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NW Iowa | I've had 3 automated manual trucks. The first was a 1999 with an Eaton Autoshift. Clutch pedal to start and stop. It had a tower with a shift handle that had up and down buttons. In "D", the computer did the shifting. In "Hold", the up and down buttons control the shifting. No gear skipping, but shifted just as fast to the next gear as a regular manual if using the buttons.
Next we got a 2006 with an Eaton Ultrashift. The computer runs the clutch all the time. It has a shift pad with up and down buttons that can be shifted manually and works like the Autoshift.
The other truck is a 2014 with an Ishift. It has the performance shifter next to the seat with up and down buttons. As others have said, it is like driving a pickup. Very smooth. In performance mode, it gets up to speed as quickly as the engine can. I don't see how any manual truck with the same engine and weight could get up to speed faster.
After learning to just put the "pedal to the metal" once moving, I don't think you'll be too disappointed.
I can see how a true automatic slushbox would seem sluggish in comparison simply because of how they work.
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Looking into an automatic semi
