Manual vs Autoshift

Auto's have better fuel economy hands down, unless you are a VERY experienced driver who is fuel concious all the time. Those people are rare though. Manuals have better speed going up hills! Autos dont have to shift obviously, so when your older... knee problems and driving are not issues. Most of the people I know that drive them (minus one) says theyd never drive one, but when they had to said "they would never go back to a manual".

 

I have a freedomline 12 speed great trans but I wonder how I would ever 'rock'it out of a slippery situation.
Don't think it is possible.
Other then that worry, its all good ,I manually shift it went it gets 'lazy' like when holds a gear or two lower then I want,but it is fearless down grades downshifting without a care never missing the shift or complaing.I did once get a clutch over temp warning so it is possible to slip the clutch too much.
Clean every connection from the batteries couple of times a year and the Volvo tech said I wouldn't get any electrical gremlins -so far so good.

 

autos are very slow up hill. they run in lower rpms. mine wouldn't down shift up a hill till it dropped to 900 rpm. but when accellerating, it shifted at 1100 rpm. i don't see the fuel mileage if you got the pedal floored just to get going. i mean, really, kind of hard to move at 1000 rpm when the powerband don't kick in till 1300. our manuals have the same motor. i get 1.5 mpg better with the manuals.

i'll never drive an auto again. nice in los angeles traffic but that's it. everytime i had to stop. it was push the gas and wait 2 seconds before movement kicked in. nothing like having traffic honk at you. real PITA when trying to back in to a spot, specially on dirt which is half our deliveries being a flatbedder.

i made delivery once, with a volvo. that guy had to have the company unload his trailer out on the street. while the guy waited for a wrecker to take his truck to shop. something about disconnecting the battery to erase the codes in the ecm to get it started again. only this time, the trick wasn't working. it had sensor problems with the transimission. the truck said it was in drive when it was actually in park.

i can see guys likeing the autos. after all, who wants to wear their transmission shifter out in the west coast mountains. but i don't think auto's are meant for OTR operations. local work, as in garbage trucks and snow plows and what not.

the guy that drove that volvo. worked for that company for a few years. when they started switching, he wanted nothing to do with it. got told to start looking for a new job. so he gave it a shot, and after 6 months of no starts, he started job hunting. don't know if he found one yet. this happened 3 months ago.

 

I've found automatics to be sluggish, unpredictable, and boring. Nothing wrong with working through the manual gears to get going and love the "throaty" exhaust as I'm running 'em!

 

Only automatic I've ever driven was an International DuraStar straight truck (fuel tanker) which really wasn't too bad. I remember my knee accidentally knocked the shifter in reverse while doing about 40. The sound was apocalyptic but nothing actually broke. That being said, I prefer a 10 or 13 speed. I take pride in being able to operate a manual truck in a profession where such a skill will soon require an endorsement on your license.

 

Older automatics are the ones that have the issue where you have to disconnect the batteries to reset the computer.

I currently run a 2010 Pete. I had the transmission software updated and that took care of most of the frustrations and quirks. Very seldom hit manual mode now. Mostly in parking lots because it shifts @ pushing 1500. Or long grades where the computer wants 1800 rpm; I'll go manual mode and force an upshift to run lower RPM.

I have gotten lazy though and some times forget to shift my pickup on home time. Then again I don't get confused with shift pattern as often when I do remember to shift.

 

Just got my auto tranny yesterday.

Sucks bobtail.

Feels like its dumping the clutch and hopping every time it shifts.

I'm TBD on it.

Shifting gears was what was fun to me about truck driving well a part of it. Idk yet.

My left knee is certainly happy to see that recalled kW clutch I'd been driving for a couple years go.

Only time will tell. Certainly seeing a lot more women around my company driving since we started getting autos.

 

There is a knack to driving them smooth,not easy and requires discipline.

 

Oooooooo.....

Tips & tricks?