How do you drive an automatic?

[Bicronical]

W201_190e said:

I never used N in any of mine. Usually foot on the brake if only a little while or in park.

That's a good point... What is the neutral for in an automatic? I have never used it. If I want to leave the car running without my foot on the brake, I put it in park.....

I do use the neutral in a BMW DCT equipped car as you can only put them in park by the car being in drive/reverse and turning it off through the stop/start button. Should I want to get out of the car whilst it is running, into neutral, apply the hand brake etc..

I guess you would use the neutral if you wanted to rev the car but remain stationary (and not stress/break anything). Any other reason people can think of?

re. the handbrake, apart from being a hooligan - i.e. handbrake turns, or when one a ferry (the car bounces around in the waves if just in park), I dont use the handbrake at all. My theory is two fold, one, you dont need it to secure the car and two, when I park in public places, the car will bounce a little if the car is bumped into when some other incompetent driver is parking badly... Thus reducing the damage to my car, to hopefully something that will polish out.

That said, reading other posts here, I'm now wondering of it is better to take the increased damage Vs breaking the locking pin on the gearbox. Thoughts?

[Wills2]

I have never just secured the car on the parking pawl I think that's asking for trouble and I very much doubt it will minimise any damaged should another car hit yours it could snap the pawl though, secure the car as the manual tells you to on the handbrake.

These threads are always interesting as they shine a light into the odd little habits people get themselves into, the little scenarios people create to justify why they are doing things that aren't needed or helpful.

Why don't people just drive the car as indicated by the manual supplied with the car written by the guys that built it and put the warranty on.

[Pica-Pica]

AdeTuono said:

Pica-Pica said:

Pommy said:

Pica-Pica said:

Pommy said:

fk me, some people on this thread aren't half making a simple process complicated.

It's a fking automatic.

Not all automatics are born equal.

Do tell, which automatics require a reinvention of putting it in drive, pressing the accelerator, pressing the brake pedal to slow/stop and then move into park?

In a BMW you do not ‘move into park’. You press a button for Park, should you wish, but the car automatically goes into Park, when, the vehicle is switched off, the driver’s door is opened, or the driver’s seat belt is undone (all when stationary).
However, my statement an out ‘not all automatics are born equal’ was in reference to the many automatics that allow various modes, including manual. But you probably new that.
Oh, and you can’t just ‘put it into drive’, the brake pedal has to be applied while that is being done. You can also slow by paddle-shifting down as well, without using the brake pedal, useful on long downward slopes, though if you climbe a steep slope and then go down the other side, my car will (again ‘automatically’) hold the low gear, rather than change up and let the car run away with you. As said, it will also change down when approaching a roundabout (using GPS/Sat Nav) to ensure an appropriate gear when leaving (which can be rapid on a wet roundabout with all wheel drive).

You're complicating things somewhat. As Pommy says, even with your all-singing, all-dancing BMW, you can put it in D, then press the accelerator or brake.

, it is not complicating things at all. Most of the things the car decides is best are done automatically (as you would wish) in D. I just have the option to do other things, should I chose.

[Pica-Pica]

Bicronical said:

That's a good point... What is the neutral for in an automatic? I have never used it. If I want to leave the car running without my foot on the brake, I put it in park.....?

In a BMW T/C, P will allow stop/start mode to function, N won’t, (although parking brake should be used in N), either allows you to take your foot off the service brake out of consideration to those immediately behind.

[Deranged Rover]

Bicronical said:

That's a good point... What is the neutral for in an automatic? I have never used it. If I want to leave the car running without my foot on the brake, I put it in park.....

I do use the neutral in a BMW DCT equipped car as you can only put them in park by the car being in drive/reverse and turning it off through the stop/start button. Should I want to get out of the car whilst it is running, into neutral, apply the hand brake etc..

I guess you would use the neutral if you wanted to rev the car but remain stationary (and not stress/break anything). Any other reason people can think of?

For anything other than a brief stop at traffic lights, I put my auto in N and put the handbrake on. Going all the way to P seems like a waste of wrist effort and I despise people who sit on the brake pedal, blinding the people behind.

I was also told many years ago when learning to drive that if you sit on the brake pedal at the top of a slip road after leaving a motorway, for example, the heat in the discs generated by you braking from 70mph to 0 is conducted away faster in the areas where the pads are in contact than on the rest of the discs, and is a good way to warp them.

