I was not looking down my now well icked nose at auto transmissions - I have
one in the CR-V I bought earlier this year. Partly because my clutch foot has
an ongoing achilles tendon problem. I was objecting to putting one in a BMW
which has as its main selling point a rather sporty performance. The Germans,
as I said, are reported to have been very puzzled why anyone would do anything
that robbed it of power but found they couldn't sell them viably in the US
unless they offered the option.
I do enjoy the left hand freedom although, for those of us who drive on the
correct side of the road and are very right handed, performing complex tasks
like nasal reaming is fraught with danger and imprecision. I did manage to hold
a map with it today, however - printed maps, unlike GPS units, rarely lie and
people do not break into your car to steal them.
I do miss one aspect of a manual. I live in a very hilly area and often do slow
speed manoeuvring by slipping the clutch and rolling a bit. An auto does not
allow you to use gravity in this casual manner. Very restricting. Also it tends
to take off suddenly when doing things like reversing uphill but that may be an
old Honda quirk. I can't seem to squeeze on just a little power. I now also
understand how people suddenly launch from a parking space through the
supermarket window. It's not hard to start of in the wrong gear when you only
use two of them and if your start program defaults to F1 grid settings, you're
in strife.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.soultheft.com
Author/Publisher:
The SLR Compendium:
revised edition -
http://blur.by/19Hb8or
The TLR Compendium
http://blur.by/1eDpqN7
On 17/11/2013, at 1:36 AM, Bob Whitmire wrote:
> That said, I discovered after a few hundred uncomfortable miles that I
> enjoyed the benefits of automatic. Few of the roads I was driving then needed
> to be _driven_, or gave any particular pleasure when they were, and the
> benefits of automatic in some of the traffic choke points I had to endure
> just made me feel, well, better. For example, when driving an automatic, one
> is free to pick one's nose with one's right hand in any traffic situation,
> not just when one is at speed and there's no need to change gears for a span
> of time. <wink>
>
> Now, with the motorcycle, it's a different ball of wax. Even though Aprilla
> and Honda and others are starting to offer automatic transmissions, I
> wouldn't think of it. Never. Never-never-never.
--
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