Please excuse my knowledge on this.

I know of the old Granada's, Sierra's and early Mondeo automatics. The newer automatic cars, what is the difference? I know they come with 6 or 7 gears, but are they smoother as in you dont really feel the car change gear? Also seems like the new autos cost a fortune if they go wrong.

Pros and cons of new auto cars 'vs' old auto cars?

 

My 330d is a 6 speed auto and it's so smooth. The car is on 85k so the auto box could do with a service fairly soon. I know the oil for them is really expensive.
Just driving normally and sometimes you can barely feel it shifting. I'm hoping when I get it serviced it'll be even smoother. I do find though that driving in manual and using the paddles to shift, I can drive it even smoother than in full auto.

 

modern autos also have dual clutches so the gear change is much smoother and quicker.

Gone are the days of jerky and mis timed gear changes.

Oil is expensive for these as are the electronics as many are now ecu driven so have a separate ecu for these.

 

Do cars do autos like trucks do? Where there not old school torque converter type autos as they have manual clutch set ups. The clutch and gear change is just done via hydraulics that’s ecu controlled the internals of the box are the same as a manual.
I had autos explained to me like this once on a course while we all laughed and said there crap and jerky. Imagine how many nerves muscles and thoughts it takes to smoothly engage a clutch or change gear. Then imagine having to program an ecu to control components to do the same job you do. Made sense thinking about it like that

 

I've got a mk3 focus 6spd auto as my daily. 90% of the time it is brilliant, but it is far from perfect. When coming to a brief stop at a roundabout for example, it takes a couple of seconds to think about what gear it wants to be in before pulling away. 'Sports' mode doesn't seem to do anything apart from make it sit at 3500rpm most of the time, where in a diesel, most of the power is long gone.

It has separate buttons on the side of the lever so you can shift it manually but as they are so awkward to use, I've used them probably twice since owning it.

But on the plus side, so comfortable and easy to drive, especially in stop start traffic. From a standstill, plant your foot and it shifts through the gears just at the right time and quicker than I think you could in a manual. Using it with cruise control is much easier too, as with a manual of course it disengages every time you put your foot on the clutch to change gear.

Last year I had a brand new mercedes E class with a 9 spd auto. What a brilliant box that was. Even with 9 to choose from, it was always in the right gear, no hesitation and was so smooth.

 

Old auto boxes were known as "slush boxes" in my day, with good reason too.

 

the 7g tronic box in my merc is quicker and smoother than my mates similar bmw and you can feel a definite sharpness over sport and comfort modes. the book stat 0-60 in my auto is quicker than the manual.

old autos tended to rev and sound like a slipping clutch before they bite and lumber away.

 

If you want to try one come and try my 8 speed Rangie, you would struggle to tell it is changing gear sometimes, it is close ratio and just surfs the torque. I HATED old auto’s now I love them.

My 330d bmw was also awesome and my 1M used to blip the throttle on down shifts in spirt mode but not sure if that was standard as it was played with.

 

Note automatic is a collective term, various types of automatic transmission which includes automatics, pre-select, SMG, DSG etc.

Newer 'autos' typically are the latter, they have more gears and are more efficient than the older fluid flywheel type.

As said, the boxes are similar to manuals, but the clutch is replaced with a electronic/hydraulic setup.

Martin

 

What you're describing could be a couple of things.

At the good end and around for years, DSG, DCT, SMG etc basically dual clutch manual gearbox, all with ecu control.

At the cheap shit end, some Vauxhall, Shitroen etc use this ( and to be fair so dd an old Aston ) an ecu/hydraulic controller clutch/shift mech
So basically an automated manual gearbox.

But a proper auto with a torque converter and many clutches/gears etc inside the box is another different animal entirely. And in this day and age on a modern car like a Merc etc...they can be bloody superb boxes and very similar to a good DCT setup. Perhaps more refined though at a slight expense of some performance.
But it also seems easier to get a lot of gears into an auto, vs any sort of manual...so that can help performance for any negatives there might be.

And either can be far smoother, especially the full auto than anyone with a foot controlled clutch and hand operated gearstick etc.

 

My skyline is a dual clutch transmission the shifts are virtually instant but it is noisy like a race box, and my RS6 is a tiptronic torque convertor and auto box silky smooth not as quick as the gtr but still quick, no noticeable slip and silky smooth and quiet.

whereas my old 1970s Chrysler is a 3 speed auto with a street fighter box in it, modded for quicker shifts and less slip, but in reality it is nowhere near these modern autos, not even close.

One of my workvans is an 08 l200 diamond auto, and it's got a typical old style 4 speed auto, just like a clutch slipping when you first pull away

 

Pretty much any slippy auto box these days will also have lockup converters...so no slippy when driving. Best of both worlds really.

I'm surprised autos are still not more common these days. Especially for high milers who see a lot of traffic. I'd I'd a choice, not a hope I'd have a manual for that.

 

My mates just bought a 4.1litre straight six (L6 engine) Pontiac Ventura and we went out in it today. That has the column shift auto and tbh it wasn't too bad.

My daily is a 2014 hyundai elantra auto, the box isn't too bad but every so often it holds the gear and shifts late but its good on fuel and reliable so I'm happy with it.