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Roland
To be honest, I haven't used that feature much. It's my wife's car anyway. The only time I get to drive it is on the weekends.
while I'll agree with you that these tranny generated drivability issues are largely solved by doing it yourself, it is an inconvenience that 99% of the car buyers of cars like this are not willing to put up with or in many cases even have the ability to handle. These cars are not even available with manual trannies, there really is no choice in the matter.
The Northstar, BTW, for a V8 is NOT particulary torque rich - instead being a smoothly reving 'twister' much like all these V6s you don't seem to like. Max HP and torque at the same sort of levels - and as a bonus you get to use a whole lot more gas!
I don't know about it starting out in 4th. If you're sitting at a stop, you can only press up once and put it into 2nd. You have that option so you if you're on a slippery surface, starting out in 2nd takes some of the torque off the wheels for less chance of slippage upon take-off.
That being the case, I can only imagine how slow the take-off would be in 4th gear. If it was true, the salesman should have demonstrated it and gave you a reason why you would want to do such a thing! In my opinion, just another case of an idiot salesman not knowing what he was talking about and wanted to say something that SOUNDED like he knew something the customer didn't.
These are fine engines from Hyundai.
The 3.8 in the Azera is a very smooth operator. I mean...cruising at 80 mph is so effortless it feels more like you're only doing 50. Personally, I've taken it up beyond 100 mph a few times and the engine doesn't seem to breathe hard at all. The 3.8 is a very competent engine which I'm sure will be re-tuned and found in the new Equus when they decide to bring it out. I also hear there is talk of Hyundai producing a V-8 for the Equus as well.
You mean to tell me that people like this exist???
Do know several people that drive autos 'manually' as a matter of habit and as you suggest - 'it works lovely'. With me it is more a function of wanting to have a few 'grins' - because otherwise the tranny does fine on its own and the FE is phenomenal for a car with this kind of size and power.
Automatic trannys equipped with manual mode is really for those that wish for more spirited driving. Yes, for general driving and cruising...auto mode is wonderful and I have no qualms with it at all. However, I'm the type that prefers a more spirited drive more often than not (not to mention the years of driving cars with manual transmissions) so I find myself in manual mode more often than not.
I wouldn't say the FE is phenomenal, it could certainly be better, but it's not something I'm going to complain about.
As far as how it did, the 2.7 in my '02 Sonata had 105K miles on it in 4 years and not one mechanical failure or breakdown happend. Biggest issue was a ruptured power steering line that got replaced under warranty during the end of the 3rd year of ownership. The day I traded it in, the salesman said he was gonna have trouble convincing customers that the car actually had 105K miles on it as smoothly as it ran. I took rather good car of that car and loved it. Only reason I traded up for the Azera is my kids are growing and I needed the extra room the Azera afforded. Other than that...I would have held on to the Sonata to be honest.
I think the 3.8 would alleviate some of the FE burden on the Amanti as the extra horsepower would compensate for the weight.
Even if they did put the 3.8 in the Amanti, I would choose the Azera over it.
Every car that I have ever driven has had the same "governor" if it had a manual mode for the automatic transmission. Hyundai engineers certainly didn't invent this feature. My 98 Chrysler Sebring does the same thing.
Since when did Chrysler have manu-matic transmissions???
http://blogs.edmunds.com/Straightline/1555
Greg
1997 Dodge Intrepid Sport
1997 Chrysler Sebring LXi
1998 Dodge Stratus ES
and currently in my 2002 Chrysler 300M
It works great and I love it.
Bill
Hagerstown, MD
(future Azera owner)
allmet 33, re-read your post #422. I believe you wrote that Hyundai engineers DESIGNED a "governor" for the tranny. My point is that limiters have been used for a very long time.
This is just conversation, for fun. Let us not get angry.
It was never intended to make one believe that Hyundai engineers came up with the intial concept of transmission governors. I mean...Hyundai wasn't the first company to come up with a manual shifting automatic transmission. After all, Hyundai did jump in the game some 15-20 years after Honda, Toyota and Nissan.
