Automatics - Love 'em or hate 'em?

how about taking off on a slight hill and rolling backwards ~6 feet before it catches, i dont know who got more scared me or the car behind me (that luckily wasnt tailgateing)

 

The brand new Mack mDrives are PHENOMENAL. No roll back on a hill. It will hold itself at idle. They sense how heavy and how hard the engine is pulling. If you're light or empty, they skip gears. If you're heavy, they hit all the gears. They shift instantly. Literally. When I hauled gas, I used to dominate 4 wheelers from a red light. I hate every other auto I've tried, but those things are sexy.

 

Yes that is the best you get , it is actually a Volvo I-Shift.
Here they haul 450 000lbs with them , never heard a bad word about them.

 

I'm sure are euro friends will jump in any time now. Scania?

18 speed manual - but I don't get out much!

 

I just drove a Cascadia 10 speed stick for 7 thousand miles during training, and a Kenworth automatic for about a thousand. I hated the Kenworth transmission. I don't give a flip about "traffic" and an auto, I roll just fine with the stick in traffic. Maybe I'll change my tune in 15 years and will want an auto, but by then I'll probably be retired.

 

Backing up an automatic is a learning curve. Just like guys who are new to using a stick say that it sucks, guys who are used to a stick say that backing an automatic sucks. At first I would push in the pedal, huge delay, then jerk backwards. Now I can smoothly backup and stop on a dime up a hill. Unless you drive it everyday and learn it, you will hate it. It is all second nature to me now the automatic drives just like a car in all weather conditions.

 

I drove a 10 speed semi automatic for two years pulling pneumatic tanker, I found it to be a pain in the arse in stop and go traffic, as you still had a clutch to push. One time i dared to pop it in neutral in traffic, then when traffic started moving the POS wouldn't go into gear.... It was worthless in mud and snow or on wet grass, probably because of the traction control feature that you could not disable. But on the highways it worked fine and I kinda liked it. I guess to sum it up, it was very much a love hate relationship.....I have a 13 speed now and dont want anything else ever again...

 

The first time I bumped a dock in an automatic, ouch! The difference between the two is you accelerate in reverse with an auto, and control reverse with your clutch in manual. The Volvo I-shift is fantastic. I miss it in all stop and go traffic.

 

how can two identical transmissions, one a manual and one a manual controlled by a computer cost different amounts to rebuild? But, I love it when people make the "What's so hard baout shifting?" comment, well, based on what I hear on a daily basis, quite a bit. If I had a penny for every manual tranny I've heard being ground as it's shifted into gear at a light, stop sign, etc., I could have retired by now.

 

As for all these complainers about backing. I've got 1.4 million in autoshifts and 3,000 miles in an Mdrive (my boss has already informed me my new truck next year will be an Mdrive Mack), maybe for the first 2,000 miles of my first autoshift did I have issues with backing, with the Mdrive, I figured it out the first time. With an autoshift, you learn to feather the clutch, NO THROTTLE until you get rolling, then gentle use of the throttle, and usually it's more a case of my foot is hovering over the brake rather than gentle throttle. The last time I slammed a dock, it had nothing to do with the trans, it was because I misjudged my backing distance.