New car thoughts

[Peasgood1]

I am seriously thinking about getting a new car.
I have had 3dr and 5 dr Terranos but only the 2.7 versions.
I briefly had an auto Mistral but that was only bought to rob the engine out of so I never really got used to it.
My current car is a Maverick, 5 door manual. Paid £900 about 3 years ago I think and have certainly had my monies worth

I know it sounds daft but I don't like pressing the clutch pedal, I rarely use it once moving and just change gear without it, so maybe an auto is the way to go. They are not the whiplash inducing gearchanges they used to be.

So, I think I have narrowed it down to a 3 door 3.0 auto. I would love the van version but need to carry 4 passengers.

Anybody got any experiences or comments that might be of use to me? Mostly on the choice of 3.0 and auto, I have had a 3 door and did prefer it as a car even if it wasn't so roomy.

 

[rayf3262]

I have a 3.0L auto and it's a nice lazy drive, expect to pay a small penalty in fuel consumption, but then you wont be paying out for clutch parts etc...
The auto's are taller geared too (higher diff ratios) so engine revs and therefore noise at sensible motorway speeds are significantly reduced too.
Add to that the number gripes on the manual transmission, noise from thrust bearings, layshafts, damper pipe issues, clutch issues.... the list goes on.

The auto box is an RE4R01 manufactured by Jatco, the same auto box I believe used in conjunction with the 2.7 in black cabs.
Apart from Briggie who, though no fault of his own, managed to destroy said auto box, there has been little said about them on here.
Same box has also been used in Nissan 300 series cars too, so plenty of power being thrown at it in those applications.

 

[briggie]

I think ive got some pictures of my autobox in pieces ray lol.... scarey

 

[AD Ent]

I drove an auto 2.7tdi of a member on here and I loved it. Very Smooth changes.

 

[rayf3262]

Admittedly, the majority of R20's here are manual transmission.

I was attempting to highlight the fact that apart from your pre compromised auto box there have been very few comments here on the auto box reliability issues. Whereas the manual box and clutch issues prevail.
So auto, bit like Marmite, love em or hate em, they don't seem to appear on the problem radar too often...

 

[Peasgood1]

Thanks for the replies. :thumb2
I like the sound of the lazy drive.
Good to hear they are nice at motorway speeds but have to admit most of my driving is on country lanes or across fields. Do the autos have a low box the same as a manual and if they do are they any good?
Had a Surf once and although it had a low box it wasn't all that useful (if memory serves me)
What sort of penalty as far as fuel use goes are you paying for the auto? Does it just cancel out the better economy of the 3 litre or is it worse than that?

Oh, that Mistral I robbed the engine out of was bought cheap because the auto box was starting to fail. So they can go wrong.
Briggie had the door mirrors off that Mistral

 

[AD Ent]

What's your RPM @ 70mph.? I think the manual is near 3000rpm standard tyres.

 

[Peasgood1]

What's your RPM @ 70mph.? I think the manual is near 3000rpm standard tyres.

Dunno.
Only recently got to the point that it will actually do 70. :lol
Had a high frequency vibration and pulled quite strongly to the right. Having worked through a lot of things it turned out that having the wheels balanced cured both. Very surprised the balancing cured the pulling to the right, but there you go.
Now I can actually stand to be going that fast I have also discovered that when my sat nav says 70mph the speedo is on 80. Until recently I haven't had the speedo reading much over 65 tbh.
Had it so the sat nav said 82 the other day

 

[rayf3262]

Thanks for the replies. :thumb2
I like the sound of the lazy drive.
Good to hear they are nice at motorway speeds but have to admit most of my driving is on country lanes or across fields. Do the autos have a low box the same as a manual and if they do are they any good?
Had a Surf once and although it had a low box it wasn't all that useful (if memory serves me)
What sort of penalty as far as fuel use goes are you paying for the auto? Does it just cancel out the better economy of the 3 litre or is it worse than that?l

The transfer box on the auto is the same animal as the manual.
Pretty much everything on the 3.0L apart from the engine! is the same as the 2.7L.
I have never really bothered to accurately measure the fuel consumption, but I would estimate it's around mid twenty's, maybe more....
But I think your estimate of the 3.0L DI vs 2.7 IDI and manual vs auto is about right. But, that may depend on how you drive it,.. as they say
"your mileage may vary" !

