Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2015 08:59:52 -0700
Reply-To: Raymond Markett <raym02@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Raymond Markett <raym02@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Automatic vs Manual trans. ( Friday )
In-Reply-To: <CAHTkEuLeMZF4KLodhLv84EEjO635DK_OTBOJUAux_mJpGd4q9A@mail.gmail.com>
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I also had to learn how to influence an automatic transmission. I have also noticed that automatic transmissions are getting smarter. I found the 3 speed automatics of yesteryear frustrating to drive unless they were mated to a huge V8. Fast forward from the '70s to the early 2000s and computer controlled automatics are common. The 5 speed auto in our 2004 Volvo seeks the highest gear without bogging down and does a good job picking the right gear for rolling hills and turns in mountain driving.
The wife's 2014 BMW has an uncanny 8 spd automatic that does rev matching downshifts during hard braking, yet shifts as smooth as butter when taking it easy. And so far, it always seems to pick the right gear for the situation. I read that some Porsche and Corvette models with computer controlled autos accelerate faster than the manual transmission versions. I like driving a stick, but automatics are getting better.
Raymond
Sent from my iPhone
> On Sep 11, 2015, at 8:21 AM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Over the past year I have 'learned to drive' an automatic transmission
> vehicle. I've always chosen a manual transmission vehicle. Never liked
> having the car or truck shifting for me...but I needed a van with AWD for
> work and winter, so I picked up a GM Safari van inexpensively, and most ot
> these are automatic transmission vehicles..
> When I began with this van, I hated it, the way it 'surged forward' in
> response to a slight touch of the accelerator....the way it 'cycled' back
> and forth as I climbed a long steep grade with a load...the way it has a
> sense of "un-connected-ness" between coasting and holding a steady speed or
> climbing....the lack of 'feel" as you negotiate rough terrain or try to get
> going on ice....no ability to 'slip the clutch'... the Safari is just a
> regular automatic transmission, no worse than some, no better...
> So,..... I LIKE driving. It is one of my passions, I often do it
> just for fun...but I've never owned an automatic transmission vehicle
> before this one. Hence, I realized that I needed to learn some new
> driving techniques. As my Safari seat-time builds so does my ability to
> "work around" the constraints of an automatic transmission:...I've learned
> to modulate the gas pedal to help control 'stupid' shifting, brake and gas
> at the same time for slow speed parking lot maneuvers, influence the
> automatic transmission to behave as closely as possible to the way I want
> it to...
> It still bugs me when the transmission 'insists' on behaving like the
> engineers designed it to rather than how I would like, but lately I've
> become much better at getting it to behave, within it's design parameters,
> the way I'd like it to...
> It never occurred to me than I should need to learn how to drive an
> automatic...Like most folks, I just thought you jumped in and mashed the
> gas and let the vehicle do it's thing....but now I know I can actually make
> the thing go smoother and better with my newly learned automatic
> transmission driving skills....Driving it with skill also enhances the fuel
> economy some....It IS convenient to drive if I get caught on Interstate 5
> in one of the Portland traffic snarls.
