Don’t be afraid to shift them in motion.
I’ve noticed that most/all of the new cars have shifters on the automatic (some are with thumb paddles on the steering wheel). But unlike a pattern of a stick, they work like a motorcycle, with an upshift or downshift, but you can’t skip gears. In general, absent a clutch, I don’t really see the point, except perhaps for stump pulling or climbing steep hills, and for the latter it still seem like the transmission will know best. As a stick driver, I have trouble knowing what to do with the throttle when I shift them. Supposedly, you’re supposed to just keep the gas on for the shift, which seems very unnatural to me.
Two words: engine braking.
My wife’s car has one of these, and yes…dumb dumb dumb. When you shift, the car has to think about it for a while…shift…lahlahlahlah…change. Nothing at all like shifting a manual.
It’s a major pain for me to find a car to buy because I love manual shift…and only small cars and sports cars seem to have them anymore. Everyone is going to the “paddles”.
I’ve down shifted just prior to passing someone. Sure, the automatic will figure it out, but if you know ahead of time you need the extra power… Then again, I learned to drive with a standard, so I still think that way.
My SOP in passing situations has been to watch for the opportunity and before it arrives drop back a little, then accelerate hard so I’m at a suitable speed to begin my pass before I change lanes. If my timing is off I can always ease off the gas.
I don’t need to do this in a stick, but I’ve rarely had a problem passing in an automatic.
I go the other way — signal, wait for the f*cker to speed up to cut me off, tap the brake and drop back behind him.
You must drive a lot in Atlanta.
Los Angeles, but it could be any big city.
One of my vehicles has “autostick” which lets me select a gear. I often drive standards (cheaper to rent in most of the world) and like them, but I don’t bother with the autostick on this car much. The exceptions being for long downhill runs, and for overtaking in certain conditions. It’s barely worth having at all.
On the other hand, I’m surprised to find that people were worried about shifting into neutral?!?!? Especially in a case or runaway throttle!
I’ve had a case of runaway throttle, a real one, and I’ve never understood what the big deal is. In my case, I was just driving along in moderate traffic in an old Ford Probe, when I goosed the gas to get past a truck, and the gas stayed goosed. I could feel the pedal position; it just stayed all the way down. So, I just popped it into neutral, no big deal. The engine started racing, so I keyed it off. Also no big deal (just made it need more pressure on the wheel and brakes).
I’m absolutely positive this wasn’t due to me mistaking the brake for the gas, because when I came to a stop the gas pedal was till all the way down. I popped the hood, and found the throttle cable jammed by juniper twigs, which were part of a pack-rat nest. I cleaned it out, freed the cable, and went on my way. I’ve always felt that most “stuck throttle” reports are fake; why on earth would anyone not just shift to neutral or key off the engine? Also, dynamiting the brakes should work to stop you even with the engine at throttle.
My son went to get his driver’s license and found that that they will not allow him to take the test in a manual shift car. I guess that maybe they made this rule is because some of the inspectors have no idea how to drive one. Makes no sense, but that’s government for you.
“The person seeking my advice typically ignores my question and, panic rising, asks, “But what if it goes into reverse or park?” It won’t.”
Absolutely! I accidentally shifted from D to R a few years ago while driving around 45mph, and the car refused to switch from N to R. Nearly gave me a heart attack, but all that happened is the engine raced.
“The person seeking my advice typically ignores my question and, panic rising, asks, “But what if it goes into reverse or park?” It won’t.”
Probably not on newer cars but I can say for certain that it can happen on older ones. Especially those that have been altered from factory.
This was in the early 80’s and I was driving a small pickup, a Chevy Luv if I remember correctly, that had been heavily modified by it’s previous owner. For one thing it had a 305 V8 shoehorned under the hood and a 350 turbo automatic transmission attached to that. Still had the original Luv rear-end, though. Made it massively overpowered with a gear ratio that would do 0-60 from one side of the intersection to the other but topped out at about 65mph.
Anyway…said transmission had “issues”. It had a tendency to pop out of drive into neutral at highway speed. (This was not a well built/maintained truck. I was 17 and it was cool. Wha’da’ya’want?)
As a young, stupid (I repeat myself) newly minted driver I quickly learned to grab the shifter and pull it back into drive when that happened.
One pleasant evening I missed.
It popped into neutral and I reached down to drag it back into drive and accidentally bumped the shifter forward into the R position. I left black marks for about 100 feet before I managed to get it back into drive.
Didn’t lose control, though. The truck was so light, especially in the rear end, that I lost traction and just spun my tires in reverse while moving in a reasonably straight line until I could get it back into D.
Had it happened on a curve I would have lost it. As it was I just had to drive home and change my shorts.
I’ll take the opposite thanks. Make the automatic transmission more automatic, not less. For example, put reverse gear on a lever where I can get at it without taking my hands off the steering wheel, and please get rid of “park”.
I’m still waiting for the day when automatic lights, and windshield wipers, are so common that people start reminiscing (regressing?) about the good old days when you had to turn essentially invisible knobs while driving to engage them.
Then again, I rarely hear anyone with power steering complaining that they don’t have to muscle the wheels around anymore.
I’ll tell you what those lower gears are for, besides the afore mentioned slowing down. Drop the transfer case into 4-low, the transmission into 1, and let the engine pull itself over the rocks at an idle, feathering the break on the down side. But then I drive a Jesp, roads are optional 🙂