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Old 03-21-2014, 12:16 AM   #18 (permalink)
serialk11r
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tony_2018 View Post
Also Honda is now coming out with a dual clutch transmission that still utilizes a torque converter, interesting design.
Kind of silly IMO since normal autos shift fast enough (100ms vs 50ms, big difference...) but it would be good for reliability. The clutch change on a dual clutch auto is probably horrendously expensive, and the clutch fluid is not something that you can leave in there for 100k miles and have your car still function, whereas a torque converter auto can be abused like that.

I drove a new 981 PDK Porsche Cayman and I was kind of excited to see how it would do when I saw the brochures talking about auto-coast. Well, it's basically no better than the automatic in any other car, though it shifts a hair faster when you press the "+" button and the auto blips are certainly better than the crappy cars that just select a lower gear and then use the clutch to drag the engine up to speed. The auto coast is totally useless because the computer sucks at deciding when to coast, and the shifting pattern is exactly like any other car in auto mode.

Oh and on top of that, not having a clutch and gear shifter is incredibly boring once you're used to having it. I'll take my manual transmission with less gears and slower acceleration any day. With the 7 speed manuals coming out, I'm definitely not concerned about getting "less" fuel economy, and besides you don't have to lug around the solenoids and extra clutches, which saves ~2% curb weight.

Last edited by serialk11r; 03-21-2014 at 12:28 AM..
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