Marks DTM Calib wrote on 08. Aug 2006 at 14:14:


What happens when in sports mode or you use the shift to make it hold a gear......can you throw it round corners faster then?

Marks DTM Calib wrote on 08. Aug 2006 at 14:45:


There you are then.......

Funnily enough I just got back from the US... as many of you will know it's near impossible to hire a manual car there. I got the latest 2006 Mustang with 5-speed sludgebox... 4.0 litre engine, god knows how much power the torque converter was gobbling up cos it felt like a 2.0 litre. But that wasn't too much of a problem, just had to drive with the pedal on the carpet to get any grunt.

When trying to navigate twisty roads (yes they do exist in the US, you find some mountain paths that are *really* twisty!) this thing was near hopeless. See a sharp bend approaching in a manual, you get into a low gear before entering it to both help control the car's speed round the bend and also ensure there's plenty of power available on the way out. Enter the slush-o-matic, as you enter the bend you're off the gas, so the gearbox sits in a high gear as you obviously don't need any power. Great, no engine braking all the way through the bend. Try to accelerate back out... no power... bit more gas... no power, the gearbox is finishing off a coffee before shifting down... bit more gas... finally it shifts down a few gears, oh crap too much gas now! OK you survive that one, drive 50 metres along the straight to the next tight bend and repeat the whole thing

For someone who actually enjoys driving, particularly thorugh challenging and involving roads, sludgeboxes just ruin the whole experience. Apart from the whole "wrong gear" syndrome, the rubber-band effect of the torque converter just makes the reaction of the throttle unpredictable at the limits. I've never tried an SMG or similar, but those are proper manual gearboxes with a normal friction clutch that are hydraulically activated (and also change bloody quickly) so I'd expect it's a far better experience, pretty similar to a normal manual with a bit less effort.

I've tried the BMW "steptronic" (more aptly titled sludgetronic) and that's almost as bad... still got that horrid torque converter and the response to the buttons is crap. It would maybe make driving through twisty roads better as you could select the appropriate gear before entering the bend, but it would always feel like an auto with all the associated drawbacks. I do fancy trying an SMG sometime, not convinced I'll prefer it over a full-blown manual but it's got to be better than a slushy.

BTW I do a reasonable amount of driving in traffic, and while the clutch can become a PITA in really slow stop-start stuff, it's a very small price to pay for not feeling like a passenger once you're actually moving.

My "2 cents" - can anyone guess which way I voted in the poll? 

Quote:


You certainly did Louis, thats why I thought we better put it to the polls

Auto Addict wrote on 08. Aug 2006 at 16:21:


Dont be silly AA  ....mines a 2.2, i need a runway to get any kind of speed up 

Jay w wrote on 09. Aug 2006 at 11:22:


But ... annoyingly the Omega's auto will change out of 4th lock-up by itself when you're going down hill!   I could do that if I wanted to!

Andy B wrote on 09. Aug 2006 at 16:26:


In that case, you must be travelling at one helluva lick downhill!!  Should be in 2 or 3 hold to get the braking!!