Maybe read the post above yours? Automatics are not bad. You can always squeeze more MPGs from an automatic as well.
You can, but not generally as much as a MT. If you take a standard AT, you have no choice what gear you are in when crusing at a consyant speed of 40mph. Take a MT, and you can choose to cruise in 4th, 5th, or 6th (if applicable) and lower your RPMs.
Triptronics get you some more flexibility, but it is ignorant to say you can do the same things with a standard AT that you can do with a standard MT.
I can shift to and/or hold in any of the five gears in my truck's automatic transmission unless it needs to downshift. Basically, I can't force the engine to bog down. As you wouldn't want to do that anyway, I don't see it as a problem at all.
It's not simply for parking, but you already know that.
It's a Handbrake.
It's NOT and emergency brake, it's a parking brake!
In cars, the hand brake (also known as the emergency brake, e-brake, or parking brake
That's a one-off example. I recall but can't be bothered to google that miles per year average in US is higher than in Europe. I grant that on average people in Europe drive slower though so if US average is 12k and Europe is 10 it's probably a wash.
You are correct, but it has a lot to do with a price of gasoline and overall saving mentality of the Europeans. Pay $6.00 per gallon for gas for a while - and you'll run or bike more...
Using engine to brake is beneficial in slippery conditions. You don't want to be doing it all the time, but doing it has saved me from many potentially dangerous situations - especially during the winter.
I can shift to and/or hold in any of the five gears in my truck's automatic transmission
Well, if I could bike to the next country in five minutes, I just might do that too.
...
Just wait...
$6.00 per gallon in the US would produce a lot of skinny people
Anyway, I hope that the discussion about auto vs manual will end soon with a rise of electric vehicles. I will convert to the auto with my first electric car...
Just wait...
$6.00 per gallon in the US would produce a lot of skinny people
Anyway, I hope that the discussion about auto vs manual will end soon with a rise of electric vehicles. I will convert to the auto with my first electric car...
Just wait...
$6.00 per gallon in the US would produce a lot of skinny people
Anyway, I hope that the discussion about auto vs manual will end soon with a rise of electric vehicles. I will convert to the auto with my first electric car...
My last car was a 2006 Honda Civic with a manual and I used cruise all the time. On the highway, in the city, everywhere. The only time I didn't use it was on gravel, snow, or ice.But do any manual transmission drivers use cruise control?
That's to save on costs and increase reliability but if they wanted to improve the range of these vehicles, they'll need to put a transmission in these things or gear them so low that they suffer in the acceleration department.What do you mean you will convert to auto? 100% electric cars have no "gears". Just a gear ratio..there is no shifting.
You are correct, but it has a lot to do with a price of gasoline and overall saving mentality of the Europeans. Pay $6.00 per gallon for gas for a while - and you'll run or bike more...
I had to check if this was at least somewhat accurate. I picked the two random cities of Albany, New York and Brussels, Belgium.And silly me was thinking that it had something to do with drastic differences in population density.
My last car was a 2006 Honda Civic with a manual and I used cruise all the time. On the highway, in the city, everywhere. The only time I didn't use it was on gravel, snow, or ice.
Current car is a 2010 Toyota Corolla with an automatic and the cruise is so shitty that it's just mind boggling. That Honda could maintain cruise speed on a pretty steep hill going highway speed in fifth gear. This Corolla cannot. It'll start to struggle, the speed will drop maybe 5mph then it will drop the third gear, rev the shit out of the engine, and quickly get back to cruise speed. Why can't it maintain speed in fourth gear? Because it's a Toyota. Honda > Toyota. On the up side, this slush bucket transmission gets the same gas mileage as my Honda and I can do it while smoking a cigarette.
After owning two similar cars where the most significant difference was the transmission, I think automatics are better. From a dead stop, the automatic accelerates just as fast as the manual. The only improvement I would want is to be able to prevent it from switching gears when I floor it, and many cars already have that feature. In my Honda I would keep it in fifth gear all the time and just floor it as needed, but I can't do that in my Toyota because it starts dropping gears and lurching and making tons of noise while doing essentially nothing.
That's to save on costs and increase reliability but if they wanted to improve the range of these vehicles, they'll need to put a transmission in these things or gear them so low that they suffer in the acceleration department.
A CVT suffers the same pumping losses as a conventional automatic transmission. A CVT is a step up from a conventional automatic in terms of fuel economy but still a step down from a conventional manual..I've never driven an automatic where you could force it to stay in overdrive while you floor it. Sounds like you should drive some other automatics before you pass judgement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuously_variable_transmission
The gear shift in a Nissan Altima looks like this:I've never driven an automatic where you could force it to stay in overdrive while you floor it. Sounds like you should drive some other automatics before you pass judgement.
The gear shift in a Nissan Altima looks like this:
If you move the stick to where the red circle is, the transmission will remain in that gear. My friend's Subaru Impreaza (not a wrx) has the same feature. It's a fairly standard feature on modern cars.
All a manual shifting automatic is, is allowing you the illusion of consideration of your input to the computer's decision making process, which it can chose to ignore whenever it wants. Put it in the red circle with a decent amount of RPM, then step on it, and watch how it upshifts right away and ignores your request to downshift back, instead of holding the gear and bouncing off the rev limiter as a manual would. Shifters such as this merely allow you to make a suggestion, they don't give the control of a manual.
Besides it's still using fluid coupling, which defeats the whole purpose of preferring a manual or SMG (clutch, solid mechanical linkage). When most people are talking about auto vs. manual, this is the biggest point. You could make a true manual shifting auto with a torque converter that would happily allow you to overrev or shift wrong, but what is the point since you now have a manual with a torque converter that still doesn't feel like a real manual?
Dual clutch sequential electro-hydraulic systems are where it's at. CVTs have their limitations, and dual clutch pedal-less automated manual transmissions have all the convenience and speed of an auto with the performance and direct control of a manual. It's a true manual when you want it, with the option to have a computer take over shifting with the flick of a button, with a variety of profiles.
The car is making the assumption that most people are not trying to break the car.Put it in the red circle with a decent amount of RPM, then step on it, and watch how it upshifts right away and ignores your request to downshift back, instead of holding the gear and bouncing off the rev limiter as a manual would. Shifters such as this merely allow you to make a suggestion, they don't give the control of a manual.
On many new transmissions this isn't necessarily true. They'll let you bounce off the rev limiter all you want and the only thing it keeps you from doing is shifting too low and running the revs up (a DSG does the same).