auto stick

[mcgusto82]

you know what i think is funny? those car commercial where they show a driver "shifting gears" in a car that has no option to manual shifter.like the fusion. they make it seem as the one girl is shifting to 3rd or something. same for the mercedes ones. they don't make a single manual car. not imported here anyways. yet i just saw a comercial where the camera was 5 inches from the shifter and the driver went all the way from D to who knows where. he was "shifting" while driving.if they think promoting manual gears will sell cars, maybe they should sell a manual car.ha ha ha.

[ToolGuy]

Yes it is a joke I have it in my PT. My car came that way otherwise I would not have gotten the option. No replacement for my manual trans vehicle though! The auto stick certainly does not react like a real manual trans but for a beginner or just to have fun with I suppose some like it. For Chrysler, I am surprised they still have it as an option after all these years. With the new C6 Corvette, if you get the auto trans with paddle shifts, GM did a better job than others with the auto stick since the trans will rev up, burp the throttle or rev match, whatever you want to call it, when you downshift on its own. A far cry from the auto stick in my PT cruiser and others out there!

[scherry2]

I manually shift my automatic up from 1st gear all the time. beats pushing in the clutch pedal. I get the vibe into the power range rather than shifting at 3000 RPM

[remusrm]

the fusion does come in manual, also some benzos do too

[Atomb]

and there's always shift-tronic ....you know those + and - things next to D?i know they have those in jags, MB, and BMW...

[Mavrik]

maybe some form of automatic "sport manual" shift?

[ColonelPanic]

And a lot of Hyundais too.

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[millster]

And soon to be one 4Cyl equipped Sebring. I personally don't see what this whole fuss is about. For people who can't or simply don't desire to drive a manual transmission, autostick (or it's thousand other names) is a nice feature. Flawed though it may be.In my case, I got tired of shifting so much driving over mountain passes. Not to mention the fact that my cruise was effectively useless having to push the clutch in to downshift to climb said mountains. For that reason, I'll live with my crumby Autostick. (Note that this is not me saying I disliked anything about my departed Vibe. I loved it and miss it daily!)

[nismo]

Well, GM isn't the only car maker that makes the paddles shifts. BMW 3 series. There is still that lag. I'd much rather just drive my manual tranny car. One company that i seem to see that has a great auto-shift is Acura. No lag. Shifts perfect. Just stay on the gas and you willl be okay.Inder

[northvibe]

I think the auto stick is a sweet idea, if it works well with the tranny. you still have that ability to have a sporty shift while having your auto when you want. but it works WAY better in some cars than others.My mom's 05 malibu has the autoshift thing..it sucks soooo bad, you really have no control over it, and its laggy to shift when you shift. but i use it alot anywho, cuz its fun to think im shifting

[cohocarl]

Wife's car is an '01 Dodge Stratus R/T coupe, 5-speed. 200hp, 205ft/lbs tq, V6 3.0L. (they were based on the Mitsubishi Eclipse GT)All I can say is that thing is a blast to drive. The 5-speeds were close to a full second quicker through the 1/4 than the "slush boxes".When we ordered it, the salesman was trying to make some more $$ by telling us how great the "auto-stick" was. There's still a torque converter there....

[BlueCrush]

I wish Pontiac offered the autostick for the Vibe.That is one thing I really liked while testing the Subaru's.

[mcgusto82]

no, no, no!! you guys got it all wrong.ok, i verified with ford.com. i retract my statement about the fussion.however, what i meant isn't the actual auto stick feature a lot of cars have. that's fine or whatever. i had a CL type s with the auto stick mess. it wasn't as usefull as someone else said it to be. you couldn't shift out of 1st or into 1st. if you shifted while flooring it, the car woudn't shift up. and there was lag.mercedez does NOT offer a manual in the USA. it hasn't for years. but in their commercials, they make it seem as though the car is a stick. (not auto stick) the person driving moves the stick all the way up. the benz auto stick is a horizontal movememnt not vertical. that's what i meant when i titled auto stick.i think this is funny.

[Atomb]

i know MANY companies that produce a single commercial which is then used around the world....maybe this is the case?

