Auto or Manual.....discuss

[Shaun231]

As the title says, in my quest for a vxr8, what's people's opinions?

Auto or manual?

Or is it more personal preference!?

[Magic919]

Auto is better, but some prefer a manual.

[S800VXR]

Both good, neither perfect. Auto is very easy when you just want to cruise along and remapped it works a lot better. Manual good for old Skool driving but the box is hardly slick. Auto is fast off the line and repeatable where as the manual you have too try every time. I'm happy with mine but it's not mapped perfect yet and want to fit my AMG paddles to make it more focused in tippy mode.

[pah250]

Magic919 said:

Auto Manual is better, but some OAPs prefer an auto.

Edited for accuracy

[r8black]

Manual everytime

[mik_ok]

The auto box is recognised as "not being the best in the business"

The manual box is recognised as "not being the best in the business"



I prefer manual in performance cars : the way things are going this may not be an option available for much longer

I found the OEM pedal setup impossible for Heel&toe however - modded my accelerator and it is now great.

[FoxdieUK]

mik_ok said:

I found the OEM pedal setup impossible for Heel&toe however - modded my accelerator and it is now great.

It's taken me 6 months to get to what I'd call a novice level at heel&toe, it's possible but not the easiest car to do it in :/

[leigh1050]

Magic919 said:

Auto is better, but some prefer a manual.

Totally agree

[KMud]

Do you see yourself at the drag strip? If not, manual.

[mik_ok]

FoxdieUK said:

mik_ok said:

I found the OEM pedal setup impossible for Heel&toe however - modded my accelerator and it is now great.

It's taken me 6 months to get to what I'd call a novice level at heel&toe, it's possible but not the easiest car to do it in :/

Well done you - I found the spacing between brake and throttle was too wide, but the real problem is the height difference. VXR8 brake pedal is nicely free of any slack movement, so the amount of twist I had on my foot to prod the throttle pedal meant I was in danger of my shoe sliding off the brake altogether. I judged this outcome to be "undesirable"

Solved via a cheap (and easily reversed) mod, which remains legal. CLIK HERE for amusing pics.... I've always been a function-over-form typa guy....

[Demon Hill]

I had a Monaro and hated the gearbox even with a quickshifter, and with spirited driving, the clutch would stick to the floor, now I've got an auto VXR8, and to be honest, that's not very good either, however, I always use tiptronic mode, and you can just about make it blip the throttle on downchanges.

Listen to a few Ro's or R8's on YouTube to see how ponderous the manual gearchanges are.

I left foot brake so find it very easy to control the car when driving enthusiatically, you haven't got to keep taking your foot off the gas pedal to brake. (I wish it handled like a go kart though)

[S60hsv]

Ok don't have a 8 I bought a ro it is my only car I love it but when you get stuck in trafic it has made me now want a auto 8 as a daily drive

[hammo19]

Had an auto R8 main reason why I sold it - I hated the auto box just didn't feel right even using the paddles.

[Dave VXR8]

The manual is agricultural, but after a bit of practise my changes are now smoother than any autobox I've ever driven. Even more so than my SL55 AMG.

[Bibbs]

Mine in an HSV, but for Perth (Australia) driving, auto is the way forward.

But I found the lack of engine braking on the track hard to deal with (the car managed 3 full laps of Barbagallo before I had massive/scary amounts of fade).

Hopefully the Series II Gen F will get a proper semi auto box.

[GAL001]

Auto is the one of the things that killed the rs6 for me, I want that choice when to change gear, only time it was useful was when I leave the gym!
V8 muscle cars should be manual, it should be hard work to change gear, these cars are not mercs or bmws after all, just my opinion mind and it might change when I become a weak old man, that's a long way away yet though!

[StefanVXR8]

Having owned both, I prefer the Auto. As has been said several times above, neither are perfect. I loved the sound of over run on the manual, but hated the clutch pedal failure after a bit of spirited driving and the constant having to refresh the clutch fluid. The auto with a remap is great, excellent when DMD (Driving Miss Daisy) and spirited driving is OK, I also tend to use the tiptronic mode most.

I particularly like the auto with the Supercharger, just constant linear acceleration, no clutch change interruption.

I'm going to miss my Supercharged Auto R8!

Stef

[davegreg]

Although i'd probably prefer a manual, I ended up buying an auto. Autos have their good and bad points, good points being they're very easy to drive, awesome on kickdown, and you can use it as a semi-manual if you want. Main bad point for me personally (and it really does p**s me off!) is when it drops into first gear when you slow down to go round a corner...but a remap will hopefully sort that out. So why didn't I buy a manual - because there were none for sale up my half of the country at the time, they were all 200+ miles away. Still love my car though.

[MatrixXXx]

Auto for me, why do you need gears in a big engine car, the gear box can change faster than you can manually, no risk of over revving the engine or getting the wrong gear and destroying your engine....

99.9% of driving i am stuck in slow moving traffic.

- if you have to commute in a city its a no brainer.

-same o-60 and better MPG. ( as it says in the owners Manual)

And you still have tip and sport mode if you get bored.

only down side is the box is set up for performance and so at slow speeds it like to drop down a gear unnecessarily.

[anonymous-user]

Clutch makes a massive difference on manual. I have a twin plate LS9, it's light in traffic and helps with gear changing unlike the other twin plate crap I've had. Doesn't overheat either as it has a different slave cylinder.

Auto is ok if you run in low powered gay mode or your arthritic hip hurts but proper HP requires a manual.