Icono Clast wrote:
> 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.
Well, maybe it's a matter of anticipating that the damn thing will
upshift unless you really stomp on the accelerator when you want to
maintain the current gear (this is the "kickdown" feature, isn't it?).
>
>> 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.
I do have a stick. I learned to drive in an automatic, but the first
car I owned was a stick, which I had to learn to drive rather quickly.
Didn't burn out the clutch in the process, though.
I last drove an automatic last September when I rented one for a trip
out to the uttermost middle of nowhere in Nevada. It was heading up
over the Sierra that I noticed (or rather was re-reminded) of the
automatics complete disregard of the terrain and sole reliance on the
actual rpm of the engine to determine when it should shift to a higher
gear. I spent much of the trip shifted into "2" rather than "D", even
though that probably wasn't the most fuel-efficient gear much of the
time (there was no option to maintain 3rd gear manually); but at least
it gave the driver control of the gearing.
I admit I was beginning to get used to the way the thing shifted after
two days and 1000 miles of driving, but even then, I was happy as a clam
at high tide to be back to my own manual tranny, even though it's a beat
-up nasty-looking fifteen year old thing; it felt like a marvelous
technological advance after fighting with the automatic.
>
> 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.
> ____________________________________________________________
> A San Franciscan in (where else?) San Francisco
> http://geocities.com/dancefest/ http://geocities.com/iconoc/
> ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 IClast at SFbay Net |