Soon to pick my auto HST and wondered.

How many auto owners use the manual shift?

Does using manual shift improve MPG?

Are there any flaws with the manual shift?

it's ok to play about with, especially in town, but to be honest it defeats the object of having an auto. The good thing is you can't up the down shifts the unit will not let you. I think the direction you have to shove the stick to change up feels wrong, should be the other way round If you go on a LRE 1/2 day they will teach you a few tricks like using the sand setting and command shift together on the road to pull away quickly. I've found the best overall mpg is taking it easy in ordinary auto, certainly not sport mode or command shift. 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

its handy for knocking the gears upto top when starting a motorway cruise, I dont know about fl2 but in a RRS you can only command shift into a gear that the brain approves of, so in town you may as well leave it in Auto. At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

The same with FL2.
If the RPM/speed don't match you won't be allowed to select a specific gear.

I was frustrated with the gear selection on some open roads and decided to do some testing. The sample size is very small (4 or 5 times), but I could get better MPG from manually selecting a higher gear and accepting the ebb and flow of speeds up and down the fluctuations in elevation. It worked out about 10% better in MPG but you might as well select Auto when it's either hilly or stop/start in town.

I find that Sport mode is far better for the slow twisty lanes as it holds the gears for longer, stopping a lot of unnecessary shifting up and down and generally making a much smoother ride. I haven't really found Command Shift very useful at all and I let the sublime auto box do its job.

Sand & CS sounds interesting - I might have a play with that. My only gripe with the auto is the 'lag' when making quick getaways into fast moving traffic. Cheers,
Raz
FL1 TD4 GS Auto 2001 Silver
FL2 TD4 Auto 2007 Black
FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2012 Fuji White

Haven't towed with the Freel yet but I only regularly used the manual option on my previous motors for descending steep(ish) hills with the caravan behind. Much better control like that.

Following the Experience day last week I too will be playing with the Sand setting whenever my wife's not with me

Mind you, since she drove as well as she did on the rough stuff maybe she's thinking the same thing  Ours - 2008 Stornoway Grey HSE Auto
Tricia's - 2006 Royal Blue Beetle Cabriolet Auto
Mine - 2014 Vespa GTS 300 Super Sport Matt Black
Ours - 2007 White Bailey Pageant Champagne

Command shift is fun on twisty country roads, and useful on long steep hills...... JT Upgraded to an ex demo, 7 mth old, Rimini Red/Ebony Napoli Auto HSE on 28th Jan 2011, added roof rails, mudflaps and side strips.
Gone - A great 57 Plate, Auto SE, Bought Feb 2009, Roof Rails and Mudflaps added on purchase. Blue colour, anything but drug dealer black.....

Sand mode..
2000 rpm foot off brake
Look in mirror
The look on the Chav in the saxo's face...

Priceless

I only use it for smart getaways at some junctions. 09 FL2 HSE auto Lago Grey
71 Triumph Stag 3L
68 NGTCV8 3.5L