 

[rayf3262]

What's your RPM @ 70mph.? I think the manual is near 3000rpm standard tyres.

I'll make a note next time... but it's probably around 2600.

 

[macabethiel]

Nissan Auto gearbox experience

My r3mR was an automatic as I think all of this model are. I had no problems with the automatic gearbox in the five years of ownership though it was a 2.7 TDi. There are a few 3.0 and I think 3.2 Litre r3mR s in the UK they are a great vehicle as they ride and steer very well being coil spring suspension all round with rack & pinion steering. Downside with imports as you probably know is the insurance and parts take a little longer to obtain.

I did change my transmission fluid every year it used about 4.5 Litres as you can't drain the torque convertor so in effect you are doing a 50% change each time. It was not too expensive as I used Fuchs Titan 4000 and latterly Fuchs Titan 4400. Did have one time when the ATF went a funny colour due to some water ingress but that was a one off.

I now have a Hyundai Santa Fe as I could not source a Terracan or Patrol in my price budget. I intend to upgrade the ATF to Fuchs Titan 5000 as its fully synthetic and backward compatible with all Dexron 111 spec units. If you tow then it might be worth using the Titan 6000 as its about the best fluid in the range and can be used on older vehicles too.

I have owned automatic vehicles since 1971 mainly Opels, Vauxhall, Mercedes, Nissan & now Hyundai. Never had a transmission failure of any sort even when I had an old W124 260E that had 185,000 miles on the clock when I parted with it. I worked in the car trade for about 15 years and the only automatics I knew that were troublesome were the old BL fitted borgward units and the original Mini Autos. That said my late mother had 6 Mini automatics spanning 20 years with no issues though I did use the best oils on the market at the time and did the oil changes every year. Interestingly on the earlier Mini units you could drain the torque convertor - it took 2 gallons of oil !!

 

[AD Ent]

Great post :clap

 

[AD Ent]

I'll make a note next time... but it's probably around 2600.

I would be interested to know. Also do the 3.0 suffer from the same innacurate sppedo?

 

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

but was slush box in mistral not same as in uk r20s. thinking control/selector differed
and electronics? also jap spec has even lower tow rating on basis jap market doesnt
tow as such, max 750kg?

isnt 2.7tdi auto max tow 1700 or 1800 kg, v 2800 for manual

and 3.0tdi auto max is 2000kg v manual 3000kg, something to consider if tug heavier
trailers.

 

[rayf3262]

I would be interested to know. Also do the 3.0 suffer from the same innacurate sppedo?

Yes just as inaccurate, over reads by ~10%

 

[jonela]

I have the 2.7 auto and I love it, its so easy to drive ,but remember the auto box drastically reduces the towing capability. to under 1700 Kilo

 

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

Yes just as inaccurate, over reads by ~10%

dont most vehicles?, funny we have speed read out signs and at 30-40 can see error
but another one i pass must have error built in as car says 20, so thinking 22 but sign
says 20 as well. mind 10% is smaller difference at low speeds.

 

[rayf3262]

as far as I recall the regulations on speedometers are:
A) must not under read at any speed
B) must be within 10% up to 30MPH

In my Skoda Ocatavia I have 3 speed indicators.
1) OEM speedometer
2) Inbuilt car diagnostics
3) Sat Nav.

The speedo over reads, both the diagnostic display and the sat nav show the same lower speed.
As the diagnostic display uses the same speed sensor as the speedometer I conclude that the speedometer over reads by design!

 

[rayf3262]

but was slush box in mistral not same as in uk r20s. thinking control/selector differed
and electronics? also jap spec has even lower tow rating on basis jap market doesnt tow as such, max 750kg?

The 4R01 was a 4-speed automatic transmission from Jatco was available as either a light-duty ("RL4R01A") or medium-duty ("RE4R01A") unit.

I wonder if the Mistral was fitted with the light duty version?

 

[briggie]

The 4R01 was a 4-speed automatic transmission from Jatco was available as either a light-duty ("RL4R01A") or medium-duty ("RE4R01A") unit.

I wonder if the Mistral was fitted with the light duty version?

that's a very good question ray ..... I wonder , its true that the autobox doesn't seem to have as many problems as the manual box , but is that because there aren't as many uk models with the autobox ? .... I wonder .....good post ray :thumb2