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Automotive News & Views Gated Shifters (Automatic Transmissions)
43 messages, Last post on Aug 15, 2008 at 5:18 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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| column shifters in trucks (loved the one in my 07 Avalanche, which btw, had NO button to push to change selections). I also prefer non-gated console shifters in most cars. I find it more intuitive and comfortable using the pushbutton on the stick and moving front-to-back rather than the side-to-side-as-I-move-front-to-back layout of the gated shifters. The only place I care for gates, and for good reason, is with a manual transmission! | |
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I am a fan of the floor shifter over the column, because column shifters always are harder to put in gear I find. (mind you my column shifter experience is with taurus's and f-150's, not exactly the new s-class) That being said I prefer the classic floor shift with the straight line down. You can switch gears really quickly. I'm not really a fan of the gated shifters, they seem to overcomplicate the process. The Escape I drive now has the floor shfter and has a fairly simple setup and I like it. |
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Replying to: hickey86 (Feb 29, 2008 6:22 am) I do not like being in an overdrive gear in hilly country, to get decent power going up and braking going down you need to be in 2nd or 3rd gear. Either is tricky to select from the column although I admit going back into D is easy because the detents are set up properly so that it'll drop right into it. On a more positive note, I think those of you complaining about gated shifter patterns being overly complex would be surprised to know that the motion to go from 5th to 4th on my car's Steptronic is almost the same that you'd use to go from 5th to 4th w a manual shift (in a typical 5-sp pattern). Move Lever back, then to left and back again. Tap lever back once for Fourth, twice for third. If that's too complex, there's always the "shifter" in the new Jag XF>  
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Replying to: andys120 (Feb 29, 2008 7:10 am) Ha, I knew someone would do it sooner or later. I would have stuck the rotary knob on the dashboard, though. |
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Replying to: hickey86 (Feb 29, 2008 6:22 am) (And that's before I even mention how the Tribute/Escape's column shifter blocked all the radio controls when it was in drive) |
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Replying to: hickey86 (Feb 29, 2008 6:22 am) What, are you kidding me? Gated shifter - move the stick into gears (1-step process) Straight line shifter - press the release button then move the stick into gears (2-step process) A 1-step process is "overly complicated" than a 2-step process? 
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Replying to: louiswei (Feb 29, 2008 10:59 am) |
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Wasn't it Mercedes that introduced this concept? I remember my folks having a '72 220D with an automatic (gawd, what a dog-slow car that was!) having the gated shifter on the floor. Ultimately, I think it became an issue of "imitation being the sincerest form of flattery" that other manufacturers started to offer this. Lexus and Infiniti both did this on their early cars in the '90's. Now, with the manu-matics being all the rage, there are probably less gated shifters - everybody has the extra slot for the + / - for up and down shifts (my wife's '08 VUE has this on the 6-speed auto).
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Replying to: michaell (Aug 15, 2008 12:08 pm) My Lexus has the gated shifter with the manumatic tranny. |
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Replying to: michaell (Aug 15, 2008 12:08 pm) I might have this a little off, but in my column shift auto fintail (I think fintails might have been the last column shift automatic MB) to put it into drive from park, you pull the lever towards you, then down, then back a little, then down a little more and it hits the drive notch...or something to that effect. Next time I drive it I will try to remember exactly how it works. People who have never drove one are always thrown off when they try to get going. |
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