[ToolGuy]

Definitely marketing of the vehicle plays into the feature, no doubt!Millsters car did not have it when he bought it and his reason above is a reason that many probably did not think of (me included) as to why someone would want the option. When he added the mod to his car I thought wow that is really cool and did not even know it could be done!!!! Impressive... I told my friends at Chrysler and they too were impressed.I just wonder though out of all the car manfs that have this feature and lots seem to be getting it more, what is the percentage of people that actually use it? I go months at a time without using mine sometimes. On the other hand someone that uses it a lot could really get good with it and learn how their trans shifts and shift points. I suppose I was harsh in the beginning and probably because I am a die hard car guy and it is the concept is what I have an issue with... I use the auto stick in the snow mostly because I can up-shift and downshift a lot better than a normal auto trans AND the trans is built to take the shifting. I can even start off in third gear if I want... It is also fun to hit the gas in first gear and rev it until it automatically shift on its own into second gear! OK I do not do that all the time but after reading the manual and it said the trans will override if left in a gear too long, I had to try it!

[binary]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »And a lot of Hyundais too. Jeeez... bad memories. Went to CO for training, got stuck with a Hyundai Sante Fe. That pig couldn't get out of its own way... 3.0L V6, autostick.I had to shift it to make it rev up when merging on the highway or it would just jump to the highest gear and drag it's tail along - thought I was going to die a few times. I had my foot to the floor and it stayed in 5th gear at like 1800 rpm!... I was like "eff this...." jammed it over into manual and kicked her down two gears to get it up to 5000 rpm...

[ragingfish]

Manual shift mode in the G6 is a BLAST!One of my favorite features in the whole car.

[mcgusto82]

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »Manual shift mode in the G6 is a BLAST!One of my favorite features in the whole car. your G6 is paddle shifted right?

[TRDman]

Quote, originally posted by mcgusto82 »no, no, no!! you guys got it all wrong.mercedez does NOT offer a manual in the USA. it hasn't for years. but in their commercials, they make it seem as though the car is a stick. i think this is funny.Mercedes does indeed offer a stick. The C320 Sport model has an optional 6 speed. It is funny though. I've driven an "autostick" too (Acura TL) (and a basic auto ( The Vibe), and a stick (RSX-S)) which can be fun on twisty roads, but is still no match for a real stick (the not being able to shift into first gear thing is weird) and in fact is worthless as an automatic around town as well (the whole point of an automatic being that you don't have to pay attention to things like shifting). You have to wonder if they're just made for people who, for confidence reasons, want to look like they're driving a stick but can't/won't drive a real one.

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by mcgusto82 »your G6 is paddle shifted right?no, it has a manual mode on the shifter.you can just barely see it in this pic:

[soldierguy]

Autostick isn't perfect...it's still an automatic transmission that's just being shifted by the driver. So there's still the torque converter that soaks up power...no real advantage over a regular automatic in terms of performance. Just makes it easier for the driver to intervene and control things a little more to his/her liking, and it can add some fun.My Jeep has a variation on the autostick thing. They call it ERS for Electronic Range Selector. Default mode is Drive with all forward gears available. Tap the lever once left and gears 1-4 are available. Tap it twice and 1-3 are available, etc. Hold it left and it'll either drop down to 1st gear or drop to the lowest gear possible for whatever speed I'm driving. Tapping right does the same thing except the available gears increase, and holding it right makes all gears available. It's useful mostly for preventing upshifts since the vehicle will still downshift if I hit the gas.Another toy is the tow/haul button. Basically it raises the shift points, speeds up the shift process, eliminates 5th gear, and disables the cylinder deactivation. I like tow/haul mode...much sportier and crisper feeling than in normal mode.Although ERS is of limited use, the automatic in my Jeep is the best automatic I've ever driven...smooth on EVERY shift, cracks off fast upshifts right at redline that are nearly imperceptible, willingly downshifts or unlocks the converter with no fuss, and generally makes the vehicle feel pretty responsive. But I guess having 370 lb-ft of torque helps the vehicle feel pretty responsive too...LOL!

[drunkenmaxx]

oddly enough, the speed demon aveo has this option. i guess so you can get the most out of those 102 horses!

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by drunkenvibe »oddly enough, the speed demon aveo has this option. i guess so you can get the most out of those 102 horses! Funny you should mention that... I read a review of the redesigned '06 Hyundai Accent the other day where the reviewer thought a manual mode on the automatic would really be helpful on cars with smaller engines... Since the automatic sucks so much power out of the engine and you don't have a lot to begin with, I kinda agree that greater control over when the transmission shifts could really benefit the smaller cars. So yes, that in theory sounds to me like it would be getting the most out of that low amount of ponies the engine is capable of putting out. Whereas now, this feature is only installed in cars with far more under the hood so it becomes more or less a novelty and most probably won't even use it.