convert auto to manual ?

I think I agree here. The only thing I can think of to improve on my VW - which is a 4wd TDI -would be a CVT auto transmission. The engine hits the sweetspot of torque at 1900rpm. CVT auto would keep it there and avoid swapping six gears.

I had a CVT in my old 1.4 Ghia fiesta. OK, not the most sophistimicated 'box in the world, but still made it a good drive (was actually a pretty good car considering it was a skanky mk3 Fester). When booted the CVT kept the car at ~4krpm (must be around max torque) and on we went pretty swiftly - in the wet it could wheelspin for ages coz there were no gear changes to disrupt the spinning! Eventually i got bored of it though and wanted something a bit better (and with a wobbly stick in the middle) and went to a Rover 214.

speaking of which, just saw a new A210, and it had drilled discs on the front of it I wonder if that is a dealer option or factory fit?

at least the box worked and didn't blow up :)

Until it failed.

I tried desperately hard, but it wouldnt :) Still, sold it on for a small profit after a few months, so cant be bad!

One of the lucky ones then! I thought most gearboxes bolted on to K series engines were inherently weak (held together with glue).

Peter

sophistimicated

eh? nothing wrong with the gearboxes on the 214s! in fact both i had were very good

Never heard of 'box problems on 214s either....head gaskets is the weakness there surely?

Whatcha babblin' about Pete ;) ?

sophistimicated

I think you're confusing the gearboxes with the head gaskets!

Like that Freeloader (!) we saw at the services yesterday! :)

If they're not looked after, then yes. Is it the 214s that have Pug boxes? Cant remember

Thats bloke's a nutter...

ROFL!

Just that the Metro GTi gearbox (same engine, but slightly more tuned) is known for going wrong, due to the crown wheel being held to the diff with some sort of glue - do a search on loot or adtrader and I can guarantee there'll be a fair few metro git's in there with a dodgy gearbox. I thought that maybe the 214 had the same box. Maybe not.

But yes, I am a nutter!

Peter

Yeah i do recall people saying about the Metro boxes actually. I'd imagine the metro's ratios are closer, but dunno whether its the same gearbox or not. And they are the same engines (1400cc 16v k series, both 95bhp SPi and

103bhp MPi depending on the model/age)

:)

They're only supposed to be fragile when you're running the 1.8 litre donk!

And the Metro MG Turbo gearboxes were almost a service item! :)

What a pointless and hugely expensive car. A 2.1 litre A class.

Apparently the Multitronic CVT used in the Audi A4 is quite a capble setup.

I was thinking that about CVT auto boxes. From everything I've heard, they're absolutely fantastic when working, but tend to pack up after about

80k, and quite often at around 50k, so if one wanted a CVT car, just find a decent recon box company who'll supply and fit at a decent price, and budget for that every 50k!

Peter