That T-Cross in the pic looks big and rugged but it’s just a toy: a Golf raised up, front wheel drive.
It’s a Cross Over!
And so much quicker gear changes with a modern auto if you feel like “driving”.
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And so much quicker gear changes with a modern auto if you feel like “driving”.
This is true. In the Merc I’ve been driving for the last ten years, I can override the Auto in three ways.
Kick down and it changes down.
Push the stick away from me and it changes down; toward me and it changes up.
There’s a pair of buttons C for comfort S for sport.
I guess there are the same, if not more, options in a more modern car. I haven’t been for a test drive yet.
I’m not going to rubbish automatic transmission because I’d probably enjoy driving a car with Auto. But there’s nothing like the rush of adrenaline while fumbling around with the gears on a busy Sheffield roundabout…
And besides, doing something with my left leg and arm stops me from falling asleep.
I ask myself ‘Where will it all end’ first Automatic transmission, then Autonomous vehicles.
We’re half way there already. My new vehicle has lane guidance, things that apply the brakes to stop you bumping into things, automatic stop/start, anti-skid system, voice control…and a load of other things I’ve yet to discover. I might as well sit quietly with my arms folded while driving.
We recently changed our car from a Renault Kangoo to a Peugeot Partner Teepee Horizon. Both are automatic gearbox WAV (Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle) cars. The Renault had a few faults but nothing too major. I sometimes wish I’d kept it because it drove more smoothly than the Peugeot.
The wheelchair ramp is a lot lighter to lower and raise though and less risky to a recurrence of the hernia. The engine has a fair bit more go in it too. Not too many bells and whistles but it’ll do …maybe our last wagon.
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Approaching a busy Sheffield roundabout! shut your eyes and pray … but not in French, the Citroen might respond badly.
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I agree with you, Foxy. My previous car was a Honda Accord 2.3 with a six box. At 70 mph it cruised comfortable for ages at 2000 rpm. I since gave it to my daughter a few years ago and is still doing fine.
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Love the Kangoo. I know its basically a van with back seats but ours was bought as a 5 year old car with 50k mileage 7 years ago. Still pottering along fine - albeit with new front drive shafts (but they weren’t expensive). Its a workhorse. Correction, its a work pony. I can fit 4 push bikes in the back with the seats down. The boot is the travel space for the dogs - so largely covered in fur. The roof rack system is genius - swings from roof bars to roof rack in seconds. But this old diesel would be priced out of any ULEZ area. And it does leak a little into the floor. And the plastic covering on the paint work is peeling. Part apart from that, an a few scratches…
The plastic coating was peeling on our Kangoo on one of the wings. Also the drivers side window winder didn’t work. We’ve had 3 Renaults. A Laguna, Megane and the Kangoo. A window winder packed in on all of them. On the plus side, the automatic transmission was lots smoother.
The present car is OK but it doesn’t ‘creep’ in traffic as well as the Kangoo did, especially when on an uphill gradient. I’m used to it now but that aspect was a little disappointing. The trouble is the choice isn’t so great in WAV cars and some things have to be settled for.
I have never had a vehicle with automatic stop/start but I think I would disable it if I did because I cannot see the point of it, an engine uses less fuel than the cost of a hamburger if it was left idling all day. I presume it is only there to satisfy some European or US pollution target, otherwise it is pointless.
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Got to agree there Bruce, mine is disabled, just think of the wear and tear on the battery and starter motor, totally pointless.
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I haven’t permanently disabled automatic stop/start yet but have no trouble remembering to turn it off when starting the car. I might disable it permanently soon. It goes against the grain to hear the engine cut out at crossroads etc. The engine stopping always meant a fault in years gone by. I’m maybe never going to trust it starting again.
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Against the grain, for sure.
How do these things work, is the engine switched off completely, do you then restart it in the normal way, or do you just put your foot down?
Just put your foot down. I read the function is disabled automatically if the battery starts to get a bit low. I guess all cars have a switch to override it. It’s called ‘Eco’ on our car.
I’ve got a full hybrid car consuming petrol . It switches off the engine whenever it’s not needed and that’s quite often the case. I’ve had it for two years now and it has never let me down. The engine always restarts when needed. So it’s good feeling to sit in a car that is completely silent at traffic lights, in slow-moving traffic, and stop and go knowing that no fuel is being consumed. And that, too, is very often the case. If it were upscaled to the entire market, the savings potential would be significant.
I agree with other posters about finding the stop/start feature a waste of time, and you are right Bruce, I believe it’s now a requirement on all new vehicles. As Mart pointed out, an engine cutting out at traffic lights puts the fear of God into you, thinking that it won’t start again leaving a long queue of angry impatient motorists behind you…
I always assumed that it took more fuel to keep starting an engine than to let it idle. A bit like the banks of strip lights we had in the factory. A money and energy saving exercise was to switch off the lights during tea breaks…It turned out that it took more energy to heat up the gas and start them all again.
And how about in the winter with the demisters, heater, radio, wipers, and headlights on with no charge going back into the battery. I believe the batteries for stop/start vehicles are twice the price of a standard battery. The few pence worth of fuel you might possibly save will be offset by the cost of replacing the worn parts and battery.
Is the stop/start function there to reduce traffic idling? And the reason to reduce idling is to reduce fumes coming from many, many cars sat not moving - queues, traffic lights, etc. Or even people just waiting in their cars and pumping out pollutants. The function is then sold to you as a fuel saving benefit and badged ‘eco’.
It is a highway Lincs, and I try to avoid busy roads when on foot, but I do think the pollution angle is vastly overrated and most vehicles are equipped with air recycling and filters, not to mention Add Blue, catalytic converters and green fuel, so providing the windows are closed there will be very little pollution in the cab.
As with most ‘ECO’ things, the expense of all the energy saving and pollution reducing ideas far outweighs the benefits.
I don’t use the car all that much. Some years have been below 500 miles. It’s cycling, walking or the bus for local journeys. If I am in the car and stuck at a level crossing or roadworks traffic lights, then I sometimes enable the Eco function and heave a sigh of relief when the engine does actually auto-start. On or off, I’m sure the car’s pollution footprint must be small …and this car uses Esso Blue - I mean AdBlue 
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I’m pretty sure the issue was not to protect other drivers. I would have thought the worry was about busy junctions in built up areas and the air quality for people living there. And on a warm, still day if you walk along, say, the Marylebone road, the A40, at a busy time the fumes are terrible.