 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Driving / May 2007Superiority of manual over automatics
I have driven manuals all my life but recently had to drive an automatic car for a week. I noticed automatics are quite poor when it comes to having instant acceleration. You have to floor the gas pedal then wait a second for it to downshift. This makes it difficult to time your acceleration when you are trying to move from a slow lane into a fast lane on an 3+ lane interstate with heavy traffic. Is there a technical term for this delayed response of automatic transmissions? > I have driven manuals all my life but recently had to drive an > automatic car for a week. I noticed automatics are quite poor when it [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > into a fast lane on an 3+ lane interstate with heavy traffic. Is there > a technical term for this delayed response of automatic transmissions? Yes. It's called 'inadequate driver adjustment'. cu .\\arc > I have driven manuals all my life but recently had to drive an > automatic car for a week. I noticed automatics are quite poor when it [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > into a fast lane on an 3+ lane interstate with heavy traffic. Is there > a technical term for this delayed response of automatic transmissions? CRAP ? Graham dr_phill123@yahoo.com said in rec.autos.driving: >I have driven manuals all my life but recently had to drive an >automatic car for a week. I noticed automatics are quite poor when it >comes to having instant acceleration. You have to floor the gas pedal >then wait a second for it to downshift. This makes it difficult to >time your acceleration when you are trying to move from a slow lane >into a fast lane on an 3+ lane interstate with heavy traffic. Not really. You simply have to plan ahead. Note that downshifting your manual transmission isn't exactly instantaneous, either. >Is there >a technical term for this delayed response of automatic transmissions? "Lag."  SignatureMFFYCam Videos Galore: http://www.geocities.com/mffycam/ Scott en Aztl?n wrote: > Not really. You simply have to plan ahead. Note that downshifting > your manual transmission isn't exactly instantaneous, either. At least you can downshift beforehand and then floor it for instant acceleration when you need it. I do this often when merging into interstates. With automatics, you have this unpredictable 'lag' which makes the process less exact.. On May 30, 12:07 pm, dr_phill...@yahoo.com wrote: > At least you can downshift beforehand and then floor it for instant > acceleration when you need it. I do this often when merging into > interstates. With automatics, you have this unpredictable 'lag' which > makes the process less exact.. you can 'manually' downshift an automatic, also. Grab the lever, place it in a lower gear and voila! bob z. p.s. i drive a manual transmission car. my previous car was an automatic with a reverse patterned manual valve body. >> Not really. You simply have to plan ahead. Note that downshifting >> your manual transmission isn't exactly instantaneous, either. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >interstates. With automatics, you have this unpredictable 'lag' which >makes the process less exact.. The lag is not unpredictable. Unless you are clueless. dr_phill123@yahoo.com said in rec.autos.driving: >> Not really. You simply have to plan ahead. Note that downshifting >> your manual transmission isn't exactly instantaneous, either. > >At least you can downshift beforehand and then floor it for instant >acceleration when you need it. Some automatics can do the same thing. My IS-300 had buttons on the steering wheel that would let me control the up-and-down-shifting to a great extent. Perfect for what you describe, but otherwise quite gimmicky. SignatureMFFYCam Videos Galore: http://www.geocities.com/mffycam/ On May 30, 4:18 pm, dr_phill...@yahoo.com wrote: > I have driven manuals all my life but recently had to drive an > automatic car for a week. I noticed automatics are quite poor when it > comes to having instant acceleration. You have to floor the gas pedal > then wait a second for it to downshift. This makes it difficult to > time your acceleration when you are trying to move from a slow lane > into a fast lane on an 3+ lane interstate with heavy traffic. You can manually downshift before making the move. Turn off the overdrive button, and/or move the shifter into [2]. Note, I have driven in cars where if you downshift , the box will not actually have any effect until you reduce your speed to its expected range. In that case, abuse your car. > Note, I have driven in cars where if you downshift , > the box will not actually have any effect until you > reduce your speed to its expected range. In that > case, abuse your car. Can you put it in 2 while going 65+ mph? I have never tried that as I thought 2 was meant for climbing hills at a slow pace.. > Can you put it in 2 while going 65+ mph? I have never tried that as I > thought 2 was meant for climbing hills at a slow pace.. If your car has a tachometer, then it should be a simple matter of calculating top speed in second gear (i. e., the speed of your vehicle when your engine is running at redline in second gear). For instance, if the redline engine speed is 6000 rpm and your vehicle moves at 30 mph when the engine speed is at 3000 rpm in second gear, then the top speed in second gear is roughly 60 mph. If your car lacks a tachometer, then find a long empty stretch of road where you can floor the accelerator from a standing start. Then check your speedometer reading when your car up-shifts from second to third gear. That's the maximum speed you can choose to shift to the '2' position. You can also check your vehicle's owner's manual and see what it says about shifting into second, specifically for a statement where you shouldn't do this when going above xx mph. > > Note, I have driven in cars where if you downshift , > > the box will not actually have any effect until you [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Can you put it in 2 while going 65+ mph? I have never tried that as I > thought 2 was meant for climbing hills at a slow pace.. Wow. There's something you don't know about driving... I'm shocked, I tell you! Shocked! SignatureAlan Baker Vancouver, British Columbia "If you raise the ceiling four feet, move the fireplace from that wall to that wall, you'll still only get the full stereophonic effect if you sit in the bottom of that cupboard." On May 30, 9:38 pm, dr_phill...@yahoo.com wrote: > > Note, I have driven in cars where if you downshift , > > the box will not actually have any effect until you [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Can you put it in 2 while going 65+ mph? I have never tried that as I > thought 2 was meant for climbing hills at a slow pace.. I find that the mindless box will take care of itself and shift as needed going up a hill. I do shift down going down a steep hill. My wife discovered the disadvantage of sifting to '2' at too high a speed. Would have been going about 40 at the time. After she came home, I no longer had a '2' in the box. Harry K > On May 30, 9:38 pm, dr_phill...@yahoo.com wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Harry K Go to a local SCCA racerand ask them. I bet that they have messed around with many AT cars and can give you a bunch of good info. One item, though. Before descending a hill in a AT car, put it in the gear you expect to want to be in for the steep part. Otherwise, floor it and put it into that gear - don't just move the stick. Sort of like coming out of OD into direct before using the engine- braking capabilities. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.