Question-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
Are you familiar with the automatic transmissions in the VW bus? I'm looking at a 1978 Westfalia to purchase. I am wondering how reliable the automatic transmissions have been in the busses of this era. Very little is mentioned in what I have read, and I have not seen any on the roads.
Thank you for your time.
Tom
Answer -
VW has been known to have extremely reliable standard transmessions, as for the automatic, well its not a true automatic but an automatic stick shift in other words no clutch. They are OK, I prefer the standards because of the lack of power from the engine.
A Follow up question: Which engine shows a lack of power, the manual transmission or the automatic? If the automatic, why does this happen? If the manual (or standard as you call), why would you prefer the engine with less power?
Thanks a million for your answer. I had forgotten about that "semi" automatic transmission that was very quirky in a bug I saw once. I don't see any advantage in that system.
Tom
AnswerI wasn't quite clear there -- in any car, be it chev,ford,honda,etc if the engine is in the low horsepower range you will feel the lack of get-up-and-go and you know full well that VW is not known for their get up and go. An automatic transmission robs even more hp from the motor just to function as does air conditioning, power steering, etc.--that's why VW doesn't have that stuff on their cars.
As to advantage of semi automatic, well there are people that can't sycronize their feet and hand movement.......makes you wonder how they can walk and chew gum at the same time(forget the extras of breathing,hearing, see, swallow). Fer them two pedals(gas-brake) on the floor and a shifter stick is pushing their limits. Give them 3 and hell breaks loose. Ya know what I mean.
