Why Not Automatic?!

For one thing, the computer shifts when it's happy, not necessarily when you'd shift if you were shifting. You might consider that when you are driving your private vehicle, pickup or car, you become that "wacky car driver" you're talking about. It's not true that all drivers are wacky drivers.

 

Nah, nonsense, take an ishift on a test drive, you won't change gear faster, you won't skip shift as efficiently and you won't out drag one!

There is no reason for an auto to cause backing accidents, that's just silly, there's another pedal on the floor, it's called a brake pedal, that should prevent most accidents. Early autos had some of these issues but not anymore, they change gear faster than you can , they are as smooth and easy to operate as the auto box in your car, you can rock them back and forth when you get stuck, there is no reason a manual has any advantage in snow or ice and to say that there is control issues ; what you are actually saying is 'I can't drive one' !

Why on earth would you want 2 gear shifters? What's the obsession here in NA with making things more difficult ? Fine I guess for highway driving but you'd have some pain in your arm pulling 300,000lbs+ on the narrow winding mountainous roads I'm accustomed to.

 

Scanias new opticruise follows topography with GPS

http://youtu.be/HNf-DNm1V7Y

 

The backing issue is because you cant work the clutch. you give it fuel them some more fuel than it launchs and smash...I have have races autos to include the vovlos with ishift and left them behind really fast. Its the fact that most drivers cant shift correctly or don't know how to jake shift a tranny properly....any time you see and old blue classic with a covered wagon ask to try for the title...I will be more than glad. And a tranny doesn't know if your on I77 at mile post 56 getting ready for a big pull or on 95 in ga on flat land....It cant see the road or understand the road. it just knows your pushing the fuel harder. This same topic was around many many years ago when autos became big in cars. you see where they are today. cars getting 150k and burning up trannies pick ups hauling heavy burning out clutch disc in autos the same thing was proven there a man with gears can take a better beating outlast and auto and out preform them....

 

You can still manual shift an auto if you're not happy with the way it shifts, in fact a modern auto shifts almost identical to an experienced driver!

 

Maybe a first generation auto from 20yrs ago might launch itself but modern ones are exactly like an automatic car or pickup, some manufacturers like scania give you a clutch control option you can use with the trottle pedal but really there's no circumstance where you'd ever have to use it!

I sold my volvos with 1m on the clock and the gearboxes or clutches were never a problem and I operated them at higher weights and on very mountainous terrain compared to what they'd have to go through here in NA.

No point taking a shot at the title now cos unfortunately. I've been relegated to an 18 speed eaton . I have driven all types of gearboxes (except allison) so I can compare them realistically , manual synchromesh is the best without a doubt, very forgiving, easy to use in extreme circumstances, strongest and extremely reliable, almost as good is a modern auto and that's quiete a compliment , eaton is a nice gearbox for general freight but its been outclassed years ago and they are not strong enough for the big high torque engines in Europe and as such are not even an option anymore. In fact in Europe you can only spec 700hp+ motors with autos to take the man out of the equation !


And yes modern autos do 'know' where they are and if they are about to go up a hill and even how big the hill is , they track themselves with gps and have topographical maps programmed in http://youtu.be/HNf-DNm1V7Y

 

I would bite cyanide while standing on a bridge, cut my wrists, jump & shoot myself on the way down just to make sure before I ever drove a class 8 tractor with an automatic. Unless it was a yard dog. (I felt guilty, I hate that) An Auto is a fine trans, just not for me.

 

A 3 peddle auto has a standard foot clutch like a manual. That takes away from your backing argument. That point of your invalid. I do not use an auto, but have some experience with them. I have gotten every auto I ever drove to skip shift as often as I wanted it to.... by placing in manual mode and taching the same as I would with a manual, then hitting the shift up button twice in quick succession. You can set the gear you want as your start off gear.. again point invalid.

And as always seems to happen in discussions of this type, the arguments are futile and so one has to resort to ad homonym attacks of people. The "you just ain't a real trucker unless....." That is so ancient of an argument and really doesn't mean squat. I would only say it truly applies in this instance.... "you ain't a real trucker unless you rack up 3 million miles and have never gotten a citation or even remotely put anyone else in jeopardy." That is a real trucker. Not some high school kind of argument about shifting. That exhibits and insecurity complex that, even with my courses in psychology in college, is outside of my pay grade to help you resolve.

Many folks do not use auto shifts and automatics in trucks because they can't shift. They use them because they DON"T WANT TO SHIFT! If they have an operation that it works fine in, then they chose to use that technology to make life a little simpler and easier. You know.... the same reason we use computers to keep our business books instead of stacks of paper and ledger books lying around.

 

I have over 3 million miles on my eaton with the factory service seals still in place. little rusted but still hanging on there in place. And yes even modern truck autos jerk around. See new KW Vovlo internationals and other makes on new style trucks jerking around trying to creep. And if the Vovlo tranny is SO great why do I see so many post on here Vovlo I shift this and that and error code this and want shift into this gear or this and that. You cant preach to this dog. Just like you cant beat a stick. I drove from Iowa back to Pittsburgh pa with no clutch at all. It grabbed and held but would not release. made it all the way home like that. Try that with your so great auto shift I shift or any model auto you want to. You cant do it. get a dead battery you cant even get a nice guy like me to pull start you and get you rolling, instead you have to spend hundreds on a road call. And lets not even go into the repair cost of an auto with all the issues everyone is having with them. not shifting gears sticking in gears and the list goes on....bout the only use I have for one of those autos is a weight for my dogs chain and even then I would be embarrassed to have it on my property

 

And what do you say to that?