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Gated Shifters (Automatic Transmissions)

mikevegas06mikevegas06 Member Posts: 272
edited March 2014 in Subaru
I've noticed for some time now, that a good number of automobile manufactures use an overly complex path for the gear selector (IMO). I much prefer the mundane looking but highly useful verticle path. Or the "h-path"/ "inverted h-path" for transmissions with the the manual shift mode. What do you think?
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Comments

  • boaz47boaz47 Member Posts: 2,747
    For most of the year it doesn't make much difference to me. But in the winter living in the mountains I like the idea of the + or - shifters for sport mode. Truth seems to be that for most drivers all they need is three letters. D-R-P.
  • mikevegas06mikevegas06 Member Posts: 272
    This is what I'm getting at -- for me, the gear shift in pic 1 is much easier to use than the one in pic 2

    pic1


    pic2
  • bumpybumpy Member Posts: 4,425
    The pictures didn't show up, but I'm guessing 1 was a conventional automatic shifter and 2 was the zig-zag type. I've driven both (sparingly) and don't see any practical difference in usability between the two. The zig-zag type does eliminate the need for a lock button on the shifter itself.
  • nippononlynippononly Member Posts: 12,555
    the zig-zag shifters are a bit silly, and don't completely compensate for the lack of shift locks the straight shifters have. It is pretty easy to bump a car from drive to neutral or even reverse with the zig-zag shifters.

    Since automatics transmissions are entirely controlled by computers these days, and the shifter itself does anything any longer but move a solenoid to give the compouter instructions, I can't figure why we haven't gone to push-button automatics by now anyway. The automatic shifter is a relic from the past.

    2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)

  • mikevegas06mikevegas06 Member Posts: 272
    pic 1


    pic2
  • mikevegas06mikevegas06 Member Posts: 272
    Oh well. Can't get the pics to appear. They show up just fine in the preview mode, but nothing appears when I actually post the message. Most likely due to user error ;)
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    You could park the pics on your CarSpace album and link from there.

    Maybe, lol.
  • mikevegas06mikevegas06 Member Posts: 272
    Now we know why steve gets paid the big bucks ;)

    Finally, click the button for the pics

    gear shift button
  • boaz47boaz47 Member Posts: 2,747
    In this case I agree with you. For most people a push button would work fine. They don't need a automatic on the floor. I think it is more for looks than anything else. If I lived in the flat lands more than likely I would never be shifting an automatic anyway.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    don't need a automatic on the floor.

    You just struck a nerve with KC on that one:

    What's that THING in the middle of my truck?

    image

    Hurts my right knee just looking at it.
  • boaz47boaz47 Member Posts: 2,747
    Hurts my right knee just looking at it.

    My best friend's Denali and my Tahoe have the shifter on a stalk and it works fine for me. But Like Nippon said a button or paddle would work as well. Without that shifter on the floor you would have more room for storage in that picture.
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,386
    In this case I agree with you. For most people a push button would work fine. They don't need a automatic on the floor. I think it is more for looks than anything else. If I lived in the flat lands more than likely I would never be shifting an automatic anyway

    I don't live in the flatlands and I often shift the Steptronic in my Fiver when descending the hills in my area or driving twisty roads. The console shifter is well set-up for this type of shifting. You don't have to look at it and you can do it all by feel, much as you would a manual.

    OTOH, you can't imagine the frustration I feel when driving my MIL's Buick in hilly country, with it's sloppy column shifted three-speed it is nearly impossible to make
    a clean shift into 2nd, in fact it is difficult to select Reverse even though it's right next to Park.

    Funny thing is both A/Ts are MY 2000, made by GM (which builds gearboxes for BMW in Strasbourg, France.

    If I have to drive an autobox give me a good console mounted shifter and/or paddles.

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • corvettecorvette Member Posts: 10,257
    Which Buick in MY 2000 had a three-speed auto? I thought only the Cavalier and Sunfire had it available.
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,386
    The 2000 LeSabre definitely had a 4 speed

    My bad, then. It's still got a sucky shift pattern (if you could call it that) :lemon: .

