this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2024
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Why do British people have such a dim view of Automatic cars? (feddit.uk)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I've been driving an automatic since I passed nearly a decade ago. In that time whenever I tell anyone I drive auto, it's usually met with some level of derision. I think that attitude is changing, but I'm still kind of confused by it in the first place.

Why?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Define "instant response"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

CVTs are always "in gear", and quickly adapt to whatever torque vs RPM band your engine needs. At no point is your engine every "out of gear". Their "noise is wrong" to anyone used to older transmissions, but their performance cannot be denied or ignored. I'm very impressed with their tech. Its just a matter of getting used to it IMO.

Manual transmissions can "shift ahead of time", so with enough brainpower and paying attention, you should usually be in the correct gear for any situation. But any particular gear-shift takes time to accomplish. The exception are 0-60 kind of drag-races (erm, 0-100km/hr for yall Brits), where the manual effort to gearshift is unavoidable, but typical driving with a manual is very pleasant because normal roads are far more predictable and no one is trying to drag-race around every corner on public roads.

Traditional Automatic transmissions all take time, and the clock starts after the user pushes the pedal (unlike manual which starts when the driver notices that another gear would be useful, often ahead of time).. So automatic transmission is always slower.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

0-60 kind of drag-races (erm, 0-100km/hr for yall Brits)

Brits still use miles per hour. You might be thinking of the Irish, they use KM/H.... although they don't like being called Brits 🫠.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

And yet any time you change throttle input they change gearing and have horrible "lag". While they may be always engaged they're never in the right "gear".