[OFFICIAL] Manual v. Automatic Thread

[luigi90210]

Originally Posted by wstar

That's why I run it in M-mode 24/7 - I'm used to picking my gear, and I prefer to pick my gear. I know what gear the car should be in based on the situation, and a regular automatic in D-mode doesn't and never will. All an automatic gear-selector can see as input is "Hey we're travelling at 57mph and the engine's at 3,300 rpm and the gas pedal is at 3/8ths", it doesn't know things like "And he's about to make a sudden left turn under braking, so let's predictively move down a gear before we do, so that we have power on tap at the turn's exit, but we don't have to upset the car downshifting mid-corner to get that" versus "And we're about to cruise steadily at this speed for the next mile, let's move up a gear to save fuel and heat".

wait, so the 370z AT will not downshift for you to engine brake the car when you are braking?(IE you're coming up to a right turn, you brake so you can turn and the car will downshift automatically to a lower gear so you can make said turn)

see i was under the impression that all AT cars did that(well all normal AT cars), my eclipse does that, my altima did that, my friends auto civic does that, my moms merc kind of does that(she has some problems with the transmission shifting so it doesnt do it all the time)

the only AT cars i have driven that didnt do that were the CVT transmissions and it makes sense why it doesnt do it because CVTs technically do not have any gears

if the 370z AT doesnt do that then i can kinda see why someone would keep it in M 24/7(i still dont agree with it but i can understand the frustrations of not being in the right gear coming out of a turn, whether its on the track or on the streets)

[kenchan]

Originally Posted by luigi90210

wait, so the 370z AT will not downshift for you to engine brake the car when you are braking?(IE you're coming up to a right turn, you brake so you can turn and the car will downshift automatically to a lower gear so you can make said turn)

see i was under the impression that all AT cars did that(well all normal AT cars), my eclipse does that, my altima did that, my friends auto civic does that, my moms merc kind of does that(she has some problems with the transmission shifting so it doesnt do it all the time)

the only AT cars i have driven that didnt do that were the CVT transmissions and it makes sense why it doesnt do it because CVTs technically do not have any gears

if the 370z AT doesnt do that then i can kinda see why someone would keep it in M 24/7(i still dont agree with it but i can understand the frustrations of not being in the right gear coming out of a turn, whether its on the track or on the streets)

CVT does not need to do that because theoretically it can instantly be in the ratio optimized for fuel economy and power.

planetary gear AT cars downshift on their own, but not in the optimum gear you want to be as it is programmed to save fuel as default... (like it wont automatically enter 2nd gear to be in torque band before entering the turn). that's when the AT guy paddle shifts to mandate the lower gear to get in the torque band to prepare for powering out of the turn.