Hello,

with a friend of mine, we are thinking at buying a Discovery with the idea of doing a 2 or 3 week raid in Africa or Asia.

So we started looking at cars. it will be a diesel.

the big question we have is about the gearbox.
We first thought that we should go for a manual.
But now , we see lots of offroad car with auto gearbox.

So is there any risk at choosing an auto gearbox on such a car.
is there something that could go wrong ? what are the weak points of those auto gearboxes ?

Please let me know.....



Gerardo

These guys have always been helpful.

http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/

No way would I consider a manual gearbox on this sort of car, these days (I drive a full-fat Range Rover as my daily).

The only advantage to having a manual box, nowadays, in reality, is that it gives you better control of gearchange points when you're attacking bends at high speed. You're not going to be doing that much in a Disco.

The torque converter (combined with the clever LR 4WD management software) is capable of modulating torque output much more progressively than abusing a manual clutch by slipping it, for off-road/traction purposes.

Torque converter smooths out the torque making the wheels less like to break traction .
But make 100 pecent sure of the condition of the transmission fluid before buying.

thanks for advices


Gerardo

Depends on your primary usage. It's definitely good off-road not having to deal with a clutch. However selecting the right gear lock to hold control in a decent is clunky if it's not computer controlled and the whole "I'm gonna downshift and gun it mid corner in the wet" that it chooses to do spontaneously has caught me out badly. And spinning a truck on all terrain tyres isn't like doing the same in a fast car - once it's going, you're a passenger.

If it's computer controlled it should be better, but I've heard nothing but horror stories about failing electronics from folks on the ground using electronically controlled ones, who have reverted back several generations to get shut of the risk.

[Edited on 12/11/16 by coyoteboy]