cabby john wrote:
For years I have had Auto for the family car/manual for work. Mine is a WAV (original E7) that is manual only, no choice for an auto - but if there was I would have chosen a manual, as I go to work to get the maximum return. Having said that if I had the volume of work that London has - then I would happily take the loss - London boys will not mind the loss of mpg because the volume of work.
Re a work model it would depend on the terrain/location/car OR cab. If you are on distance runs then Auto's are very good - short around town work/hills etc (in a WAV) and you would probably be losing 3mpg or more. The main reason I am commenting ( I might have mentioned it before) is the Auto gearbox!! Do not be sucked in by the manufacturer claiming that the oil NEVER needs changing. The family car WAS a Volvo SE D5........."NO need to change the gearbox oil"! I ended up getting rid of it early because of the gearbox - CHANGE THE OIL .......it ends up breaking down, and coming out in sheets. The mechanics for some reason never seem to include the oil change for the gearbox in the service - trust me it is needed. I do not claim that it is needed every time you have a service..........but DO NOT neglect it.
I've heard that loads of times more recently from a guy on our rank who has an auto motor. He serviced the motor every 12000 but the garage never touched the gearbox oil.
Last week his box wouldn't change gear of sorts and was a worried man because he thought it was going to cost him a few grand to get fixed. I said "has the auto transmission oil been changed"? He said no the mechanic said it never needs doing.
I told him to get in touch with a mechanic I know who will change the fluid for him. He did that and within an hour he phoned me up and said "it's booked in for a fluid change in the morning".
The next afternoon he came on the rank beaming saying, "it's as smooth as anything, he's put fluid, filters and seals in the box and now it's going into gear like it did when he brought it".
It cost him £75 and the mechanic said if he left it a few thousand miles the oil wouldn't have worked anymore and the gearbox would've been mullerd.