[PedroT]

There will likely be some, like me, who will be coming to their first Autobox in the new DS, so some basic questions.
1/ Is it possible to know what gear you are in at any point in a journey?
2/ I understand there is a paddle shift to allow manual override, does this select specific gears or does it simply put you higher or lower?
3/ For MY 16, have LR managed to overcome the reported hesitancy when emerging from junction/joining roundabout etc.

I know you "Auto Kings" will be smiling at my naivety, but hey ho!

 

[smayo]

My current Evoque was my 1st auto. You will come to love the ease of it. I thought I would be using the paddles a lot, but have actually hardly ever used them.

I was slightly hesitant myself but took the plunge as the auto was quicker than the manual and you can always use the paddles anyway.

To answer your questions.
1. Yes, just pull the left paddle.
2. Left paddle up one gear, right paddle down one gear.
3. Cant answer that until I get my MY16, but Ive personally never found it much of a problem anyway.

 

[ccomley]

There will likely be some, like me, who will be coming to their first Autobox in the new DS, so some basic questions.
1/ Is it possible to know what gear you are in at any point in a journey?
2/ I understand there is a paddle shift to allow manual override, does this select specific gears or does it simply put you higher or lower?
3/ For MY 16, have LR managed to overcome the reported hesitancy when emerging from junction/joining roundabout etc.

I know you "Auto Kings" will be smiling at my naivety, but hey ho!

1 No. It shows "D" or "S" if you are in full auto. If you take manual control, it tells you what gear you are in. Other than that you have to get used to the revs vs speed.

2 Left paddle takes you down a gear from where-ever you are. And puts you in "manual" if you weren't. Right takes you UP and to manual. A long-hold on the right one takes you up a gear and returns you to auto. IF you were in D, you return to auto after a few minutes of steady driving in one gear. If you were in S, you stay in manual until you choose to go back.

3. So far, no, except by you taking manual control see above. Mine is in at the moment and the technician was talking about spending some time with the gearbox config whilst he has it. I don't know if this is an "I know how to fix it" or a "let's have a play, but we're not hopeful" type fiddle. I'll report back when I get the car back.

 

[ccomley]

Oh, and unlike some I find i use the paddles a *lot*. I'm a long time hater of auto boxes, though I've been driving a Merc 7GTronic box car for a while and it's fine. SO I was lulled into assuming all modern multi-speed boxes are as good. This is not. I don't know if it can be better by better configuration, or not. Until then, I'm happy enough with it, but I'll be using the paddles!!

If you come to it from a "trad" 3-speed auto, it;s probably fab!

 

[merctony]

Best thing to do is go in to menu on clocks, and switch paddle shift to sport mode only, that way you won't go into manual by mistake.
tony

 

[BlameTheParents]

If you come to it from a "trad" 3-speed auto, it;s probably fab!

Hahah ... the last auto I owned was a Citroen Picasso. DS is fine after that. Although the options on a DS can end up costing more than the whole Picasso at the time (c. £11k new!)

Paddles on my test drive worked fine, easier than having to downshift a manual and instantly there when you need them.

Counting down the days now ..... allegedly still some time in September......tick tock.

 

[ccomley]

Paddles on my test drive worked fine, easier than having to downshift a manual and instantly there when you need them..

Hmm. I never had problems with a manual, even in my 90 which requires double-declutching into 2nd.

Even with the paddles there's a delay on downshift. Maybe half a second. And you can't skip a gear, if you "paddle" twice, you notice the pause in the intermediate gear before getting to the lower one.

But it's way better than "auto" which translates to "stay in the highest possible gear for the road speed and shift down only once your'e really really sure the driver wants to speed up again".

 

[Nick2611]

Quick tip, if you want to guarantee a build date, book yourself into the VIP tour. £295 for two people and they coordinate it so you see your car actually being built. Ring the LR Experience office at Halewood to book. Worth the £295 by all accounts.... We are booked in for 26th October, can't wait...

 

[Hawks]

Oh, and unlike some I find i use the paddles a *lot*. I'm a long time hater of auto boxes, though I've been driving a Merc 7GTronic box car for a while and it's fine. SO I was lulled into assuming all modern multi-speed boxes are as good. This is not. I don't know if it can be better by better configuration, or not. Until then, I'm happy enough with it, but I'll be using the paddles!!

If you come to it from a "trad" 3-speed auto, it;s probably fab!

if you think the Merc 7GTronic is better than the DS, then the DS has to be absolute rubbish, and makes me so pleased that I decided on the Manual!

 

[Powerdoc]

According to many review, the duo ingeniumTD4/ZF 9 speed box, is very good.
With the ZF Box, you win 1 sec in the 0-62 mph test.
You dont notice with the Automatic box, the change of speed.
Most review recommand the auto box for the DS.

 

[wardie]

I've got a MY16 180ps auto on order and this afternoon I did a test drive in the dealers new demo car with this set up. I'd driven the 2.2 diesel prior to ordering. Today I found the auto gearbox responsive (more so in Sport than Drive naturally). Occasionally on mild acceleration the system paused before dropping down a gear or two, but this was either fixed with the paddles or (as the dealer showed me) a strong kick down in the accelerator really quickly switches gear. The time for a gear change is pretty quick. However given the large torque band and little point in revving it high then the exact right gear seems to matter less. An interesting tip he gave me also was to take a bit of foot pressure off the brake just before you want to pull off, to start the auto stop engine.

All in all main difference I noticed from old engine was mainly less noise and a tiny bit mor responsive gear changes, marginal improvement but not step change.

 

[KaikouraDiscoSport]

Thanks for this update, interesting reading

 

[ccomley]

... fixed with the paddles or (as the dealer showed me) a strong kick down in the accelerator really quickly switches gear.

So... the box is still not sorted but they've started to come up with excuses for it.

 

[PedroT]

So do we mostly think that Autobox is pretty good when aligned to Ingenim Engine?

 

[Dutch_Disco]

Stupid question, does every auto gearbox have the paddles or only the 180hp or petrol version?

 

[philn]

Hate to admit this as didn't think it would happen but had to make a quick getaway today and I'm sure the box reacted better than before. Had been allowing for lag from take off so hadn't noticed improvement before. Tried again later and definitely seems better.

 

[doodlewalker]

Hate to admit this as didn't think it would happen but had to make a quick getaway today and I'm sure the box reacted better than before. Had been allowing for lag from take off so hadn't noticed improvement before. Tried again later and definitely seems better.

"better than before", do you mean before a system update?

I drove a 2.2 again yesterday from dealer and thought it was better than my first testdrive in same car 3 weeks ago, so interested if there has been a tweak or I'm just imagining it.

 

[Gordon]

I've set up my Ingenium auto to restrict the paddles to Sport only, to avoid catching them by mistake. I've done 800 miles and never taken it out of Drive. The gearbox works well with the engine, and doesn't need to be overridden. I haven't had a problem with the delay at junctions, but then I've been driving with this effect for 8 years, so I've learnt to drive in a way that avoids it kicking in.

 

[ccomley]

Stupid question, does every auto gearbox have the paddles or only the 180hp or petrol version?

Every

 

[Dutch_Disco]

Thanks, can't wait to pick it up next week