[rayainsw]

Yes - but:

(Mostly crossposted - from Edmunds)


I expect that I am in a very small minority in my requirements for a man-u-matic. There are many ways to approach the offering of some manual control to an automatic trans. And for those looking for any additional control, the AutoStick as implemented in the 300C may be just fine.

I look at these devices as potentially providing the best of both words – rapid up and downshifts, when I desire without aggravating the arthritis in my left foot and full automatic operation when I desire.

Here are my personal requirements:

Ability to hold any selected gear (specifically including top / 5th with respect to the 300C) within as wide a range of rpm / mph as practical. I typically run my cars (current and last 2 have has AutoStick-like functionality) at highway speeds ‘locked’ in 5th gear. This allows only TCC unlock, unless I manually downshift. Even in a very good automatic, I find the pause (“Are you serious, Mr. Driver?”) before downshifts at highway speed to be rather annoying. This works well for me when in typical 50 – 80 mph traffic. And I can actually hold 5th gear (in my current vehicle) down to less than 10 mph – assuming I don’t mind rather leisurely acceleration.

Ability to upshift at any (reasonable) rpm when at WOT. Oddly, BMW’s automanual (as recently as the 2002 model year) does NOT allow this.

Forward move of shift lever when in manual mode = upshift and back = downshift. (Again, to pick on BMW - they had this – and then reversed it, for some reason????? Autostick left / right might be OK – have not driven one yet.)

Do NOT execute an (automatic / un-requested) upshift except at redline and WOT. (Once again, BMW has some rather odd behavior here. And I really do like a lot about BMWs . . .)

Further, my preferences (not ‘deal breakers’) are:

Ability to start in either 1st, 2nd or 3rd gear. And hold any of those gears from idle to redline - or until manually changed.

Automatic upshift at redline only if at WOT. (Like VW / Audi Tiptronic.)

RPM match on downshifts. Sadly, only the DSMG on VW / Audi’s 3.2L V6s and some VERY expensive European cars (AFAIK) seem to offer this feature right now.

Just my opinions. YMMV.

- Ray
Always looking for driving refinements . . .