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Manual VS Automatic gear for desert driving


sidhan

Which gear is better for desert driving?  

8 members have voted

  1. 1. Manual VS Automatic gear for desert driving

    • Manual gear
    • Automatic gear


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With the title itself many will jump up and down and swear on manual, but I am really confuse based on driving with few of my friends and have different experience. When manual gives full control to stretch the gear as much as you like, auto gives seamless shift on uphill steep climb when you are unable to shift with your hands or on long side slope when both hands are super busy.

Really appreciate some advise from the user who have used these both gears in sand dunes here in Dubai. Thanks.

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I would still vote for manual gear buddy, as it gives 90% advantage over regular desert driving vs 10% downside, as you explain and I totally agree on the such exceptional situations.

Manual is also awesome for self recovery as oppose to auto which might shift from 1 to 2 on slight vehicle movement, where you want to pull out yourself in first gear due to extra soft sand by spinning wheels as soon as you get initial momentum.

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Gaurav is right about a lot of the advantages of an automatic, but only as far as petrol engines are concerned. The only real disadvantage of  an automatic on either a diesel or petrol engine is that is does not offer the benefit of engine braking when one goes straight down a sand dune unless you have a lock-up torque converter. 

However, a manual geabox on a diesel engine will beat any automatic anytime, since it develops most of its power at low RPM's, which prevents a lot of wheelspin on loose sand, because a lot of gear changes can be eliminated with a diesel running at about 3000 RPM.

Edited by wildcat
Edited to add
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@Gaurav manual are more fun, but only if you know how to how to drive them. May be you were rusted with manual skill by driving too many automatic and then blaming UAE most famous and capable Nissan Patrol SWB as incompetent ride due to manual gear.

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  • 1 month later...

Driven both, prefer manuals, but I daily my 4x4 90% on tarmac through the city, so manual was going to get difficult, Auto is a compromise, but the flip after a drive, I can let the wife drive, whilst I sit in the passenger seat and have a cold one.

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