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • boaz47boaz47 Member Posts: 2,747
    other that Aesthetics there is very little reason to have a automatic shifter on the floor. If you insist on shifting yourself a paddle on the wheel might be ok but most people simply put it in drive and leave it there till they park.
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,386
    In my recollection, it has a D with a circle around it for 4th and just a D for third....instead of just having PRND321, it had
    PRNOD21

    There's a circle around the D, but no seperate D (without a circle), the car goes into overdrive very early so you get no pickup driving around town but not great mileage (you're lucky to break 20). Highway mileage can be very good, I've hit 30 on a trip.

    My BMW does around 24C/29H and has plenty of power whenever you ring for it.

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,386
    Which Buick in MY 2000 had a three-speed auto? I thought only the Cavalier and Sunfire had it available.

    LeSabre Custom.

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • xhe518xhe518 Member Posts: 107
    My Dad had a '89 LeSabre and it had a 4 speed.

    Edmunds only went back to 1990, but the 1990 LeSabre had a 4 speed
    http://www.edmunds.com/used/1990/buick/lesabre/568/standard.html

    The 2000 LeSabre definitely had a 4 speed
    http://www.edmunds.com/used/2000/buick/lesabre/8795/standard.html
  • xhe518xhe518 Member Posts: 107
    Well, yeah, no doubt about that! In my recollection, it has a D with a circle around it for 4th and just a D for third....instead of just having PRND321, it had
    PRNOD21

    p.s. It was a nice car back in 1989 - I remember it would get almost 30mpg on the highway...
  • hudsonthedoghudsonthedog Member Posts: 552
    My one and only automatic was a 1986 Merkur XR4Ti, and it had a gated shifter. I got used to it, but never really liked it (the gate or the automatic). I'm sure it's there to prevent people from shifting into the wrong gear, but it's annoying to have to hit each and every bump on the way from Park to Drive (snap right then down and to the left through Reverse and Neutral into Drive). Just another reason why my other vehicles are stick.
  • bwiensbwiens Member Posts: 1
    Im a fan of the traditional stalk shifters. I dont like the stuff on the floor much. Too little storage space, and i find it annoying when you have to make it go through the gates like that. Im a stick-shift purist, but when I do drive automatics I like the stalk behind the wheel.
  • chavis10chavis10 Member Posts: 166
    I love floor shifters and my mazda 3's is gated. It also has the correct push-for- downshift pull-for-upshift configuration for it's manumatic mode that follows the natural momentum of the car when shifting. The gate pattern makes it easy to shift without ever looking down. Since I have to parallel park everywhere I go, it saves time.
  • boaz47boaz47 Member Posts: 2,747
    Something new in this forum. I never knew so many people shifted by themselves when driving a automatic. Other than off roading or driving in the Snow I simply haven't seen much shifting by owners of automatics.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    I downshift the minivan on the 2 lane highways around here - lots of hills and passes, so the overdrive off button gets quite a bit of use. :D
  • redptcredptc Member Posts: 78
    I hate the gated shifter , but love to shift the automatic when getting on the freeway. :mad: :shades:
  • louisweilouiswei Member Posts: 3,715
    Why?

    With a gated shifter, you simply move it into the gears - a one-step process. With a column shifter, you have to press the release button first then move it into the gears - a two-step process.

    Not to mention that a properly designed gated shifter looks much better than a column one.
  • louisweilouiswei Member Posts: 3,715
    Personally I have yet to meet the column shifter that I liked.

    The column shifters in all new Acuras and Infinitis aren't bad at all but a gated one is better.
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,386

    Not to mention that a properly designed gated shifter looks much better than a column one.

    I think possibly the complainers have never encountered a properly designed "gated" shifter. Personally I have yet to meet the column shifter that I liked.

