Automatics or Manual ?

[Sir Brixalot]

Love em! My Dad's dream car when I was a kid. Great colour-is that your actual car?

[voodoopenguin]

Love em! My Dad's dream car when I was a kid. Great colour-is that your actual car?

Story: as a 14 year old I sat in one when they were introduced at the 1966 Earls Court Motor Show, I said to my friend at the time that I would have one when I got older. Took a few years but finally I had my dream car about 20 years ago. Absolutely loved it but had to let it go after four years as we were self building our house and I had nowhere to keep it.

Yes, that was my car. I believe the photo was taken at a classic car show at Sandringham, that's my eldest blessing inside. She used to love coming to the shows with me.

Paul

[New Kentish Campers]

If I remember correctly,Hendrix owned one of those. I think it was an FF model

[voodoopenguin]

If I remember correctly,Hendrix owned one of those. I think it was an FF model

It was Jimi's drummer Mitch Mitchell who bought a purple FF after the money came in from "Purple Haze". No record that Hendrix actually drove it as he never passed a driving test either here in the UK or his native USA. Jensen still called it the Hendrix car though due to the association.

Paul

[300CE]

Not sure about T25s but my very first automatic vehicle would be 40 years old now and had a three speed box. For an old school "manual must be best" I was smitten, it was beautifully smooth and a joy to drive. No compromise with performance as it did 0-60mph in about 6.5 seconds.

Paul

It was probably 6.5 mpg as well wasn't it Paul - weren't they a 7.2 litre?! Absolutely lovely motor.

My 300ce Merc is an auto and i absolutely love it - it's done 164k miles and still drives great.

[voodoopenguin]

It was probably 6.5 mpg as well wasn't it Paul - weren't they a 7.2 litre?! Absolutely lovely motor.
My 300ce Merc is an auto and i absolutely love it - it's done 164k miles and still drives great.

Yes, 7.2 litres and 330bhp. Driven carefully I managed up to 14mpg, anything lively and it was down to about 8mpg. You probably get about 14 from the Merc don't you? Nice bit of comfortable performance.

Paul

[StuM]

For sitting in end-to-end tailbacks and general town driving, I've loved our auto cars. Actually, for anyone that treats driving like they do, say, hoovering or cutting the grass I would recommend auto every time.

But...

As someone that enjoys driving and the mechanics of it, it has to be a manual box in my view. Even flappy paddles detract from the experience for me. My last manual car was an MR2 Roadster. Those were also available as 'SMT' models with which basically used a hydraulically operated clutch (IIRC) but that detachment made for a much less pleasant driving experience.

Roll forward 20 years and people will look back with real curiosity at these strange machines with gears that had to be selected by the driver.

[300CE]

It was probably 6.5 mpg as well wasn't it Paul - weren't they a 7.2 litre?! Absolutely lovely motor.
My 300ce Merc is an auto and i absolutely love it - it's done 164k miles and still drives great.

Yes, 7.2 litres and 330bhp. Driven carefully I managed up to 14mpg, anything lively and it was down to about 8mpg. You probably get about 14 from the Merc don't you? Nice bit of comfortable performance.

Paul

Believe it or not, i can get about 23mpg around town and just under 30 on the motorway if i keep it under 70 - last of the decent made mercs, in my opinion of course, and they were over £30k new. They're really cheap now as there are still quite a few W124 models about which is a testament to their engineering and quality. I used to have a 4.2 Series 3 Jag, which managed 12mpg, i had to sell it in the end as couldn't afford to run it! Here's a pic of the merc:

[voodoopenguin]

Here's a pic of the merc:

Very smart!

Paul

[infidel]

Roll forward 20 years and people will look back with real curiosity at these strange machines with gears that had to be selected by the driver.[/quote]

they`ve been saying that for thirty five years.

[keith]

Love the big merc...

[OLD ONE]

I have auto, and love it. Mainly as a necessity. Have had autos in the past, but always prefered manual, but I did race an 850 auto mini some years ago, just to prove a point. Now with the age thing and dodgy hips and knee I will carry on with my auto even though it is more costly to run.

[Ian and Lins]

Still out on this. So I've got the van with 1st in the 'wrong' place, my bike with foot change, now Lindsay's got a new car with auto and flappy paddles. Thank the gods I haven't still got my old Lammie with L/H twistgrip gear change.

[123-jn]

I have an auto, 1.9 dg hi top and its great to drive on the flat, once in the welsh mountains though I wish it was manual as it lacks power compared to the manual version, I think the torque convertor saps what little power I have.I find I have to lock it into second and occasionally first as it dislikes changing down to climb until the last minute when it's too late! As for the fuel economy I get around 23 mpg on petrol and 20 on gas. I dont think a manual would do much better than that unless a saint is driving.

[OLD ONE]

I tend to agree with 123..about the gears, not checked my MPG slnce having been gassed.. I was told that the gear change to speed ratio can be adjusted. Not looked into this yet, but is something more on my to do list ....My big bugbear is that my van will not select 3 gear (Top) until I reach 42 MPH..Bit of a drag when driving on 30mph limit roads..