Carmen L. Abruzzi wrote:
> I don't see it as a boy-racer emasculation thing. I absolutely
> hate driving automatics, they shift gears at completely
> inappropriate times, like when you're accelerating uphill, once
> you reach a given speed, suddenly the automatic transmission
> shifts to a higher gear which causes you to lose power and slow
> down just as you're passing the semi-trailer truck. And then
> going downhill, when you want to slow down, again the auto shifts
> to a higher gear causing you to accelerate almost in freefall,
> just when you want the lower gear to keep you from doing so.
>
> Even shifting manually into first or second takes a lag time of a
> second or two, and you can't usually shift from fourth into third
> manually.
Nothing you've said above is in my experience. I've driven automatic
transmissions since Oldsmobile's first Rocket 88. My downshifts, with
an automatic, have NO lag time at all; a second would really scare
me. You can hear them but you can't feel 'em. I cannot remember
having had an unwanted upshift with an automatic transmission in decades.
> Sure, you can use the brake to slow down, but it's when you're
> accelerating and the tranny suddenly shifts into a higher gear
> with less power that it's really, really annoying.
If you don't have a stick, you should read the owner's manual to
learn how to control your automatic transmission. If it presumes you
already know and doesn't have instruction, visit the dealer from whom
you bought it.
Most of my driving is here in town. The car I sold just about a year
ago today had 78 kilomiles on it and 3mm remaining on the original
brakes. Of the several cars I've had with sticks, I've never had to
replace a clutch.
The cars I rented in London and Italy had sticks. My second
engagement of low gear in each was as smooth and intuitive as if I'd
been driving them all along (the first was to learn where the point
of engagement was but they were smooth starts, too). It's another of
those good ol' muscle memory skills such as bicycle riding, swimming,
dancing, skating, etc.
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