Tweaky Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I have to drive automatics due to motorcycle accident. My current van is a VW Trident with auto gearbox and am very happy with it. I hope to change to a bigger motorhome at a later date and wonder if anyone has any views on the different types of auto's out there? I look forwrad to your views. Tweaky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merle Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Tweaky I think I've seen somewhere you can get manual change clutches altered to 'electronic' operation. No idea of the cost , sorry, but it might give you a lot more choise of motorhome Merle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Have driven Transit's and Morvano's with robotised autos and thought they where very good, did think about getting a 3l on present van so we could have auto but at time considered the extra cost of an unwanted engine upgrade and the auto to be too much, but now availible on the smaller engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 The Comfortmatic box on a Fiat is absolutely brilliant, very responsive and makes driving a pleasure when combined with the 3 litre engine. The downside is the additional cost. I have previously owned also an automatic Transit but this gearbox is no longer available on post 2003 vehicles. The Transit gearbox is vastly inferior to the Fiat in my opinion in terms of performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twooks Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 VW DSG - no contest >:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhorsf Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I have the comfortmatic box up to now it has been excellent far more control going slowly reversing it will really creep backwards up a slope I am glad I paid extra for mine so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek pringle Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Hi, I am on my second motorhome with the Fiat Comfortmatic gearbox with 3 ltr engine. Absolutely great and no complaints at all----that is once you have swallowed the cost. cheers derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 The comformatic box in Euro 5 vans is now available across all the range, at about £1800 extra. So you can have it on both the four cylinder 130 and 150bhp models and on the 3 litre 180 bhp as always I will probably go for 150 bhp version on next panel van we get..... just back from Excel show and this was the only bit of good news! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chausson le mor Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Why not do what we did bought a Renault master new shape Euro 5 engine their Quickshift transmission is only £984 extra not the massive extra demanded by Fiat plus with the master the quickshift you can have it on the 125 engine!! Drives super! So glad we didnt pay the £4000 extra Fiat demand :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 because the Renault is not as practical a shape as the Fiat for a panel van conversion... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twooks Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Bet the dealers are a million times better tho, fiats designed for masochists by people who just don't care Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Twooks, How much does a VW transporter with DSG cost? Is it not a good deal smaller than the Ducato? Even if there is a shred of truth regarding the perceived quality of a VW over a Fiat; is it woth the extra money for effectively less vehicle? Have you driven a comfort-matic Fiat? If you want a small, cramped camper and want to spend £50k for the privilege of having a VW I guess thats ok but that's an awful lot of Bed and Breakfasts, isn't it? Then you won't need to stand outside while someone else assembles your bed or have a crap in your kitchen. Each to their own. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Merle - 2012-02-17 8:13 PM Tweaky I think I've seen somewhere you can get manual change clutches altered to 'electronic' operation. No idea of the cost , sorry, but it might give you a lot more choise of motorhome Merle A current example of an 'auto-clutch' is described here http://www.vehvac.com/motorhome/auto_clutch (One caveat - I understand that this type of conversion does not transform the vehicle into an 'automatic' as far as UK driving-licence entitlements are concerned. So, if you've got an automatics-only licence, you'll need a vehicle that has no clutch pedal.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 jhorsf - 2012-02-17 11:49 PM I have the comfortmatic box up to now it has been excellent far more control going slowly reversing it will really creep backwards up a slope I am glad I paid extra for mine so far My understanding is that this transmission is just a standard cog-swapping box, with a standard dry plate, or DMF, clutch, and the only sense in which it is automatic is that the cogs are swapped, and the clutch actuated, by servo motors, under the control of some very clever electronics. This is not to deride the system or to decry your experience, but......................if you are doing as you say, what you are doing is, in effect, continually slipping the clutch while reversing a relatively heavy vehicle. That is the only way a vehicle can ascend a hill with its ground-speed lower than is sustainable by the engine for the gear selected, while maintaining sufficient RPM to generate the power required to overcome inertia. The comfortmatic transmission may achieve this using a gentler combination of RPM and clutch plate pressure than could be achieved with a standard manual transmission, but slipping the clutch it will undoubtedly be. All I am saying is don't make a habit of this, it is not a fluid flywheel transmission, and you will inevitably incur a relatively high rate of clutch wear in the process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armstrongpiper Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Further to Brian's comments on the wearing of the clutch, could I ask Mr Euroserv what mileage his fleet has covered while using Comfortmatic equipment. I suspect the answer will be far in excess of what Motorhomers would cover, but may involve fewer occasions such as reversing onto ramps. I am particularly interested, as we have owned an Autotrail Tracker with the 3 litre Comfortmatic since 2008, done 18000 miles without a problem. In fact, it is a joy to drive. Neil B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twooks Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 euroserv - 2012-02-20 10:42 AM Twooks, How much does a VW transporter with DSG cost? Is it not a good deal smaller than the Ducato? Even if there is a shred of truth regarding