Thread: Auto vs Manaul utes

Originally Posted by Maca49

In the late 80s I had a Toyota 2 litre GLXI Amon, awesome car, was doing 70 k a yr all over NZ, both islands. 160 kph was a doddle. Stopping was a different story, it was a manual. Always been a great car!!

Had the same as a work's vehicle from 87 for a couple of years. Incredible handling. Bit of a wolf in sheep's........ The one I had was dual fueled. Used to drop it out of gas back onto petrol for hills and winding bits.

I’ve always bought manual 4wd vehicles so my missus doesn’t drive it.

Thats funny ! Had an argument recently, when I was asked; why cant we use your (mine) Laurel C32-manual as our family-car...being so 'roomy' and all. I agreed, on the proviso she first got a bike-licence, and rode one of my bikes. Now she's looking at a 'Wingroad'.. and have to agree about dodgy-modern-manual 4wds, manufacturers seem to have forgotten what they are really for, maybe targeting yuppies and soccer-mums ?

bosses newish colorado only done 25000km tourqe converter has just shit itsself lucky its a warranty job

Originally Posted by rewa

Thats funny ! Had an argument recently, when I was asked; why cant we use your (mine) Laurel C32-manual as our family-car...being so 'roomy' and all. I agreed, on the proviso she first got a bike-licence, and rode one of my bikes. Now she's looking at a 'Wingroad'.. and have to agree about dodgy-modern-manual 4wds, manufacturers seem to have forgotten what they are really for, maybe targeting yuppies and soccer-mums ?

yea but they look the part all shiney and every single accesory you can put on it parked out the front of cafes tho

I drive a manual ute everyday. Hardly ever tow, and normally sit in Auckland traffic for 2 hours a day. I normally opt for a manual if its a fun car but for a ute the auto is easier and modern autos have improved greatly in economy, smoothness and gear transition. So basically Id probably buy an auto for a ute next time.

Auto sure has improved, my 95 landcruiser is auto, I low range you need to brace yourself for the gear change and suddenly.your back is out of whack as it jerks and takes off. New modern ute is a whole different animal.

In saying that the l/c has a handy button that allows you to start in 2nd

Originally Posted by Beetroot

With most autos being tiptronic and having torque converter lock up in every gear, there is really no reason to be overheating a transmission.

When towing big loads up big hills drive it like a manual, select a lower gear before you actually need it and try keep the torque converter locked up.
Same thing for fuel consumption, with a locked torque converter you aren't loosing the 10% efficiency of older autos, so fuel consumption should be similar.

How do you do that?

Originally Posted by northdude

yea but they look the part all shiney and every single accesory you can put on it parked out the front of cafes tho

The ones with 20 plus inch road tyres, front bar and snorkle, plus the bucket of wet mud in the back so they can pour over it when the need to look cool.
I only run AT tyres on my ute now and no real accessories. I went back to 2 wheel drive ute years ago and never again. Dont take my truck up any bush bashing tree rubbing tracks any more. Also having a shiny family truck doe's restrict where i leave it when going hunting and to much money tied up in to treat it like shit.

Originally Posted by imaca

How do you do that?

By manually shifting to a lower gear so it is not slipping so much

Real men drive with three pedals

Originally Posted by 35desoto

Real men drive with three pedals

Maybe.

Originally Posted by jakewire

Maybe.
Attachment 124410

if this is the 3 pedal option I'll just stick with my auto.

Originally Posted by imaca

How do you do that?

If you watch your revs as you accelerate you will notice the revs drop as the vehicle changes down gear (just as you'd expect) but continue watching it and it'll drop again just a little.
You can also notice it when you put your foot down a bit to get up a hill, the vehicle will appear to drop down a gear but wont be as big a drop as if you manually changed down.

Older vehicles will only lockup in 3rd or 4th gear but most newer gearboxes will lock up in all gears.
This is why newer autos have better fuel consumption as you aren't loosing power in the torque converter.

Anyway, as vietnamcam said just manually shift down before you really need too or before the vehicle does it itself, much the same as you would do in a manual.
You can basically avoid all the downsides of an auto by manually shifting and driving like you would in a manual, made much easier if you have a tiptronic auto.

I have one of each current hilux 4wd both have muds and bull bars only diff is one has canopy and one dogbox weights are generally the same this is my thoughts for what it’s worth .The manual we chose as our private/family/trip car and auto for work.

The manual 6speed gear box is really Smooth and just feels so much freer and powerful when driving sit the revs where ever you like actually they have 30nm less torque than the auto just the feeling it just spins along nicely when crawling through really rough sections big boulders washouts at fans etc the auto is nicer to squease over these other than that I prefer the manual to drive

The auto for work work is great for heading in out of town in traffic lights etc
And towing it’s a no brainer it’s just better things I hate about the auto and it could just be a hilux thing the drone of an auto on the open rd and in general as your are up down in the revs it sits in the revs higher when cruising does weird shit with shifts not as refined as some others I’d say off road it’s just as good I’d say really good when slow is needed creeping technical etc maybe a little feeling is lost not much.

The auto does use more fuel but it’s marginal

The service from Toyota is the main sticking point for me that they are not the company they used to be will be looking at others next time and I’ve had the last four models 😐