Manual vs Auto

My Mrs prefers manual cars generally. How good is the SD4 manual - any issues with it? It seems like a rare beast which implies to me that maybe the auto is better? Any comments on that?

Not found a manual demo car yet.

I got the manual because the auto was only 6 speed (previously) the fuel economy was worse and road tax a band higher.Now the 9 speed has came along it should be a no brainer to tick the auto option as its quicker,better MPG and a whole lot easier,my next car will be auto I think

There have been a couple or three mentions of a "graunching" noise from some manual owners. Generally though the opinion seems to be that it is a very good 6 speeder manual with slick and smooth shifting action. I cannot speak from personal experience as I have only drive a preproduction manual and had a 6 speed auto on order, I'm about to replace my car with a new 5 door Dynamic with a 9 speed auto.

Yep Manual is very good, positive gear change, I can see the draw of an Auto box from simple easy driving, but every time I get an auto courtesy car, I find them so boring to drive.

I am using Evoque Prestige SD4 manual since 18 Sept. No issues so far and it is a joy to drive. The gear shifting is super smooth. Anyway, I have used manuals all my adult life.

(10-11-2013 05:37pm)vinny Wrote:  I got the manual because the auto was only 6 speed (previously) the fuel economy was worse and road tax a band higher.Now the 9 speed has came along it should be a no brainer to tick the auto option as its quicker,better MPG and a whole lot easier,my next car will be auto I think

I would agree with you whole-heartedly, however, would want to take a really decent test drive. It also depends what you want to do with it; for example, my 1st FL2 was an auto and I was always fighting it when I was towing my caravan as it always wanted to be one or two gears lower than required. My 2nd one was manual and a far more relaxing affair.

That said, the gear change on the RRE is very slick (once you go past about 6000 miles) and I certainly don't feel short changed.

(10-11-2013 04:48pm)barneyrubble Wrote:  My Mrs prefers manual cars generally. How good is the SD4 manual - any issues with it? It seems like a rare beast which implies to me that maybe the auto is better? Any comments on that?

Not found a manual demo car yet.

The manual is excellent - the gearbox is smooth and slick.
I've always preferred manual cars (both my Evoque and MX-5 being manuals) however having said that I can understand why people living in cities would go the auto route.

I don't live in town or commute and have always had automatic Range Rovers and Land Rovers apart from my Defender. I got into liking autos after fracturing my right shoulder - I couldn't drive a manual so sold my TVR for a Volvo 480ES auto. That was in 1985. It's what you prefer, today's autos are very good and with paddle shifting can still be driven like a manual if you want to. Some are better than others (I wouldn't wish my father's Honda Jazz's automatic on anybody, it is terrible and lost Honda so many of its faithful oldie customers that they soon changed back to a conventional CVT auto from the DSG type that was fitted - it confused too many oldies who couldn't figure out what flappy paddles were for!). One thing I hate with manuals though is what happened to me today on the M6, miles and miles of traffic doing 10-15mph in heavy traffic - the automatic has enough "creep" that I just let it drive with no throttle, in a manual I would have been dipping and raising the clutch to trickle along in that traffic and soon had a sore left leg.

In the States, of course, we can't get any LR with a manual gearbox. So when I bought my first Range, years ago, I was also buying my first auto trans car, and it was very good. In Southern California driving a manual box car is sort of a passion that makes no sense, so I'm happy to report the 6-speed auto box on the Evoque is excellent. For me, in an urban environ, a must.