V6 auto off road ?

[gazza1591]

Hi all

I got my self a 3.2 V6 auto today just wondering if anyone has took one off road and if so what was it like and advantages/disadvantages over a manual ?

cheers

[country_Est]

Ok Pros and Cons

Auto can go much slower over some obsticals without burning the clutch.

Engine breaking is restricted, so steep slippy decents can be interersting.

Somebody should be able to add more, as I have a manual diesel but have been off roading with various other makes manual and auto so no real problems, just different driving styles.

Trev

[Drift]

[AskDean]

I have one and youll love it

for most things just line up and give it some gas and youll find you get over most things in 4wd high. if you find your spining the wheels then lift off and slowly press down if your still spining then drop it down into 4wd low the extra weight gives more grip on some surfaces and the power pushes it through.

going down the hills you only get some engine breaking by putting it in first.

have confidence that you dont need to press to hard on the gas as it will hold up some quite steep hills at low revs if you find it is dropping between gears then use 1 2 3 but you should not need to on most things.

[country_Est]

[gregster]

Its the damn brake lights on em that get you if you are following an auto...manuals doesnt use brakes much offroad, but auto's need to dab em all the time...

They should make the "automatic" badge huge on the back of them, so peeps following know to ignore their brake lights.

Gotta say I have offroaded a couple of auto's, a 3.9 Rangey, a 4.2 patrol and a shogunV6. This was laning and P&P.
For climbing they were good, and to pedals and 2 feet worked well on climbs where you had to stop and start again. All of them had plenty of grunt, which helped no-end, but I think a smaller engined auto would be a bit lame offroad. Saying that I hate auto's on anything with a smaller engine, they need big CC grunt to work well I think without lurching through gearchanges on both road cars and 4x4's...I have to say of the 3 auto's I offroaded only one, the nissan, didnt develop gearbox problems..Both the RR and Shoguns gearboxes died...
Descent control is an issue, but not much worse than with a 2.0i sport fronty in fairness...cadence braking being the answer...Most auto's tend to be designed with better braking capacity anyway. And park on an autobox is the best handbrake ever, and the engine can be revved at the same time for winching etc.

I have to say I prefer a manual offroad, I like that positive drivetrain connection where you can switch between power and engine braking just by lifting a pedal...Its easier with a manual to use weight transfer by rocking the car to get you unstuck or out of a cross axle. Some of the things that we do in the more extreme sorts of offroading would kill an auto in minutes too, like coming down hills forwards in reverse, switching quickly between reverse and first to rock the car out of a stuck. I wouldnt feel confident pushing the truck over to extremes of angles either when its drive effectively disconnects when I lift off.

so for laning and the like an auto will be fine, just practise cadence braking before...If you are gonna get brutal offroad with it, expect gearbox issues...

[gazza1591]

Thanks for the replys I don't plan any major off roading
The most challenging thing will be strata just hope I don't break it

[AskDean]

you shou dhave a good laugh and remember dont panick and gas it just let the truck do the work it has all the grunt you will need to do the hard work just press gently on the gas as you can be quite surprised how fast one of these will go from a stand still on to flying on any surface.

[gazza1591]

it was my first real drive in ti today and boy does it fly. thanks for the comment will take it easy i should have snorkel 16" with AT and a 2" lift on it by yhen aswell.