As some of you may know, there is currently a restriction that if you did your driving test on an automatic transmission car, you had this restriction on your driver's license. It was illegal to drive a manual car. This restriction impacts about 10% of people driving (my guess a bit higher in the expat community).

As of February 2019, you will be able to drive a manual car without having to take another test.

The 24Heures article also mentioned that about 25% of cars in CH are automatic while the TCS said that about 45% of new cars being registered are now automatic.

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Do or do not, there is no try(ing). Yoda

And death and destruction is being predicted! (really, in at least on article I read in Italian yesterday)

Tom

Of course the driving teachers (who are screaming the loudest) have no vested interest in the announcement.

I have only once ever driven an automatic car and that was many years ago and without problems so I'm pretty sure the move from an automatic to a manual is just as straightforward for most people. After all, it is simply a different transmission system and there is so much electronics there and generally in a car now that the distinction is almost irrelevant. I had more problems getting used to electrically operated handbrake on VW Passat I hired once for a holiday. Well, actually, I never got used to it.

In my late schooldays though, I earned some pocket money working at a garage, and there was a story circulating there about a woman who hired a car from them and drove it from Devon to London and back. On returning it, she complained that it did not have much 'go' in it. She normally drove an automatic and, apparently, did the whole journey in second gear.

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If you have difficulties with a post which contains a link to a site in one of the Swiss languages, use Google Translate or your own favourite translating browser.

Note: All people from the US, which most likely did the test on an automatic, have no such restriction on the Swiss license.

Manual - coordination of foot on clutch pedal and gear change. Automatic - put in drive and drive.

Slightly more complicated shifting from automatic to manual, I think...

Automatic: no engine braking, so more complicated to drive.

Tom

Not true at all, you are always in gear whenever you brake in an automatic.
(Unless you manually put it in neutral)

You can also manually downshift to a specific gear if so desired, sometimes useful when going downhill so you don’t have to brake all the way.

But I’m sure you know all of this

A minor problem since synchromesh gearboxes were invented. Just a simple matter of remembering to press a pedal before changing gear. And if you forget, the horrible grinding noise will soon train you.

Torque converters provide no direct coupling between wheels and engine, and thus no engine braking, which is why you cannot bump start an automatic.

But I’m sure you know all of this

Tom

Just release gas on an automatic and on a manual and experience the difference.

As for the topic, it is the habits we have that screw us over. It has happened to me that I hit the brakes out of habit when slowing down for a corner or red light when thinking I hit the glutch when switching from automatic to a manual, and I am not the only one who has experienced such. For the rest I can't think of anything else going wrong when switching.

Worst was that when I did that with a rental in the US, it would speed up!

Tom

We have one auto, and three manual (not counting bikes).

The auto is better in traffic and for pulling a trailer, but by wife has problems driving it due to the different characteristics while braking. And if I switch from that to her Fiesta, likewise.

The Panda 4x4 and Boxster are so far away from anything, that they are far easier to switch to/from.

Oh, and the wife previously had a Panda automatic (two cars earlier).

My last (and only) automatic, before the current one, was a '67 Buick Electra 225 (225" long) with a 7 liter V8. Switching between that and my 5speed Z28 was interesting, to say the least.

Tom

I certainly don’t know all the detailed mechanics of it, no need to get pissy, I am happy to learn from an experienced motor enthusiast such as yourself

I have no idea how these “torque converters” work, all I know is that when I’m in drive “D” in my automatic it behaves completely differently to being in neutral “N” and provides a certain amount of Engine braking. I’m sure it’s different to how the engine braking works in a manual but it’s certainly not non-existent as your previous post suggests.

Further, having done a bit of googling, I would agree with no engine braking in first gear when in drive “D” to prevent jerking at low speeds. However you could always force the car to engine brake by going into manual mode and selecting the gear you want to be in.

Looking forward to your response

At higher gears and speeds I can’t really say I experience much of a difference as I experience engine braking in both manual and automatic. Automatics certainly don’t coast in neutral when you release the gas pedal but the mechanics are probably different depending on what type of automatic you have.

In first gear, I would agree there is a notable difference as the manual would reduce the speed quickly or jerk and then perhaps stall as opposed to an automatic that would continue rolling. I would say the behaviors is similar to manually selecting first gear in an automatic.

Thoughts?

Unless you have a locking torque converter, which is something no vehicle I've ever driven has had, you will get minimal or no engingine braking, regardless of what gear you are in!

Manually selecting a gear does not change that!

Tom

I guess we are looking at this from different perspectives. You are deriving your conclusions from the mechanics knowledge whereas I am purely describing my observations based my experience of driving an automatic.

I guess someone with a better knowledge of “modern” automatic transmissions would be able to bridge our somewhat contradicting point of views.

My car is: an automatic 2008 BMW 318i (E90) / Petrol - if anyone can say what kind of “torque converter” it has...

Well, I have rebuilt more than a few engines and gearboxes over the years.

Tom

I thought locking torque converters were typical, and Wikipedia seems to support my admittedly informal and American automotive knowledge. Poking around a bit online, the conditions for lockup seem to vary with more modern cars locking up earlier in the quest for fuel economy.

Not that it is entirely clear to me that you need a locked tranny-engine connection in order to engine brake. I mean, wouldn't the torque converter pass some torque in both directions, like any almost any other variation of a fluid coupling? Wouldn't the torque passed be roughly similar to the torque available for acceleration, which is to say, quite a bit?

Also, while I don't remember if I've ever tried engine braking an automatic, there are certainly auto mechanics happy to recommend it by setting a lower gear.

My car with automatic changes to second gear on steep roads down. Then it nicely brakes on the engine. Same feeling as any manual car I've ever had.