Auto vs Manual

[BigDogsWang]

Of the two, which car's engine lasts longer, that with an Automatic gearbox or manual? I'm of the opinion that an Auto box reduces wear on the engine as there is no overrun when you de-accelerate.

[Ewood27]

On the one hand an automatic should last longer, though I would lend more importance to the car always being in the right gear.

 

On the other hand the automatics swallow quite a measure of the power the engine produces, so the engine has to work harder to achieve the same speed or acceleration, which will increase wear.  If most of your running is on motorways, though, most automatics "lock up" at speed and don't continue to swallow the power.

[booksworth]

There should be overrun with an automatic. As regards how long the engine will last, I agree with Ewood. It is _very_ difficult to abuse an engine in an automatic - you can't over-rev it, or make it labour at slow speeds.

[booksworth]

Had another thought: perhaps you can over-rev it by putting the stick into 1 or 2 and flooring the pedal.

[muggyjim]

The problem mainly lies with the gearbox, not the engine. Any overrevved engine will suffer, so it figures that an auto box will benefit the engine. Autoboxes though do not last as long as a manual without some bother at some stage in their life. I have driven auomatic cars for 28 years now, and dont normally keep them more than 5 years old anyway, so I dont get any hassle. My present car has gear shift controls on the steering wheel (6 speed), so overrevving is possible, but not easy to do. The rev counter has a red zone and the engine would be screaming at that point anyway.