Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax gearbox in aeromax/ supersport

Not quite what he said, and at least certainly not what he meant he said it didn't really matter as they were virtually all 2nd gear corners and necessitated no change as second was perfect. FWIW he also said at the end of the day his knee ached from the on/off nature of the drive but as this was his right knee the auto box would make no difference.

I drove an auto S4 down to St Tropez last year and did the track day at Paul Rickard (or whatever it's called these days) in it, and whilst the auto is very capable it is no substitute for a manual on track or when pushing hard on the col's we just did.

I will always always choose an auto for my everyday car. But for a car like my Aero (and I disagree with whoever said the Aero8 is just a GT, can't remember who said it and I'm paraphrasing somewhat) the manual will always be the nicer box for me. Of course in traffic jams or stop start traffic it's a no brained but I only tend to use the Aero for long fun trips and so this isn't an issue. Even on motorways, I normally go 1st, 3rd, 4th then 6th and will only drop out of 6th if I really need to muster some serious acceleration.

I also recall last year getting really frustrated with the auto box on the autoroute as it needed a bit of a hefty kick to drop out of auto 6th (which seemed quite a bit higher than the manual 6th?). And whilst putting the box in sport negated this and gave an instant kick down, leaving it in sport meant it wouldn't go into top gear (6th) and so you then felt it wasn't really cruising comfortably.

Really frustrating and a bit of a faux pas in my view but maybe they've changed the settings? Maybe a more current auto owner can confirm or otherwise.

And of course, blipping the throttle on down changes, that fabulous cacophony of side-pipes

You can probably tell, manual any day for me! (until paddles and a proper automated manual box).

The Auto is in my mind the better box for those long journeys (which is what my Aero does), but for Sunday morning hooning (not that I seem to ever do that these days) I'd take the manual any time.

I do miss the option of being able to blip the throttle on a downshift, but I'm sure that it would be possible to get a paddleshift set up fairly simply that would do the perfect blip - the Aston V8V uses the same ZF gearbox (maybe I'm wrong?) I think, so I would have thought that it is emminently achieveable...

Boshly, my gearbox goes into 6th manually without any issue. Also kicks down easily to 4th from 6th or to 3rd if kicked hard in auto mode.

Call me "old-fashioned" but one of the reasons I bought an Aero-SS was the manual gearbox option. Very few supercar manufacturers if any(?), these days have models with the traditional manual gearbox as an option.
No issues with mine, despite a few comments about why I didn't go for auto, from the factory including Charles :-)

I guess for me personally there's something about giving up part of the involvement of driving a sports car without the clutch and a gate gearbox.

Yes perhaps a bit tricky on long distance on resting the left foot, but a small price to pay....

Funny how selective memory can be on both sides!


A manual in second will not stay with an Aero auto-changing between 1st and 3rd on the twisty roads we were on, no matter how much of a driving God you are Boshers mon ami mate.


The box is adaptive and remembers your driving 'style'. If you had manually changed into 6th in sport mode on the autoroute, it would have learnt that this is what you like and would have done the same. The message you gave it was that you liked to be in 5th in sport on the autoroute and hence, that is what it gave you.


Wouldn't want Blipper Boshly to be emasculated...


Looking forward to seeing you in that Virgin White Series IV Boshers, it could be an expensive conversion to bring it back to your ideal spec?!?

"The box is adaptive and remembers your driving 'style"



Gee, does it have multiple personality capability, sounds like we might need it in a few places here

Interestingly, I would have agreed with the comments that the auto muted the driving experience 12-months+ back; however, I continue to be more impressed with the ZF auto in the Aero each and every time I drive it. The Alpes jaunt was simply the icing on the cake and my opinion is that anyone who thinks the auto doesn't hold onto the gears or allow you to drive it in full manual mode (without overriding your choices) really hasn't pushed the transmission hard enough. Honestly, I couldn't fault it once on our mountain rally course

As Brian mentions, it does learn and therefore perhaps a short drive or a weekend blast doesn't allow it to understand what you want from it. If you spend 95% of the time in traffic and 5% hammering it, no doubt the software will bias the performance toward economy?

Having come for the manual and into the auto I wasn't that impressed initially, but then I should has read the instructions.

In standard mode the car is compliant but in semi auto mode the dynamics change the gears are held longer and the entire thing just seems to come alive, managing the changers far quicker and smoother than I ever could.

We had a late night run on some of the mountain passes and after a day in the mountains the box was almost second guessing what I was planning next. Would be interesting to see how long a period it learns over.

Ah more selective memory Monsieur Aeroman

If, and I emphasise if, the range is so small and straights mighty short then there is no need to go into 1st or 3rd your changing is superfluous it all depends on the gearing however on both boxes.

I love how all you auto converts argue so vehemently about how perfect the auto box is. It's a great box!!! No doubt!! As an auto

How about we ask someone like JP Jabouille or JoBo which is best for track (or serious fast driving)?? Hypothetical of course.

I agree the auto would suit most Aero driving conditions well, I agree it's a great auto box. It ain't perfect

Oh and I'm still not sure the learning capacity will let it change up to 6th in sport auto mode? Yes I know you can knock it up manually but then your in manual mode No??

I still prefer the manual but would certainly not be disappointed with an auto

I think in terms of efficiency and speed changes for anyone who isn't a driving god then the auto is the best box.

however, the delight in getting it right in a manual is fantastic, and if this is your joy, then even the best auto or paddle shft is no good....