Not to mention it's still an automatic and hugely more expensive to fix than a clutch.
How do I know? I had autostick in my 2000 Intrepid R/T, and the car still blew two transmissions in 67,000 miles. I almost never used it - it is a gimmick more than anything else, unless you get stuck in snow or sand and need to select a gear.
To me, it is pretty much a useless feature, and has no impact on deciding what vehicle to purchase.
Scenario: You're driving at 40 MPH and you're in the manual shift mode in 4th gear. You're approaching a red light and you begin downshifting (3,2,1) If you try to downshift to first gear before slowing down to less than 30 MPH you will hear a beep and the display will still show "2" indicating that the downshift was not made. Is this the shift governor you're talking about?
With a 100K mile powertrain warranty, I'm not worried about expensive repairs any time soon on this transmission. If I keep up with the preventive maintenance...no problems. Do I really think it can last? The answer is yes, I took my '02 Sonata to 105K miles before trading it in and there was NOTHING wrong with the car whatsoever. Only traded it for the Azera because I needed a car with more room.
The governer is something built into the transmission that will not let you exceep the maximum speed in any of the lower gears (1-3). You now how in a manual, you might be able to take 2nd gear up to 40 mph and hold for a few seconds? Well, with the Shiftronic if you have it in 2nd gear (manual mode) and you exceed the maximum speed for that gear, the transmission will automatically shift you up to the next gear.
Arumage...If most manumatics won't downshift on their own, then what Hyundai has is truly wonderful, huh?
There have been a few occassions when merging into highway traffic, I've needed to hold 2nd gear for faster acceleration. If you exceed the max speed for 2nd gear and don't realize it, the car will shift into 3rd before you may be ready and you'll lose that acceleration you had.
Lets say that you are driving in the manual mode and you are at a red light. The display shows "1" indicating that you are in first gear. If I don't upshift by myself, the transmission will not automatically do it. It will rev all of the way to the redline and bounce off of the rev limiter, but it will not automatically upshift for you.
About the beep. Let's say you are driving at 35 MPH and you are in 4th gear (display showing "4"). You nudge the shift lever towards "-" to downshift. You are now in 3rd gear (display showing "3") still going 35 MPH. You nudge the shift lever towards "-" again and you are now in 2nd gear (display showing "2"). Realistically your car would have slowed down with the engine braking, but we're gonna assume that you have your foot on the gas and are maintaining 35 MPH. In 2nd gear @ 35 MPH you're probably turning about 4000 RPMS...high, but still well within the capacity of second gear. Now, let's say you nudge the shift lever towards "-" one more time. In the Avalon the display will still indicate "2" and you will hear a "beep beep" notifying you that you are going too fast for a downshift to be made. If you slow down enough and nudge the shift lever towards "-" again the transmission will then downshift to first.
That's all I was ever trying to say. In the Avalon, the transmission will never automatically upshift for you.
That's similar to a manual transmission.
Only in a manual, you can rev up the engine and it will slip into first gear.
Most auto trannys will upshift if you hold it too long.
A shift kit enables you to hold any gear for any length of time or any rpm though.
I've seen 05 Five Hundres SE models (under 30k miles), and 06 Impalas LT1 (under 20k miles) both for $14k in my area.
While the 500 is a little bigger, with a larger trunk, the Impala gets a little better milage, and is a yr newer in my price range.
I've not driven either vehicle yet, and would like some opinions before I get new car (used car) fever!
Thanks!
200 hp in any vehicle is enough. Not too long ago, 150 hp in a mid size car WAS the luxury.
Thanks!
Looking at an '07 LTZ and '07 SS. Heart says SS; head says LTZ. We'll see which wins.
Bob
Sleepers?
More like in a coma or vegetables...
:P
Bob
Also, to answer your question, yes I have drove one before. To tell you what, before I drove one I thought my mom's Camry is soft, but boy, after driven a Crown Vic the Camry's like a 3-series compare to it.
Bob