Yes they can. Also an automatic is better than 80% of all drivers on the road as it will shift a lot better than a human. Ever been taught race? I mean a proper shift in a car? No? Then an auto is better at changing gear than you. I was always 1 step ahead when I went offroad in my auto seeing 2 or 3 manuals get stuck because the drivers had issue's keeping power up but not spinning the wheels. In an auto that is a lot easier. On another note. I can outrun most manuals round castle in an auto. Manual really really isn't better than a modern auto box. Because 99% of the tools that drive them can't shift for ****!
I did say "half way decent driver"!
A auto will not know about the muddy hill twenty feet ahead until it gets to it. A decent driver in a manual will hit that hill at optimum speed/gear.
I'm not saying autos are not great for very many drivers. They simply are not better for those who can drive a manual properly.
thats what the drivers for ,and the statements not true ,its just the old mindset that thinks you cant really drive unless its manual
If you had 2 identical vehicles, one manual one auto, driven by a good driver, I bet the manual would out perform the auto offroad if you include having to stop and start again on a slippery slope or at the foot of a slippery hill etc. Granted an auto gear change on the hill may be smoother but it I reckon a good driver in a manual would have the edge.
When I'm using my landy to lower vehicles down icy slopes by tow rope attached to the back of the casualty vehicle, I would take my manual over an auto every single time.
the beauty of auto on slippery surface is the ability to put from no torque at wheel to full ,so not having to slip clutch or stall or cause wheel spin you can find optimum, and traction is about the amount of torque ground can take
I did say "half way decent driver"!
A auto will not know about the muddy hill twenty feet ahead until it gets to it. A decent driver in a manual will hit that hill at optimum speed/gear.
I'm not saying autos are not great for very many drivers. They simply are not better for those who can drive a manual properly.
9 times out of 10 if I'm towing a heavy van or lorry up a slippery slope I'm in somewhere between first and third low range and simply on tickover. If I need to change gear I may increase the revs and then bring the clutch up slower than normal on the change (not quite slipping it if you get my drift). On a very steep hill and towing 7.5 tons of truck I may just and just need to touch the throttle to prevent kangarooing.
By staying at or close to tickover you can match the autos torque.
I agree re town driving, auto is best.
Off road not so much. I guess it depends on your experience, if you work in an office and use a Land Rover as a hobby for pay and play days, then yes a auto will be better. If you are working with the car in mud and muck then you'll want a manual.
Horses for courses.
See it's still the same. If you can drive get a manual. Why? I can drive brilliantly. Worked with cars. both on farms(as a child driving my granddads series or a tractor). Or Castle Combe where I drove scoobys, single seater formula Fords and mainly 1.8 ford focus'. All manual and I did blistering lap times in each. Still find an auto to be just as good psychically as a manual offroad. No edge in a manual at all and if there was an edge I would have it. A lot of people assume auto's are for people who can't really drive assume they are worse but if you can really really drive well an auto can be just as good. Proof is how many newer cars are auto with a manual option. I could be in an identical car to most hobbyist drivers except for the auto box and I would trounce them be it 2 high powered sports cars or 2 off roaders. So why insist that mechanically a manual is better than an auto when it's purely preference? Not arguing just wandering if you have any knowledge or evidence to show manuals are better.
9 times out of 10 if I'm towing a heavy van or lorry up a slippery slope I'm in somewhere between first and third low range and simply on tickover. If I need to change gear I may increase the revs and then bring the clutch up slower than normal on the change (not quite slipping it if you get my drift). On a very steep hill and towing 7.5 tons of truck I may just and just need to touch the throttle to prevent kangarooing.
By staying at or close to tickover you can match the autos torque.
ive no doubt you can ,as i imagine you really are a skilled driver , though id imagine not all are that condemn autos
I suppose if you take driver ability into account it doesn't matter if a useless driver is giving full lead foot in drive in an auto or in first in a manual. The lack of traction will still be the same in either case.
If you are a crap driver, who doesn't understand how to use a gear box to it's full advantage, then you'll always be better off in a auto.+1 seems a lot of "if you can really drive " it must be manual ,which is of course bull****
If you are a crap driver, who doesn't understand how to use a gear box to it's full advantage, then you'll always be better off in a auto.
If you are the best off road driver in the world, but only now drive round a city centre, you're better off in a auto.
It's all down to what you use the car for.
If you need full control off road then you're better off in a manual.
If you want the best fuel economy, you're better off in a manual.
And I've yet to see a landy farm vehicle with a auto box.
For what most people require from their Land Rover it makes precious little difference really, and does come down to just personal preference.
If your a decent driver who isn't stuck in the 70's you can drive an auto. MOST manual big men can't handle an auto for **** therefore think they are crap, No quite the contrary its the ****ty drivers that can;'t drive
manual VS auto is purely preference there is 0% advantage to a manual same as there is 0% advantage to an automatic. But you REAL MEN will insist on manual. I like those types "Sorry my auto's **** I can't tow you out bye bye". Sorry but you insist on trying to make the point your a real man and can do better than any auto? Really? I'd like to see you change a manual M5 the same as the auto box on a track. Point made is Shaun Reike(?) german touring driver couldn't out drag BMW's test M5(that had NO driver in it) in the manual M5 he was using.
If your a decent driver who isn't stuck in the 70's you can drive an auto. MOST manual big men can't handle an auto for **** therefore think they are crap, No quite the contrary its the ****ty drivers that can;'t drive
manual VS auto is purely preference there is 0% advantage to a manual same as there is 0% advantage to an automatic. But you REAL MEN will insist on manual. I like those types "Sorry my auto's **** I can't tow you out bye bye". Sorry but you insist on trying to make the point your a real man and can do better than any auto? Really? I'd like to see you change a manual M5 the same as the auto box on a track. Point made is Shaun Reike(?) german touring driver couldn't out drag BMW's test M5(that had NO driver in it) in the manual M5 he was using.
You wont find any farm trucks with out auto's in american unless it is a dinosaur from the 1970's. And they have locking diffs from the factory
Snowy give us a report back about autos from your trip to Boston