Green Lane/Off road in an auto

following from my other thread, thought Id post here on this one.
I know there must be some auto box drivers here, how do they cope off road?
The only auto boxes Ive driven have been VW & Saab, the VW was absolutely crap if the going got a little slippy.
Im looking at a fender with an autobox conversion (either RR or disco, TBC) is it worth looking at for off road/laneing or not??

Mark L has an auto disco that he uses offroad only, and seems to get on fine with it

Autos are generally accepted as being more user friendly off road. They control the power delivery in such away it makes descents alot easier and can keep you crawling quite nicely...


Me personally I prefer a manual as many people do, its a control thing, autos are definitely worth a shout though...

What Jongould says ..

If you're used to an auto you may as well use an auto as there are very few situations where it will be better, or a hindrance, at least until you get a fair bit of experience and can feel the differences yourself.

they are good on and off road, some people will say there not, you need to try 1 first

I am dying to try out the auto disco offroad. works well on the road.

Autos are fine offroad and more relaxing to drive , less worry about stalling on hills so failed hill starts not a worry low box first gear for hill descents ( not drive ) and you can use an auto box like a manual if you so wish .

Having owned both a manual and an auto off road prepped Disco, I'd swear by auto every time now and would never go back.
I was actually disappointed that it was an auto when I went to look at it (having got it at the price I brought it for, not purchasing it wasn't an option...) and considered putting my manual box it, but after the rebuild and when I eventually took it off road - not a chance.

The main benefit is that you need never come off the power to change gear - I find this particularly beneficial when in places like mud runs.
It just seems to be unstoppable in low range and drive. I only ever use gears 1 & 2 when on hill descents - again, faultless.

I know one guy who swapped his manual box for an auto, purely for the benefits it offers off road.

As people say, it's all down to personal preference.

Im not "used to" autos paticuarly, all the cars I have so far owned have been manual, the 2 autos were one after a motorcycle accident and couldnt use my clutch leg, so got an auto hire car, the second was after a dozy t**t wrote my car off, the auto was what the insurance Co provided.
It does seem to be going at a good price, not seen it yet, but have seen detailed pics, its a distance away, but might be worth a trip over

one thing with autos off road is if your starter gets wet and packs up you cant tug it off,
I've seen a few in action and seem to do stuff with ease,especialy crawing over stuff,
:beer2:

auto is sweet off road

the only gripe I have is that with a long first gear, if you on a descent you are on the brakes a lot to control the speed

let you know soon as I've been out for the first time in mine ;-)

I've heard a lot of good about Autos off road, especially for ice and snow, but like already pointed out when things do wrong you are in deeper do-do

JohnnyCrash said:

let you know soon as I've been out for the first time in mine ;-)

I've heard a lot of good about Autos off road, especially for ice and snow, but like already pointed out when things do wrong you are in deeper do-do

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just sounds like an excuse to buy a winch to me!

Spunka said:

one thing with autos off road is if your starter gets wet and packs up you cant tug it off,
I've seen a few in action and seem to do stuff with ease,especialy crawing over stuff,I
:beer2:

Click to expand...

I always tug mine off when iv broke down waiting for the aa

timtheenchanteruk said:

just sounds like an excuse to buy a winch to me!

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Been looking into fitting a winch to my P38 but I want to keep it looking as stock as poss. I have only found 1 set up I like so far and it's no good for me as I'm moving the Autobox rad from the stupid location (wheel arch) to just in front of the water rad (much more sensible place) but mounting a winch there is now ruled out as a) it won’t fit and b) will block all airflow to my newly moved rad :-(

Mine is Auto and is brilliant off road, no clutch to worry about, you always have drive to the wheels and you have a free hand for your CB mike lol, and like mark says you can use it like a manual if you want to, and you cant use a manual like an auto lol, but its really down to personal choice in the end, try both if you can then decide

I had a 3.9 V8 90 auto and it was brilliant off-road couldn't fault it!!

I used to ridicule automatics as being for either lazy people, or genuinely for people that needed them, and I'd have never even thought of using one off road.

Then I actually tried one

At the time I had a Disco 300TDi manual, my dad just bought a Disco 300TDi auto, and it was (and still is) blummin' marvelous, for all the reasons already mentioned.

Infact, I'll soon be after a Discovery TD5 auto to remap and use as a towing vehicle, I'll never want to tow with a manual again.

auto best off road, especailly for laning

Never had a problem with it it is a fair bit easer with an auto