Driving an auto quickly

[militantmandy]

How do you get an normal auto off the line quickly, for instance when entering a busy roundabout?

I drive a lot of autos and have yet to find a consistently good way of getting a snappy start. For reference, the kind of autos I drive include:

Mondeo\Insignia
Zafira
Ceed
Vito
Sorrento
Xtrail

The Zafira is particularly awful as it has both an extremely slow witted transmission and a horribly sluggish engine.

Any thoughts?

[Rotary Madness]

Left foot on the brake, right foot slightly accelerate so you can feel it wanting to pull away. However this isnt great for the transmission so dont do it for long.

[redtwin]

Left foot on the brake, right foot on accelerator to build revs (about 1500 should be OK), release brake, floor accelerator (bit like clutch work in a manual) and away you go.

[militantmandy]

Have used this method but as mentioned above, doesn't seem to healthy for car. If that's the only way then I suppose it'll do!

[FreeLitres]

Hold it on the handbrake?

[Tonto]

Don't have a problem with my car in auto. I get 60 up in about 3.5 secs.

[redtwin]

FreeLitres said:

Hold it on the handbrake?

Still unhealthy for the autobox.

Best option for the OP is to either buy a car with a bigger engine/better autobox or read traffic on roundabouts more accurately so you can anticipate gaps to accelerate into.

[militantmandy]

Just to add, not my cars, driven while working. Generally it's not a problem, but sometimes I need to squeeze into a gap and find that the autos I drive are not often helpful for a quick getaway! I suppose it's just one of the foibles of an auto. If I actually owned one perhaps I'd get used to it.

[philmots]

Bigger engine, rear drive.. My old 330i and 330d had no issues off the line.

I'd say they're even quicker of the mark than the manual versions unless you're especially brutal with the clutch.

[Mafioso]

redtwin said:

Still unhealthy for the autobox.

How is that different to holding it with the footbrake?

[redtwin]

militantmandy said:

Just to add, not my cars, driven while working.

Well in that case go with our initial suggestions and ignore the bit about transmission abuse.

[hairykrishna]

philmots said:

I'd say they're even quicker of the mark than the manual versions unless you're especially brutal with the clutch.

I've had a few autos and would say the same. Admittedly they've all been sheds so I've not been particularly shy with the throttle with a foot on the brake but it still seems far more mechanically sympathetic that a quick getaway in a manual.

Why is it bad for the box? Heat? Surely not a problem unless you're sitting there for ages.

[redtwin]

Mafioso said:

redtwin said:

Still unhealthy for the autobox.

How is that different to holding it with the footbrake?

It isn't, that is why I said it was still unhealthy for the autobox.

[redtwin]

hairykrishna said:

Why is it bad for the box? Heat? Surely not a problem unless you're sitting there for ages.

The torque converter will be building pressure and seals can fail. I have actually had it happen, though I was being extremely silly/immature at the time and was doing burnouts on an older car that was well past it's prime. On a newer car the damage may not manifest itself until much later.

[jbi]

don't buy small engined auto's (A petrol under 3.0 litres or a diesel under 2.0)

They like plenty of low end grunt.

[bennyboydurham]

They're not cars noted for the finest automatic boxes to be honest so there's not much you can do to make any difference. I remember the first auto I drove, an Opel Vectra which had a horrible, coarse, dim-witted auto that always managed to be in the wrong gear for the road speed. Hateful thing. Nowadays though after plenty of German autos I wouldn't have another manual car again.

[kotafey]

Put into N at the lights, left foot on brake, right foot keeping revs at 2k. When gap in traffic opens up, release brake and at the same time drop into D (no need to press the shifter button to do this, should just slide down a notch). Add revs once it catches.

With a more aggressive version of this you can potentially even spin the wheels.

Worked for me in mum's automatic Clio when I was 17

[Chr1sch]

I have a similar thin in my 56 plate 530d, it pulls off the line very well indeed once the gearbox has accepted its going, but there is a clear delay between foot down and go (if you have just come to a halt) its ok if you have stopped completely

[redtwin]

That's because the torque converter is disconnected from the autobox when the car is slowing. It's a feature on your ZF autobox to save fuel. Pretty sure you can get around it by putting the autobox in sport mode.

[Guvernator]

kotafey said:

Put into N at the lights, left foot on brake, right foot keeping revs at 2k. When gap in traffic opens up, release brake and at the same time drop into D (no need to press the shifter button to do this, should just slide down a notch). Add revs once it catches.

With a more aggressive version of this you can potentially even spin the wheels.

Worked for me in mum's automatic Clio when I was 17

DO NOT DO THIS! You will kill the gearbox. Trust me, I speak from personal experience.