Keeping a dog and barking for yourself
Nov 20, 2017 10:27:44 GMT
Post by WDB on Nov 20, 2017 10:27:44 GMT
Some of us here have automatic gearboxes with the option of manual selection. I'm one, and I'm curious to know how people get on with them.
I've had the CLS for a month or so, and a little under a thousand miles. In that time, I've occasionally used the left paddle to select a temporary lower set of ratios, say for descending a hill, but I'd not used the (poorly placed) mode button in the console to engage full M mode. In E or S mode, the car pretty soon decides I wasn't really interested in selecting my own gears anyway, and changes back up by itself.
This morning, I was out on a local errand and decided it was time to see what M mode could do. And it's a bit strange. You'd imagine, coming as I have from an engaging manual transmission, that it would be simple enough to translate that experience into shifting with paddles, but it's not - not for me, anyway. I suspect it's to do with muscle memory: my manual-driving habits are ingrained into my left (only once right - in a rented Seat in Spain) arm and my left leg. When I'm in 'manual car' mode, I seem to be naturally aware of the gear I'm in (from the 'shape' of the last change I made) and the need to work the clutch pedal when moving off, shifting or stopping. But this isn't a manual car, there is no clutch pedal, and the shift from any gear to any other gear feels exactly the same, so I have to look at the display panel to know which gear I'm in. (There's so little engine noise that that's no guide at all.)
All this meant that I was fine using the paddles in a straight line, but the moment I encountered a junction or any complex situation - I had to stop at one point to let an oncoming concrete lorry clear a narrow stretch - I forgot all about gearchanges and found myself buzzing along in 1 because the car had changed down to spare my embarrassment but M mode prevented it from changing back up. Which rather makes me wonder what it's for. I can see myself using it to lock in 3 in suburban 30s, because the box otherwise hunts, sometimes not perfectly smoothly, between 3 and 4. But on open roads, especially in S mode, the car does such a good job that it doesn't occur to me to paddle unless I want to overtake something - and sometimes not even then.
So, over to the saloon bar: useful feature, or plaything for track-day wannabes?
I've had the CLS for a month or so, and a little under a thousand miles. In that time, I've occasionally used the left paddle to select a temporary lower set of ratios, say for descending a hill, but I'd not used the (poorly placed) mode button in the console to engage full M mode. In E or S mode, the car pretty soon decides I wasn't really interested in selecting my own gears anyway, and changes back up by itself.
This morning, I was out on a local errand and decided it was time to see what M mode could do. And it's a bit strange. You'd imagine, coming as I have from an engaging manual transmission, that it would be simple enough to translate that experience into shifting with paddles, but it's not - not for me, anyway. I suspect it's to do with muscle memory: my manual-driving habits are ingrained into my left (only once right - in a rented Seat in Spain) arm and my left leg. When I'm in 'manual car' mode, I seem to be naturally aware of the gear I'm in (from the 'shape' of the last change I made) and the need to work the clutch pedal when moving off, shifting or stopping. But this isn't a manual car, there is no clutch pedal, and the shift from any gear to any other gear feels exactly the same, so I have to look at the display panel to know which gear I'm in. (There's so little engine noise that that's no guide at all.)
All this meant that I was fine using the paddles in a straight line, but the moment I encountered a junction or any complex situation - I had to stop at one point to let an oncoming concrete lorry clear a narrow stretch - I forgot all about gearchanges and found myself buzzing along in 1 because the car had changed down to spare my embarrassment but M mode prevented it from changing back up. Which rather makes me wonder what it's for. I can see myself using it to lock in 3 in suburban 30s, because the box otherwise hunts, sometimes not perfectly smoothly, between 3 and 4. But on open roads, especially in S mode, the car does such a good job that it doesn't occur to me to paddle unless I want to overtake something - and sometimes not even then.
So, over to the saloon bar: useful feature, or plaything for track-day wannabes?
