As requested by the factory and organised via AWSC I did a back to back road test and evaluation for the then new 4 seat and the revised Aero back in 2007 and one of the points I made in the article was to stop calling these cars automatics. Think of them more as ‘clutchless’ and you get closer to what they are, the modern day fully electronic and adaptive automatic gearbox is nothing whatsoever to do with the old-fashioned ‘slush box’ that was hydraulically controlled.
They are a total transformation and can be driven just as easily and with as much enjoyment as a conventional manual gearbox if you choose to do so.
As always I would want half an hour behind the wheel of both cars before signing anything and making a choice.
BR
Colin
That is 100% total sense, auto's are nothing like "auto boxes of old!"
My very first ‘factory’ training course was back in 1969, as an apprentice I was sent to BL, at that time the school was in Cowley, for a Borg Warner 35 Automatic Gearbox course. A full weeks training (little knowing 10 years later I would be an instructor at the school after it had moved to near Browns Lane Coventry!). Springs flaps and balls, a work of genius to operate the bands and clutches but they were dreadful ;-).
Many years later I sat in on Volvos Aisin Warner Auto Trans course at our school and all I recognised were the gear sets and clutches, all the control system was smoke and mirrors to me.
BR
Colin