[Sofa]

jamieduff1981 said:

I hold the fairly unpopular opinion of thinking the much lauded ZF 8 speed gearbox is great for taking the pain out of driving diesel SUV-type things and pseudo-premium low-rent German status symbols but utterly ruins anything with any pretentions of fun, since having to paddle down through 6 gears manually to reach 2nd for a twisty bit of road to enjoy your V8 is in truth a short-lived novelty which rapidly becomes tedious to the point of just not bothering to try enjoying the car.

You just hold the downshift paddle for about a millisecond longer and it automatically drops it into the lowest available gear? At least that's the case with any auto BMW I've driven, and I assume most other makes. Or alternatively just pop it in Sport+/mash the accelerator at which point it'll get you down to that gear and then you can go manual.

Not as pure or engaging, no, but can still be plenty of fun.

[SkodaIan]

Deranged Rover said:

For anything other than a brief stop at traffic lights, I put my auto in N and put the handbrake on. Going all the way to P seems like a waste of wrist effort and I despise people who sit on the brake pedal, blinding the people behind.

.

That would be the normal way for me too. Also for any time when you need to do something where you're not fully in control of your feet such as taking a jumper off, reaching across for the glovebox, collecting from a drive-thru, or just having a stretch while stopped.

The advantage of neutral & handbrake over just letting the auto hold do its thing is that the car is totally secure, even though it's still switched on. Pressing either pedal won't make the car move. Everyone must have seen those videos on YouTube of incompetent Americans crashing through car park barriers after they slip off the brake when reaching out of the window for a ticket.

Interestingly, the auto-hold can't be used in my car unless the driver has their seatbelt on.

The reason not to use "Park" in that situation is totally clear to me in its name ... it's to be engaged when the car is parked, not just temporarily stopped.

[DodgyGeezer]

Bicronical said:

That's a good point... What is the neutral for in an automatic? I have never used it. If I want to leave the car running without my foot on the brake, I put it in park.....

I do use the neutral in a BMW DCT equipped car as you can only put them in park by the car being in drive/reverse and turning it off through the stop/start button. Should I want to get out of the car whilst it is running, into neutral, apply the hand brake etc..

I guess you would use the neutral if you wanted to rev the car but remain stationary (and not stress/break anything). Any other reason people can think of?

re. the handbrake, apart from being a hooligan - i.e. handbrake turns, or when one a ferry (the car bounces around in the waves if just in park), I dont use the handbrake at all. My theory is two fold, one, you dont need it to secure the car and two, when I park in public places, the car will bounce a little if the car is bumped into when some other incompetent driver is parking badly... Thus reducing the damage to my car, to hopefully something that will polish out.

That said, reading other posts here, I'm now wondering of it is better to take the increased damage Vs breaking the locking pin on the gearbox. Thoughts?

presumably a holdover from earlier times when it may have been easier to mistakenly dump a car in reverse more easily than these days?

[AdeTuono]

Pica-Pica said:

AdeTuono said:

Pica-Pica said:

Pommy said:

Pica-Pica said:

Pommy said:

fk me, some people on this thread aren't half making a simple process complicated.

It's a fking automatic.

Not all automatics are born equal.

Do tell, which automatics require a reinvention of putting it in drive, pressing the accelerator, pressing the brake pedal to slow/stop and then move into park?

In a BMW you do not ‘move into park’. You press a button for Park, should you wish, but the car automatically goes into Park, when, the vehicle is switched off, the driver’s door is opened, or the driver’s seat belt is undone (all when stationary).
However, my statement an out ‘not all automatics are born equal’ was in reference to the many automatics that allow various modes, including manual. But you probably new that.
Oh, and you can’t just ‘put it into drive’, the brake pedal has to be applied while that is being done. You can also slow by paddle-shifting down as well, without using the brake pedal, useful on long downward slopes, though if you climbe a steep slope and then go down the other side, my car will (again ‘automatically’) hold the low gear, rather than change up and let the car run away with you. As said, it will also change down when approaching a roundabout (using GPS/Sat Nav) to ensure an appropriate gear when leaving (which can be rapid on a wet roundabout with all wheel drive).

