economic driving

Lancelot · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:28 am Post subject: economic driving

trying to stay in that green band of revs

is it easier manual or automatic?

on friday in no rush i was watching my revs carefully and it seems in low range on auto it only changes gear at 1700 revs even when empty Shocked

if i was manual driving i would have been in another gear long before

how does yours compare?

terry

Pat Nicholson · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:01 am Post subject:

It uses far more fuel on Auto than I ever did on manual Rolling Eyes

Pat
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phil007 · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:12 am Post subject:

have to agree although it is only a daf 7.5 that i have driven with an auto box but that was the same very late gear changes so for the few days i had it i drove it on the switch which changes gear when you want it to although saying that on gearing down it still has a mind of its own

i must admit i prefer a manual box myself
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Ally Bongo · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:13 am Post subject:

I have to agree with Pat , there is no way an automatic caan be better on fuel consumption when inn heavy traffic or rural roads .

Bigger Birdie · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:47 am Post subject:

As stated, an auto will never beat a good drivers fuel returns, but it will always improve those of a poor driver.

Thats why firms are buying them in numbers, because it puts your entire fleet, whether the driver is good bad or indifferent, on a simillar level which makes pricing the work easier since you can more accurately predict the fuel used.

Whilst I'm no fan of them they're going to get more common not less for this reason. My boss hasn't bought a new lorry with a manual gearbox for four years, and I don't think he's going to change that to suit me.
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AJ · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:18 am Post subject:

I agree with all the above,

In my opinion the Merc boxes are some of the worst for late changes in auto.

If the box has a semi-auto option I'd always go for that and choose when to change myself.
Its all part of driving to me, if its possible to choose to change earlier then surely all good drivers would. Who wants to sit there listening to it revving its bits off.

Still having said that, we all know they are here to stay.
One guy I know got sent on a Scania course after his firm got new units, another guy who got a new Volvo was sent on a similar thing.
Amazing differences they claim after these courses, apparently a lot of the boxes have features that are hardly mentioned in the manual (if we ever see one!)

As an agency driver I doubt I'll ever see one of these courses but when I decide to go full time in the future I will certainly try and wangle my way onto one.

Has anyone here ever done a manufacturer training course on their Marque?

AJ