Newbie: Gransport around town

Hi all
I am off at the weekend to view 2007 Gransport but getting slightly cold feet over the paddle gear change and lack of clutch pedal.
What's it like around town? In particular, is it tricky to park?

Is chickening out and running in auto mode a viable option?

Any owners care to calm my fears or raise my stress levels?

Kind regards to all.

Its dead easy to use once you get the hang of it.
In town its not as smooth as a Auto but if you hang onto the gears its better.

Parking is fine in the GS as you have a hill hold function that holds the brakes on for a couple of seconds between first and reverse. You do need a well set up clutch to park with ease and avoid jerky starts, but I can move mine very slow and smooth. Just avoid reversing up hills.

Good luck with the search.

Welcome along & good luck.

The paddle shift and no clutch is a breeze once you are used to it, I use some left foot braking when manoeuvring at slow speed to avoid any rolling or jerkiness and it's as smooth as you like. You'll never look back!

Keep us posted

As long as the clutch is properly adjusted it's no problem at all. I have to manoeuvre mine into a garage that is only slightly longer than the car and I've never had an issue. It's no better or worse in auto. Just go for it, the Gransport is a lovely car and a great drive once you get used to it.

I bought mine a few weeks ago. It takes a while to get used to the gearbox (so you might not love it during a quick test drive), but after that it's great. Before buying, I was bothered by the lack of manual box but not any more. Rev-hungry engine and paddleshift are a match made in heaven!

I have to agree with the comments above. I picked my GS up last week and still getting used to the paddle shift but loving every minute so far.

Don't forget that the shift is much better in sport mode and you can momentarily ease of the gas on an upshift to make it smoother. Or keep the throttle on the carpet as you thump through a shift at the redline - highly recommended.

Driving is a doddle. It takes a bit of acclimatising to, as it's not like all other paddle shifts, but once you are, it's great, and very addictive!

I was worried about the paddle shift before I bought my first GranSport but the reality is I find it very intuitive and love it now, although I do still like a good manual gearbox in some of the other cars!

Thanks chaps, reassuring indeed.
I am really excited about the prospect of owning this beast, but some of the comments online made me a bit jumpy.

It sounds like all will be cool once I get the hang of it. My DB7 is not the easiest car around town either but soon got used to that.
Just got a quote for the insurance...Yoiks!!! not cheap but the smiles per mile soften the blow a bit.

Piccies if she comes home with me.

Thanks again.

You've nothing to worry about with the gears... Pretty much what he said ^^^^^.

What's this talk of an Auto mode? I haven't touched that button (apart from to clean and polish it).

Yes, keep the gears down... You get more noise.

Just remember that it's an automatically operated manual gearbox, so you change when and as you would if you had a clutch pedal.

Looks like the Aston came from Derek Mowat? Are you based in Edinburgh?

Gransports are jerky and horrible for the first couple of days, then you adjust and change your style to suit. Then you'll wonder why you were worried at all. Once mastered, they make all kinds of sense.

outrun said:

Looks like the Aston came from Derek Mowat?

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Lol. My first thought as well!!
I don't have a GS but a 4200 and I have still to push the auto button!
Must admit a hill brake on my car would be useful at times given how useless the handbrake is.
Took me a while to get the hang of gearchanging smoothly and trickling through traffic. I tend to let a gap build up in front and then drive to back of car in front rather than slipping the clutch and crawling along at 5mph. Hoping it prolongs clutch life.

I tried auto once on my 4200. Thought I'd broken it!

C

outrun said:

Gransports are jerky and horrible for the first couple of days, then you adjust and change your style to suit. Then you'll wonder why you were worried at all. Once mastered, they make all kinds of sense.

Click to expand...

That's a good point, I reset mine and it 'learnt' how I wanted to drive it and was a revelation

Well spotted Outrun and Needamaster. It is a Derek Mowat car.

I am in Perth.

Hi. Just for reference the GS is my 3rd robotised manual car.

The Aston Vantage is a true brute. You have do to the clutch learning cycle on a weekly basis (I had a 4.3) and it's not easy to reverse at all, especially if you are on full lock with the PAS pump taking power and messing with the idle speed. It's all jerks and stops, especially when cold.

The Ferrari 360 was much better after i had the clutch set up properly at Furlonger, you can adjust the plate position which means that you can have it tuned to some extend.

The GS is easy to use. It really is. In my very limited marque experience (I have only driven 3 different GS'), they seem to vary a bit. Fresher clutches seem better and a recent software update seems to make a difference too. The biggest downside IMHO is the relatively slow up shift (even in sport mode). it's no where near as fast as a late model 360 and there isn't much one can do about that because it's an EPROM mod I think (different shift strategy for very fast shifts because you want to cut the spark for a few milliseconds, to reduce the input shaft torque to give the syncro hubs a chance to match the speeds). This was possible on the 360 (you could just use a Stradale TCU) but on the GS no such racy version is available (??).

As fellow forumites have said in the past, you do get used to the lazy up shift. Just remember to lift you foot a tiny bit as you shift (it's just a smidgin after actually) other wise you'll slip the clutch.

The faster and cleaner you can make the shift - the longer the clutch will last. It's the slipping during shifts and taking off that kills them. Oh and remember to pop the car into 'N' if you are stopped for more than a couple of seconds.

Keep charging !!

May be worrh your while to let us know which cars you are looking at...the forum knows a large number of them and some will have been viewed by others on here...may save you a wasted trip if its a poor one.

safrane said:

May be worrh your while to let us know which cars you are looking at...the forum knows a large number of them and some will have been viewed by others on here...may save you a wasted trip if its a poor one.

Click to expand...

What he said.

We also know of many of the Scottish based cars between us. I've owned 2 Gransports, both are now in England.

Parking is fine.

Stop go traffic however is not fun - but is it in any manual car?

I like the fact that mastering is all is quite challenging but definitely wouldn't want to daily it in a city. The CC box really makes sense at 7/10ths and up when it (in sport mode) bangs home the shifts.