and the gearbox changes up, and then onto the throttle again at the apex, and into kickdown again. Those two completely uneccessary gearchanges irritate me. I like to be in a corner in the right gear when I'm caning it, so that I can alter the cornering of the car by giving it more or less throttle, but you get very little engine braking on an auto. The autobox makes the whole thing a bit lurchy, when driving quickly should be smooth. It just doesn't give you as much confidence in corners as a manual does.

Reply to
Doki

When, apart from in something with a funny git of a gearbox, do you double declutch?

Reply to
Doki

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.