the perceived quality of a VW over a Fiat; is it woth the extra money for effectively less vehicle? Have you driven a comfort-matic Fiat? If you want a small, cramped camper and want to spend £50k for the privilege of having a VW I guess thats ok but that's an awful lot of Bed and Breakfasts, isn't it? Then you won't need to stand outside while someone else assembles your bed or have a crap in your kitchen. Each to their own. Nick ouch, stood on a sore spot I think, or where you just having a bad day was actually commenting on the previous post which referred to Renault. can't in all honesty really bring a lot of first hand experience to a discussion on relative merits of Renault v Fiat dealers - but on the topic of VW v Fiat - I could bore for England, but life is too short particularly since you appear to have made your mind up anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Apologies if they are due. There are a great many badge snobs around and they wind me up. If you are not one then I apologise for taking your comment out of context. I saw one of the camper converted VW Transporters a couple of weeks ago and thought that the living and hygeine arrangements were hysterical; the price, even more so! I thought i might provoke a laugh. Did not work. The fact is; sadly, all dealers are rubbish. Especially if they did not sell the vehicle to you, and make very little money out of your warranty work. They just lie in wait for the day when you bend or break something so that they can have your pants down. For some extraordinary reason folks seem to have higher expectations of the dealers of the less expensive brands. My experience of VW and Merc dealers has been appalling and we seldom hear any complaints about them.... a bit like the emperor's new clothes? Anyway; to answer other questions.... our comfort-matics are doing less miles than most on the fleet because of the primarily continental work that they have been used for. No faults so far at all but to be fair they spend all but 1000th of the time going forwards! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twooks Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 hi nick - so, friends again. we had fiat for years, van ok - but not for slogging in a hurry, conversion brilliant dealers a nightmare, drive seat, poor mans' vw or even audi, my only problems with vw dealers were when they've expanded to include other marques - thinking in particular of one in Crewe, - a, brewery, booze-up, couldn't, in, organise other vw dealers have been fine, fell in love with DSG first time I drove one I assume you refer to the VW California, had a chat with them some time ago, another VW dealer I wouldn't touch with a bargepole Fiat dealers, regardless, never come across one that really cared, and the whole marque came out of the reversing judder thing v badly agree about snob badges - try telling an audi owner that the skoda is the same car :D but I was actually referring to Renault, have seen some nice conversions on them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 WEll just for the record . We have a VW all be it not a camper its a shuttle . I used to be a badge snob if thats what you call it . Really fell for the hype that VW's are the best ,this is the second vw we have owned the other being the caravell. What a load of I am not impressed with the fdealers as Nicks states they all wait to take your pants down :$ its true . Bought the last shuttle just over a year ago the heater has never worked yet been back 5/5 times trouble is they cant give us a like for like vehicle as it has the lift in the back for Fred . How do I explain to a disbaled child in the back sorry love its so bloody cold in here and its actually dangerous to drive we cant see where were going but we have to collect you from school. Rubbish not impressed with it at all. VW have gone down in my estimation and more people should say so Trouble is we purchased the lift at 5500 and now we are stuck with it . out of interest took it to my friend who literally squeezed the hose and the heater works now . Cant say the same for VW engineers . 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twooks Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 not my friends from Crewe ???? think the solution of 'squeezing the hose' comes under the heading of 'low tech' sometimes also known as common sense don't think you can get a degree in that ?? ps - we no longer use dealers, there's a great guy in next village ?? thanks god for eu legislation removing the stranglehold on warranty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Quite agree use my friend , always did for all the others only went back because of the warranty , anyway back to OP. before we get told off :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twooks Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 What !!, Us !!, nay, Anyway, love my veedub, hope OP manages to find a good replacement for his AS, (not that I'm a fan of AS) Don't suppose your new van's an auto ?? see, right back on OP >:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chausson le mor Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 The new Renault Master is actually slightly wider than the Fiat Sevel van so dont know why you would say problem with internal space give me the Renault anyday over the Fiat I should know have tried them all the aftersales on fiat in this part of the country is dire! still reckon its better to pay £980 extra for auto transmission than double that with Fiat! Plus you can get the renault quickshift on the MWB as well as the LWB van! On fiat I am not sure if you can get the comfortmatic on a MWB conversion?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I hope you will pardon my ignorance on this subject but, Surely if you purchase what is being sold as an 'Automatic gearbox' ie NO clutch pedal, (ie for a disabled driver, as here) and some short time (within warranty) on, in it's use, ( as Brian has said, when reversing it 'Slips the Clutch') the Clutch fails surely it becomes 'part of the gearbox' and is replaceable 'Under warranty' ?? do 'Comfortmatic' vehicles have a clutch pedal ? if so, why ? On manual gearbox vehicles the Clutch assy. is Specifically EXCLUDED from the vehicle warranty, because, bad driving habits can cause early failure. BUT in this case, the clutch is being operated not by the driver, but by the vehicle itself. SO, must be included surely ? as well as the DMF flywheel if one is fitted ? Either it is an Automatic (suitable for the disabled) or it isn't. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 The Comfortmatic does not have a clutch pedal and there are no reversing issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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