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I totally acknowledge that automatics are now technically superior in most ways. But I just cannot stand the robot between me and what I want the car to do. W

I totally acknowledge that automatics are now technically superior in most ways. But I just cannot stand the robot between me and what I want the car to do. When I am stuck in a snowbank and want to rock the car, or am about to pass a tuck on a mountain highway, or want to engine brake down a long hill, I don't want an unpredictable machine trying to decide when and if to shift. I would buy an automatic that would never shift unless told so to do, but such things are not available on consumer cars. Automatics are also just one more unfixable thing to go wrong. An automatic has so many moving parts, most of which are tiny little things buried deep inside. Manuals just run forever, needing at most new clutch plates or slave cylinders, things external to the actual transmission. Fixing anything to do with an automatic is akin to automotive heart surgery.

15155 3y ago
> I would buy an automatic that would never shift unless told so to do, but such things are not available on consumer cars. DCTs will absolutely give you this experience. Most don't expose a UI for shifting from directly to any gear arbitrarily, though.
actionfromafar 3y ago
Volvo had at least in 2015 automatics which would not shift unless told.
hcarvalhoalves 3y ago
VW/Audi DCT has manual mode that allows shift up/down and stays set on a gear. The only difference is it won’t comply if you aggressively downshift or will eventually shift up if you rev too much.
- sandworm101 3y ago
  >> The only difference is it won’t comply Ya, I don't want to get into an argument with my car. I want a transmission that will actively allow the engine to stall, or let the rev limiter do its thing. I also want a clutch that I control, one that will engage when I ask it rather than a second later, which is a bigger deal in snow/mud/rock. A couple weeks ago I had to rock my car out of some deep snow (snowed-in parking spot). An automatic just will not engage/disengage fast enough on command for such trickery.
- OkayPhysicist 3y ago
  Which is exactly the problem. If I'm pushing my car to redline, it's because I want the car there. Maybe I'm trying to climb a questionably legal driveway, maybe I'm trying to smoke some Beamer off a stoplight to impress a date. I made the jump over to full electric after my 90's Integra got stolen, and damn do I miss that car sometimes.

15155 3y ago

> I would buy an automatic that would never shift unless told so to do, but such things are not available on consumer cars. DCTs will absolutely give you this experience. Most don't expose a UI for shifting from directly to any gear arbitrarily, though.

actionfromafar 3y ago

Volvo had at least in 2015 automatics which would not shift unless told.

hcarvalhoalves 3y ago

VW/Audi DCT has manual mode that allows shift up/down and stays set on a gear. The only difference is it won’t comply if you aggressively downshift or will eventually shift up if you rev too much.

sandworm101 3y ago
>> The only difference is it won’t comply Ya, I don't want to get into an argument with my car. I want a transmission that will actively allow the engine to stall, or let the rev limiter do its thing. I also want a clutch that I control, one that will engage when I ask it rather than a second later, which is a bigger deal in snow/mud/rock. A couple weeks ago I had to rock my car out of some deep snow (snowed-in parking spot). An automatic just will not engage/disengage fast enough on command for such trickery.
OkayPhysicist 3y ago
Which is exactly the problem. If I'm pushing my car to redline, it's because I want the car there. Maybe I'm trying to climb a questionably legal driveway, maybe I'm trying to smoke some Beamer off a stoplight to impress a date. I made the jump over to full electric after my 90's Integra got stolen, and damn do I miss that car sometimes.