This is a good debate and will provide valuable information to anyone finding it in the future.
Just to throw my 2p's worth in, Chester Transmissions agree with you Marcin. When I was settling the bill, I asked what I should now do to maintain the gearbox. We hadn't previously had a conversation about the sucky/blowy machine but Steve explained that such a machine exists and that he wouldn't recommend it for use in our cars. He said the electronics on them are too fussy for it and he'd recommend changing the fluid conventionally. I think his exact words are that the 'electronics are setup differently'. When I asked him how often, he surprised me by saying he'd recommend changing the fluid it every 18 months to two years because the oil was so expensive. It sounded to me like he really wanted to recommend changing it every year.
So, just to update you on the saga, the car is safely back home now, after an epic drive back from Chester. There are so many little niggles that have been fixed by the gearbox working correctly - there's none of that horrible transition between manoeuvring creep and throttled pulling-away; the barely noticeable whine when doing slow manoeuvres is completely gone and the changes are completely seamless and on time (when the fault appeared, it was holding 2nd a little and not wanting to change into 1st).
When my car was connected to the ZF diagnostic equipment, it showed the error with the adaptions. Steve told me they usually have figures around 400 but two of mine were 6000! As soon as they were reset, it changed the gearbox behaviour completely and it started working properly. The machine is a trial unit ZF have sent to a couple of transmission specialists and can, apparently, do things other machines can't. Steve knew the equipment Mackies have and said that although it was a good bit of kit, it may not have been able to reset mine. Chester is getting a trial machine soon too.
I was playing around with kickdowns and paddle shifting on the way home and everything worked exactly how it should (although I think the Milltek scared a few other road users!). This may be the change from my Hyundai rental sh*tbox to the 8, but the car feels far more torquey than I remember and cruises easier. I'm seeing slightly higher mpg figures than I (vaguely) remember, but they're still pretty eye-watering.
The only small downside is I noticed a scraping noise when going over speed bumps and when I pulled over to check, the engine undertray isn't fastened at the front, so was dangling down. I caught it too late, because one corner has a couple of inches of damage. It's a minor point but I thought I'd mention it for the sake of completeness.
Overall, I'm as happy as Larry at the moment. I'd forgotten just how
together these cars feel and I thoroughly enjoyed the drive home. As a bonus, my driver's door lock button has started working again too!
