Auto v Manual in adverse conditions.

[Mollers]

As most of you know by now, we had it pretty badly on Fri pm/eve. The snow arrived very quickly and everything ground to a standstill. I've just been chewing the fat with the missus' Dad re. our expriences of Friday. He has a 10 month old Mitzy LWB Shogun 3.2 DiD Auto and I have a L200 2.5 manual Tractor. The Shogun is also tiptronic. I was chuffed with the L200, it behaved beautifully. I took to the back lanes as the main roads were gridlocked. All four wheels working hard to maintain traction. Using the box on decents it was very shore footed. I delivered 7 school kids home in good time. Now the Old Man, with the aid of heaps more gizmos than me, struggled. The main prob was the Auto box. He said that in tiptronic 1st he wasn't getting anything like enough engine brake. When he used the brakes to slow his decent (bearing in mind we had 2" of snow on 1" of frozen hail) the thing was slewing around even with ABS. He was very unimpressed with the whole experience. So it begs the question just how much help is all this technology. Didn't take the X5 out as I was afraid that someone might slide into it,so can't comment on it's performance.

[Richard B]

Isn't there a big difference in tyres on the L200 and the Shogun? IIRC, Shoguns have big wide tyres with a fairly ordinary car-like tread pattern as standard, and don't L200s usualy have narrower tyre with deeper tread?

[Erin]

Isn't there a huge difference in the weight of the two cars also? Surely no amount of ABS can stop 3.5 tons sliding down a slipery hill.

[codprawn]

Yes tyres would have a lot to do with it. skinny nobbly ones will grip far better in snow up to a certain depth.

Nice to see some people have noticed it is better to use the gears than the brakes to slow down......

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by Richard B

Isn't there a big difference in tyres on the L200 and the Shogun? IIRC, Shoguns have big wide tyres with a fairly ordinary car-like tread pattern as standard, and don't L200s usualy have narrower tyre with deeper tread?

Nope, tyre sizes are the same. Tread patterns differ only slightly. Mine is the Animal, only the commercial "work" model has narrower wheels.

[Rogue Wave]

I hate Automatics,

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by Erin

Isn't there a huge difference in the weight of the two cars also? Surely no amount of ABS can stop 3.5 tons sliding down a slipery hill.

Good point, I'm not sure what the L200 weighs. Can't see how a Shogun can be a lot heavier though, it only has a bit more tin at the back.

[Hugh Jardon]

i very much doubt if a shogun weighs in at 3.5 tons more like just under two or so, Mollers....did the shogun have down hill decent button? mine has and seems to be fine

trouble is that soon as you touch the brakes and lock the wheels then all control is lost, if you can brake or engine brake and keep em turning then you will have more control. are you sure he wasnt locking the wheels up?

[jwalker]

ABS is poor in snowy conditions and braking distances can be longer than with direct brakes. A gentle touch and cadence braking.

It's not a valid comparison having different folk in different vehicles and then comparing the transmission as though all else is equal.

[Mollers]

[QUOTE=Mollulnan] All four wheels working hard to maintain traction. Using the box on decents it was very shore footed.

Read as "sure" footed. Didn't have to take to the beach!