Sportshift - value your opinions

[squirejo]

Hello,

I am musing an 07 or 08 V8 Roadster. I drive to work and back thru London and hence I prefer auto cars.
Can any owners let me know how they find the sporshift box? Is it smooth and easy or agricultural and needs plenty of driver finesse?
I had an 07 Gallardo e-gear recently which was fine on the open road but rather recalcitrant in town.

Thankyou.

[Murph7355]

It's not an auto box, it's an automated manual. They are very different beasts.

I've only driven a Sportshift car for 20mins, but that was enough to know that the gearbox is truly rubbish when driven like an automatic. Very jerky as the box really does need a little lift on the upshift.

Used in manual mode I thought it was good. Not as good as the Ferrari equivalent, but not bad. And would have improved a lot with familiarity IMO.

[Zod]

I drive to work in London in either a manual DB9 or an SMG (similar to Sportshift, but a little more developed, although the journos still slate it at every opportunity) M5.

I just don't seen any need for an auto in any circumstances ever.

[XXXAngelXXX]

i had SS on my former V8V Roadster: you wont get used to the auto mode after 20 min - you need some weeks to get used to it and then its great when you drive in the city IMHO

[GPM3D]

I've had my SS for just over a year - 90% of the time I'll drive it in manual / paddle mode. The auto mode is not intuative enough for me - if you're acclerating (even gently) and then lift off, it won't always upchange. You can sort of second guess the change points and lift to make smooth progress but it's so easy just to pull the paddle and have done with it!
The other annoying trait is at motorway speed, if you accelerate it sometimes will drop two gears rather than using all that available torque!
Graham

[Pugsey]

Utter rubbish in 'auto' mode - some say you need to get used to it but, surely, the point of an auto is that you DON'T have to work at it? Ok (ish) in manual mode, but it's no Ferrari. Gets better in manual if you're really pressing on - hard on the brakes into a hairpin from high speed and down three/four gears is where it pays - but that's about it. A 'why bother' option IMHO.

PS. Short post but two edits for usual crap spelling!

Edited by Pugsey on Monday 27th July 13:30

Edited by Pugsey on Monday 27th July 13:30

[alphonso]

I'd pretty much agree with the above. The manual mode is great and works like a manual without the heavy clutch in slow traffic, I love it and would only ever use the auto mode when I'm eating a sandwich. In auto the gearchanges are jerky but you anticipate them after a while and I'm hungry so I don't care.

The downside has been having to reset the clutch pretty much everytime I drive it to avoid shuddering when setting off. It means starting the car in neutral and leaving to run for a few seconds. It also can change down to first sometimes if you're slowing for a speedbump or tight corner and you're left gearless for a surprise half second.

[squirejo]

thanks all - can't get the forum at work. I have no interest using it in 'auto mode' per-se, I do have interest in only having 2 pedals. I am very aware it's a robotised manual, hence the question. Sounds like it's perfectly ok to live with. A test drive should follow, if anyone at Stratstone would answer the phone or email of course.

[steve_amv8]

I used the "Auto" mode (in both comfort and sport) on the way home from picking up my car ... and that was the last time, 12 months ago

I love the manual mode - it is just at happy on motorways, traffic jams and country lanes. Easy going and (one you get used to it!) smooth to change.