I've been driving since the early 80's and have never owned an automatic. The impression I got back then was that auto boxes were fine when new, but became troublesome and expensive to fix as the miles piled on.So I stuck with manual boxes - particularly as I tow a caravan.Now my (newish) car has a dual mass flywheel, and although it's working perfectly I'm becoming very alarmed at reported DMF failures and the high cost of repairing them. So I'm seriously thinking of an auto when I next change the car.I'm aware of the more obvious downsides - higher fuel consumption, less towing capacity, etc but what I really need to know is whether modern auto boxes are more reliable these days (I'm assuming they are) and, that being the case, whether they are now to be preferred over a manual box with a DMF from a long term ownership/repair cost viewpoint?Do modern auto's still need oil coolers for towing? and would you pick an auto box in preference to a DMF?Cheers

To be honest I find towing with an automatic easier, anything with a decent towing capacity has an oil cooler anyway. Higher fuel consumption isn't a given, my old Granada auto got better figures than the manual. Equally if you're looking at the cost over 80000m then DMFs aren't that expensive

Auto versus DMF?

Jan 13, 2010 21 Replies

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Mrcheerful 16 years ago

340 with big engine (2litre ?) was an excellent car, plenty of go and very good weight distribution. the 1.4 with the variomatic was horrible.

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GB 16 years ago

Ah, you're right of course. I was thinking 'automatic transmission' because that's what we were talking about. Also, I've been stuck with auto boxes for ages as my wife can't drive manual.

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