Geartronic or regular auto. box ?

All true, I've nothing aganst conventional autos but for me they just don't give the control of going through all five gears. The Geartronic isn't a bad attempt at giving the best of both worlds i.e. when you want it you have almost the same control you get in a manual plus all the convenience of an auto Cheers, John

Hi, The only disadvantage of the 4 speed mine has is that in L you get kicked into 1st if you go too slow.. :) In 3rd I find that if not pushing it the Diff lock comes in earlier than in 4th so allows a cruise, when possible, around town.. Des. . . ;)

In my experience, you'll use it for a few weeks & then forget about it !! So, if its no diff in price then go for it, if you are going to pay a premium for it, I wouldn't bother. Good luck whichever you go for. Dave

Technically the Geartronic isn't an auto - but it does a good impression. I think a lot depends where you drive and probably which engine. Previous Sensonsic (saab) transmission had paddle wheels on steering wheel but was far too slow to be useful however the Geartronic works very well especially on A roads. The layout of the lever is excellent, if stuck at say 50 behind a caravan then push it to the left, two nudges down and you are in third, turbo spools up and roar past. As I pull out I don't use it to change up but instead just push it back into auto mode. As such it works like a launch control and is very effective. There is an excellent article here that explains how all these transmissions work. DChaps

The geartronic is an automatic box but with switches to allow you to choose the gear - it is not a semi-automatic (as defined on the page above). I like the geartronic box, I use it as a manual most of the time but on the motorway I can put it into 5th and leave it there so I when I want to accelerate I can do it without any kickdown - makes the drive much smoother.