You're complicating things somewhat. As Pommy says, even with your all-singing, all-dancing BMW, you can put it in D, then press the accelerator or brake.

, it is not complicating things at all. Most of the things the car decides is best are done automatically (as you would wish) in D. I just have the option to do other things, should I chose.

Yes. We all know that. As stated more than once, all you actually need to do is put it in D (with a button or lever, if you want to continue being pedantic) until you either need to a) go backwards or b) park. Stop being a knob.

[LunarOne]

Gad-Westy said:

RUSTILLDOWN said:

In automatics I brake with my right foot, and accelerate with my left foot.

Hardcore!

In anticipation of a foot operation that would require me to have a cast on my right foot for at least six weeks, I bought my first automatic car and tried learning to do this. It's much trickier than anticipated, despite my left foot being used to fine clutch control. It turns out that brakes need even finer control to avoid head/windscreen contact!

[QJumper]

Bicronical said:

That's a good point... What is the neutral for in an automatic? I have never used it. If I want to leave the car running without my foot on the brake, I put it in park.....

You'll find out what neutral is for in an automatic if you ever break down and need to push it.

[Timberwolf]

Smint said:

Yet others of us who've had them, proper TC autos that is, since 1973 and currently 3 x TC autos on the drive (have had multiple manual cars in the meantime), have never had a single auto transmission failure, and all except 1 of these was and is a well used older example, but all have seen sensible oil change intervals.

The only ones I've known to be bad are around the early 2000s when they went from the same old hydraulic-shift 3 speed + overdrive boxes that had been around since the '70s to 5/6 speeds, auto neutral on stop, all-solenoid valve bodies and "lifetime" fluid all in the space of a couple of years. Putting a lot more demand on the fluid at the same time as telling people not to change it went about as well as can be expected, resulting in plenty of Volvos with gummed-up Aisins or X-Types with shredded JATCOs at 60-80k.

Of course the Japanese manufacturers who kept their 40,000 mile fluid refresh intervals had no such problems with exactly the same boxes...

As far as I know that was just a blip though, the ZF8 is reckoned to be pretty tough. Also worth noting for those who've not driven one you'd very rarely use gears 6+ in spirited driving, most of the modern 8 or 9 speed boxes I've encountered are 5 normal gears followed by a stack of progressively taller ratios for more relaxing motorway driving.

[HelldogBE]

QJumper said:

Bicronical said:

That's a good point... What is the neutral for in an automatic? I have never used it. If I want to leave the car running without my foot on the brake, I put it in park.....

You'll find out what neutral is for in an automatic if you ever break down and need to push it.

Or when you go to a drive-through carwash where your car gets pulled along. Be careful not to open your door or switch off the contact as that'll put a modern car in Park.

I notice most people with automatic and electric cars don't use the (electronic) handbrake and neither do I most of the time (parking on flat surfaces, as I would with a manual gearbox). But they forget it's still there and I definitely use it on an incline. Otherwise you notice the strain on the parking pawl when putting it into drive/reverse and taking off. Just recently had to educate a fellow engineer that park and handbrake weren't the same thing!

[Triumph Man]

Disco 4 with the 6 speed slush box - I just leave it in drive all the time, occasionally knock it over to “sport mode” (there is nothing remotely sporty about the car). I sometimes manipulate changes up by slightly easing off. People say the 8 speed is better but I don’t find the 6 speed too bad. Probably wants a fluid change at some point soon though. On anything slightly steep I apply the handbrake and put it in park - I don’t like the slight rocking motion when putting in park - I have visions of the pawl snapping off! Plus I suspect most of the problems people have with the handbrakes on disco 3/4s is due to people not using them…

[bcr5784]

jamieduff1981 said:

I hold the fairly unpopular opinion of thinking the much lauded ZF 8 speed gearbox is great for taking the pain out of driving diesel SUV-type things and pseudo-premium low-rent German status symbols but utterly ruins anything with any pretentions of fun, since having to paddle down through 6 gears manually to reach 2nd for a twisty bit of road to enjoy your V8 is in truth a short-lived novelty which rapidly becomes tedious to the point of just not bothering to try enjoying the car.
.

Pretty much any motorcyclist shifts sequentially down through the gears all the time (and I see no motorcyclists making a big deal of it), I'm not sure why a keen driver should make a big deal of it.