Paddle shifters are unsporing. Discuss.

[srivendel]

Linkie.

Dear Editors,

Is it OK to respond to another letter? This is in response to the letter that was published on Inside Line about the same article. I don't feel a sports car's purpose is just to go fast. If fast were the ultimate objective, I imagine there'd be a lot more built crate motors out there but as it stands, the Honda Civic and Scion tC are both very popular platforms for people to modify. Those two cars are hardly capable of the potential for speed of a built crate motor or big block (or even a small block.) Of course, people will argue that those two little compacts can handle far better than a '69 Camaro or '64 Mustang. However, for $20,000, I can probably find a '60s Mustang coupe chassis and replace a bunch of suspension components. So if one considers that, there'd be no point in buying a Civic Si other than such factors as gas mileage and conveniences but of course, speed is the purpose of sports cars so all that other stuff is nothing but dead weight.

So, I don't think the entire point of a sports or even a sporty car (the Scion is most definitely not a sports car...but it is sporty enough for me) is speed. The point of a sports/sporty car is the sport. Not many people sport fish with a tug and a net; rather, they use a sportsman's fish catcher, a.k.a. a reel. The people with the tugboat and nets are the people making money off the fish they catch. Likewise, those F1 racers using F1-style automatic transmissions are racing for their lives, or more rather, livelihoods. Also, at those speeds it's hardly more control to be able to shift for yourself. I imagine that at or around 200 mph, I would like to have both hands on the wheel. However, in daily driving, I don't often hit F1 speeds and I think I can handle 10-90 mph just fine with one hand on the wheel and one on the shifter. With that said, I want the sport in my daily driving and I simply don't feel any sport when a computer mitigates my control of the engine. I want to shift for myself; I want to govern directly how and when the power from my engine gets to the ground; I want to be free and I want for this melodrama to show just how unsporting it is that all I have to do to burn a Civic with a Monte Carlo is depress a single pedal and allow a long list of 1s and 0s to do the rest. Whatever happened to the driver's race?

In my example of the Monte Carlo vs. Civic, the Civic is hard-pressed to win anyways so in an even match, two automatics can have a driver's race but all that is is launch technique (which is a lot, in its own right) but what of the time between the Christmas tree's green light and the finish line? Feathers, dumps, shift points and all that pomp and circumstance are a nonissue with an automatic. And races with turns? An automatic takes away only one of many issues to juggle, but honestly, who is the more sporting man? The man who brakes well, accelerates at the right time and clips the apexes perfectly, or the man who does all that with a clutch and shifter to boot?

Whatever happened to the driver's race? What happened to "sports" in a sports car?

Sorry, I'm a little agitated by the thought of a clutchless tomorrow.

Kevin P.
From the Web

I think the author's point is something that the Miata culture has understood for a long time. Apparently the new generation of clutchless transmissions is quite good, particularly VW's DSG. I've driven a diesel Jetta with DSG, and it is completely superior to a traditional slushbox, but still... When I was shopping for the Si I cross-shopped the GTI. Good as DSG may be, I never even considered it over a traditional manual. I think the key word is engagement.

S.

[Radio-Active]

The author acts as if this is some new fangled technology. It isn't! Volkswagen, Porsche and Honda all had it out in the 1970's A microswitch on the gear shifter tells a vacuum booster to depress the clutch. You touch the gear shift knob and the engine revs freely but you get nowhere quick.

I have driven the Hondamatic 2 speed semi-automatic and the Porche 911 T with the Sport-O-Matic transmission. The Porsce was far supirior to the Honda and had 4 speed with a H gated shifter. Would I choose one? Sure, if my left leg fell off.

[cone-cerned]

In the 1950's, the Renault 4CV was available with an "electric clutch". A high school buddy of mine had one and it seemed to work well. At the time, I had a more modern Dauphine. But, my Dauphine had a regular clutch.

[MadMerv]

I was very intrigued with DSG when Audi was first testing it. It is quicker than I will ever be, and much smoother, as it actually has two clutches, so the next gear is already available, IIRC.

[Monkey of Death]

Where's the fun?!?
I like the feeling that I'm driving the car, not the other way around. I wonder how much of the recent wave of this sort of thing has been spurred on by guys who feel like girls because they drive automatics, but they don't want to have to use both hands to drive because that would mean they'd have to put down the -ing phone? So now they can be all manly since they have a paddle shifter "like an F1 race car" while they blast through yet another school zone while yakking on the phone!

I'm just sayin'...

[srivendel]

I was very intrigued with DSG when Audi was first testing it. It is quicker than I will ever be, and much smoother, as it actually has two clutches, so the next gear is already available, IIRC.

Correct. I've only driven it in the diesel, which was sort of a weird fit, and it's very slick. I can see why it would work well with the GTI's motor. There is basically no lag between gears because the next gear is already queued up and ready to engage.

But I still think I would miss the involvement of manually shifting, even if DSG is the faster solution.

S.

[Nexus Flux]

I agree. Paddle shifters are cool on F1 and rally cars, but in most passenger cars they get turned into steering-wheel mounted autos. You don't get the control that you get with an actual clutch. Downshifts are oversimplified as well as launches and clutch-pops. Granted they do provide a section of the driver population with an added feeling of control (people that would normaly not drive a manual) but it sucks when they are put in place as a replacement to real manual gearboxes.

I wouldn't mind seeing more sequential gearboxes on the market.