My wife said that Auto gearboxes are no good In the snow, how she knows I haven't a foggy. Is this true Because I have only ever owned Manuals so don't know?

First time I've ever driven in snow with auto and also was worried how it would work.
Well I found it great, just release footbrake and car drives away smoothly. And when you want to slow down, the car looses speed gently, not with the same de-celleration you get with manual.

So I found it a lot smoother, so less likely to loose traction or slide when slowing down.

Ok, thanks. I was wanting to get an Auto but wanted to be sure. Now I just have to convince her.

There is a lot of 'old school' drivers with old fashioned 4x4s who think autos are useless in snow, ice, mud, offroad etc...

They are wrong.

Critisism of autos is usually wrong because you can hold onto gears like a manual and also use the shifter to make changes much faster. People forget this as it's not 1960 anymore.
Better than a comparitively slow manual change that can in some circumstances make it easier to break traction due to a lull of torque with the clutch down and then a blast of it as you let the clutch up.

IMO.

Driven both on and off road. The only advantage of a manual is that you get more "feel" of the vehicles performance and when things are going not as planned.

As Fox says, modern Landrovers are getting very trick with auto lockers, traction control, step tronic etc etc.... to the point that alot of the "skill" required to drive a 4x4 effectively has now been done away with. One of the reasons I love my 110 CSW (Manual). Both vehicles still make me grin like a demented loon, both for different yet similar reasons. 2010 Disco XS TDV6, 2009 Freelander 2 GS

Previous Landrover products -1990 110 TDI CSW, 2003 TD6 Vogue - RRC TD Vogue, RRC v8 Fleetline, Disco ES V8 LPG, 101 Ambulance "Morph", 1964 SIIa Auto Powered by Jag 4.2 Lump - "Percy".

The great thing about an auto in snow or mud is you don't have to worry about frying the clutch too, that is one thing that makes an auto Freelander a much better car off road than the manual version which has an incredibly fragile clutch whereas the auto has it's gearbox oil cooler to assist with keeping everything good. 2018 Mini Countryman Cooper S E All4 PHEV in Melting Silver - it’s whisper quiet in EV and polluter modes

I live at the top of a big hill and the descent to the main raods are scary in the FFRR. I've been selecting manual and leaving it in 2nd- nice engine brake and no sliding. I found when it was in auto, it would speed up slightly, then as soon as you touched the brakes, it locked up and slid. 2010 MY Vogue SE TDV8 3.6 Stornoway Grey- fully loaded

Think maybe I'll stick with manual. Used to it and what I was taught with.

I've had 3 auto's now, 1st was an 850 T5 Volvo which was brilliant in the snow, in snow mode, it would set off in 3rd gear, it had quite a bit of 'feel' in the snow too, it was the only car able to get up my mates street when the snow came down heavy one day.

The 2nd auto was my 3200GT Maserati, which was frankly, in the snow. 285/35/18 tyres are no good, with it being RWD too, I found that the even with the brake pedal pressed quite firm, the wheels still turned due to the power and torque of it. It was so bad, I ended up buying an Escort GTI as a winter runabout, that, like the Volvo, had no problems getting about.

I think with a RWD car, probably a manual gearbox would be better in the snow, but that's just judging by the 3200. 4x4, I think there probably isn't much difference between the 2, as Noddy says, you can knock it into manual mode for it to hand onto the gears for longer. 2006 Mercedes CLS
1991 Retro-style Mini
But really finding it hard to fight the urge for a S/C...

Noddy, have you tried with the HDC on? I always flick it on at the top of the hill, then come down at tickover letting the car do all the hard work.  2010 Disco XS TDV6, 2009 Freelander 2 GS

Previous Landrover products -1990 110 TDI CSW, 2003 TD6 Vogue - RRC TD Vogue, RRC v8 Fleetline, Disco ES V8 LPG, 101 Ambulance "Morph", 1964 SIIa Auto Powered by Jag 4.2 Lump - "Percy".

I was taught to offroad in a manual, which is fine.

The auto box in the FFRR is also fine in the snow/mud and generally. Manual gear selection still available, and as elpeede hinted: HDC is so easy to live with.

All boils down to preference at the end of the day!

With an auto you can never choose the wrong gear for the available traction, if you wheels start to spin then it will generally change up a gear (unles you've floored it). Most auto's also have either a snow mode or slip detection which means they change up early to avoid putting too much torque down to the tyres.

In a manual you have to be very gentle with the clutch to avoid spinning the wheels and in that time it's taken you to change gear you could upset the whole balance of the car.

Automatic all the way.