Auto gearbox reliability

[True-Blue]

As a quick update, tried a 3.0si with an auto gearbox today, completely different animal to the last one - car had a very comprehensive service with RBM 4k miles ago including all oils, plugs, filters & full gearbox service with new sump etc. very nice box, bought it

 

[enuff_zed]

bought it

Ah, ok.
In the interests of your sanity I'll delete the 4 pages of auto gearbox issues I was about to post then. oke:

 

[True-Blue]

bought it

Ah, ok.
In the interests of your sanity I'll delete the 4 pages of auto gearbox issues I was about to post then. oke:

:fuelfire: :rofl: :driving:

 

[MattYorkshire]

Bumping this! Looking at 3L E85 cars (2006 onwards as like the facelift). I’ve had 3 before but all manual cars. Seeing a few with autos but worried they might be troublesome and expensive to fix. Can anyone add to this with their experience of the auto box in a facelift E85?

 

[DaveP]

Bumping this! Looking at 3L E85 cars (2006 onwards as like the facelift). I’ve had 3 before but all manual cars. Seeing a few with autos but worried they might be troublesome and expensive to fix. Can anyone add to this with their experience of the auto box in a facelift E85?

It's a really common ZF box that was fitted to (literally) millions of BMWs and other cars.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZF_6HP_transmission#Applications

 

[MattYorkshire]

So reading into that, it’s a well known quantity…

But are they likely to cause me trouble? :lol:

 

[DaveP]

So reading into that, it’s a well known quantity…

But are they likely to cause me trouble? :lol:

Unlikely. It's just a bog-standard torque converter gearbox.

This type of gearbox can have some issues, many of which come with age and can be avoided with regular fluid changes, but this particularly one is no worse than others.

I wouldn't give it a moment's thought, and just do the usual buying checks. Does it shift smoothly? Does it hold torque? Can I shift manually? Does it make weird noises? That should be as much as you need.

 

[MattYorkshire]

Great advice. My preference would be for an auto over a manual as I’ve become very lazy driving autos for a while now and the manual gearbox being a big reason I sold my Abarth. :rofl:

 

[Rockhopper]

avoid SMG ones though.