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • boaz47boaz47 Member Posts: 2,747
    But my favorite automatic was the Chrysler push button. After all a automatic is all electronic with servos and switches and hydrolics. But then again with a gated shifter or paddle you can at least hold a gear a bit longer if you wish without mashing hard on the go pedal.
  • jerrywimerjerrywimer Member Posts: 588
    column shifters in trucks (loved the one in my 07 Avalanche, which btw, had NO button to push to change selections). I also prefer non-gated console shifters in most cars. I find it more intuitive and comfortable using the pushbutton on the stick and moving front-to-back rather than the side-to-side-as-I-move-front-to-back layout of the gated shifters. The only place I care for gates, and for good reason, is with a manual transmission!
  • hickey86hickey86 Member Posts: 5
    I am a fan of the floor shifter over the column, because column shifters always are harder to put in gear I find. (mind you my column shifter experience is with taurus's and f-150's, not exactly the new s-class)

    That being said I prefer the classic floor shift with the straight line down. You can switch gears really quickly. I'm not really a fan of the gated shifters, they seem to overcomplicate the process.

    The Escape I drive now has the floor shfter and has a fairly simple setup and I like it.
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,386
    I took a long ride thru cooper mining country in the Mountains east of Phoenix yesterday, the scenery was awesome but I wished I'd been behind the wheel of something other than my MIL's Buick LeSabre with it's klutzy column shifter.

    I do not like being in an overdrive gear in hilly country, to get decent power going up
    and braking going down you need to be in 2nd or 3rd gear. Either is tricky to select from the column although I admit going back into D is easy because the detents are set up properly so that it'll drop right into it.

    On a more positive note, I think those of you complaining about gated shifter patterns being overly complex would be surprised to know that the motion to go from 5th to 4th on my car's Steptronic is almost the same that you'd use to go from 5th to 4th w a manual shift (in a typical 5-sp pattern).

    Move Lever back, then to left and back again. Tap lever back once for Fourth, twice for third.

    If that's too complex, there's always the "shifter" in the new Jag XF>

    image :P

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • bumpybumpy Member Posts: 4,425
    If that's too complex, there's always the "shifter" in the new Jag XF

    Ha, I knew someone would do it sooner or later. I would have stuck the rotary knob on the dashboard, though.
  • nippononlynippononly Member Posts: 12,555
    The Escape is a very good example of column vs floor, as it had a column shifter for the first three (or four?) years and I drove my friend's Tribute (AKA Mazda Escape) with that thing a bunch of times - geez, was it hard to go right to the exact gear I was choosing without overshooting! I can't even imagine trying to manually shift that thing once under way. Column shifters are way worse than floor shifters.

    (And that's before I even mention how the Tribute/Escape's column shifter blocked all the radio controls when it was in drive)

    2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)

  • louisweilouiswei Member Posts: 3,715
    I'm not really a fan of the gated shifters, they seem to overcomplicate the process.

    What, are you kidding me?

    Gated shifter - move the stick into gears (1-step process)

    Straight line shifter - press the release button then move the stick into gears (2-step process)

    A 1-step process is "overly complicated" than a 2-step process? :confuse:
  • nad_mastersnad_masters Member Posts: 4
    More like - move left, down, right, down, etc etc etc. Gated shifters are NOT 1-step.
  • michaellnomichaellno Member Posts: 4,120
    Wasn't it Mercedes that introduced this concept? I remember my folks having a '72 220D with an automatic (gawd, what a dog-slow car that was!) having the gated shifter on the floor.

    Ultimately, I think it became an issue of "imitation being the sincerest form of flattery" that other manufacturers started to offer this. Lexus and Infiniti both did this on their early cars in the '90's.

    Now, with the manu-matics being all the rage, there are probably less gated shifters - everybody has the extra slot for the + / - for up and down shifts (my wife's '08 VUE has this on the 6-speed auto).
  • louisweilouiswei Member Posts: 3,715
    Now, with the manu-matics being all the rage, there are probably less gated shifters

    :confuse:

    My Lexus has the gated shifter with the manumatic tranny.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 57,131
    MB did have odd automatic shift designs back in the day.

    I might have this a little off, but in my column shift auto fintail (I think fintails might have been the last column shift automatic MB) to put it into drive from park, you pull the lever towards you, then down, then back a little, then down a little more and it hits the drive notch...or something to that effect. Next time I drive it I will try to remember exactly how it works. People who have never drove one are always thrown off when they try to get going.
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