Many luxury cars now come with a gear knob, but I'd rather have a stick.
A quick root around the Jaguar website reveals you can't buy one with a traditional selector - every model has a chrome knob.
I appreciate the box is an auto, and I've never driven a knob car, but instinct tells me I would be uncomfortable not being able to see if it was in gear or not.
What do you think?
www.jaguar.com/gb/en/new_xj/gallery
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Given that the vehicles that I spend the majority of my time driving don't have gearsticks, it wouldn't bother me one jot!
I suspect that there will be a display somewhere on the dashboard showing what gear you are in.
Personally, I love automatics but that's probably because I'm inherently lazy. And, as mentioned above, I spend most of my time on the road driving them.
Incidentally, I do think that the new XJ is one the most handsome cars on the road today. The interior is just fabulous.
Last edited by: Badwolf on Fri 15 Jul 11 at 09:25
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How weird - I wouldn't like that at all, the Invecs 2 transmission fitted to my Lancer has the Tiptronic (type) gear selector and I actually use the semi-auto position every time I drive the car, so yes - I'm a sticky rather than a knobby.
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...The interior is just fabulous...
At the risk of drifting my own thread, I agree.
I've looked at interior pics of Bentley and Rolls, but I prefer the Jaguar's interior.
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Modern automatics tell you which gear you are in via the display on the dashboard next to the speedometer.
Mine shows "D" for drive, "N" for neutral and "P" for "Park" when in full automatic mode, and if I play with the flappy paddles (rare), I see "1", "2", "3" through to "8".
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>>Modern automatics tell you which gear you are in via the display on the dashboard next to the speedometer.
Mine shows "D" for drive, "N" for neutral and "P" for "Park" when in full automatic mode, and if I play with the flappy paddles (rare), I see "1", "2", "3" through to "8"<<
Modern? Well, I won't bore everyone by pointing out which company has been doing that for a very long time...
And pushbutton autobox selection has been common in the US for 50 years.
I think the idea has always been to try and move away from a 'stick'. That's what you use to stir pudding with isn't it? Mind you, I've had a few like that in the past and driven a new one that felt no better just a couple of weeks ago.
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>> I appreciate the box is an auto, and I've never driven a knob car, but
>> instinct tells me I would be uncomfortable not being able to see if it was
>> in gear or not.
I dint recall ever looking down to recall what gear its in, except when stationary. And in that scenario the knob gives as much guidance as the lever.
However there is a certain nice feeling about snicking a chrome lever through a gate, its very tactile, knobs are not. Paddles have a certain tactile quality as well.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 15 Jul 11 at 09:41
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I'm confused because my gearstick's got a knob on the end.
Terry Pratchett reckons 'a wizard's staff has a knob on the end'.
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He also reckons that 'with a giraffe you have to stand on a stool but a hedgehog can never be b...*cough cough*' :-)
Personally I think that a lack of a conventional gearstick has only one drawback - it deprives you of a very convenient place to rest your left hand!
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I think I'd rather have a cubbyhole than a gear stick in an auto. It's an ideal location for a phone holder.
Buttons would do the job, just choose the d button, that'd be fine. With one caveat. There HAS to be flappy paddles.
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The essential attribute of any major control is that it must be usable without looking, or even really thinking. For a gear selector, that means if you pull out to overtake in fifth, find you're out of the power band and going nowhere dangerously fast, an intuitive tap or two on the selector gets you going again while your eyes stay on the road. Paddles can do this, of course, as Sko says, but a knob or buttons can't.
I don't drive many automatics, but did recently try a V70 auto with a stick but no paddles and had no trouble with its manual mode - indeed I actually liked it a lot. But that was partly because (a) I'm used to a manual with a stick, and (b) outside town I often disagreed with the box's selection in full auto mode. Perhaps a Jaguar autobox is set-and-forget and a knob is all you need.
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>> Paddles can do this, of course, as Sko says, but a knob or buttons can't.
But in your example scenario... won't the autobox have changed down for you when you floor the accelerator?
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Not if the box is already in manual mode. At least, that's how the Volvo one seemed to work. It had a Don't Be Silly override to put itself back into first if I stopped in fifth and tried to pull away, but I don't think it kicked down in manual. I may be mistaken, of course.
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>Perhaps a Jaguar autobox is set-and-forget and a knob is all you need.
The ZF 'box in my X350 XJ is pretty much set-and-forget. In full auto mode it's very good at selecting the correct gear for any situation. The only way to catch it out is if you brake very gently up to a roundabout and then give it a prod of the throttle at less than 5mph. It will then immediately drop into 1st and take off like a scalded cat.
The 'box in the new XJ is an updated version with a sequential mode controlled by flappy paddles on the wheel rather than the J-gate.
>but I don't think it kicked down in manual. I may be mistaken, of course.
Every auto I've driven would change down in manual mode to stop damage to the engine and drivetrain.
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>> I think I'd rather have a cubbyhole than a gear stick in an auto. It's
>> an ideal location for a phone holder.
>>
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Exactly. Column shift is ideal for an auto but few do it (some Mercs, C4 Picasso) thus freeing up centre console for more useful things
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>> Exactly. Column shift is ideal for an auto but few do it (some Mercs, C4
>> Picasso) thus freeing up centre console for more useful things
or even a manual. I really liked our old Saab 96 with "four on the tree".
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It's bound to happen when cars become white goods, someone thought a washing machine selector would feel right as a gear selector, hence Jags have Zanussi gearknobs which look a bit silly to be honest, as do twirling vents.
Not for me ta, chrome gearstick with wood or leather knob screwed onto it.
Proper car deserves car parts, not white goods controls.
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>or even a manual. I really liked our old Saab 96 with "four on the tree".
Peugeot 404 had column change and were very popular in Africa, especially the pickup version. They were rugged and reliable but the corrugated roads would shake the bolts loose on the gear linkage leaving you with a real flappy paddle.
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My first ever car, an Austin A50 of blessed memory, had a column change - far smoother and easier to find gears than the two MG 1100/1300s amd two Maxis that followed it.
I think the last car sold in the UK (as opposed to van or truck) to have a column change was the Renault 16. The top-range 16 had 5-on-the-tree.
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with auto`s / semi`s becoming more the "norm" and as mentioned "stirry-sticks" getting shorter, can anyone forsee the return of the front bench-seat? - would you buy a car with one?
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>> can anyone forsee the return of the front bench-seat? - would you buy a car with one?
Like a FIAT Multipla? No thanks.
Seriously, it will be more difficult to have an actual bench seat with the seat belt requirement.
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Like a FIAT Multipla?
Oh! do these have them? - they`re so ugly i`ve been too frightened to get close enough to look in!!
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I've never driven a knob car either. I imagine one gets used to it quickly, but it doesn't look right.
But I think floor changes are rubbish for autos too. Many work clumsily, and an indicator down on the transmission tunnel is just stupid. The floor change for autos was obviously to do with image. It was thought to look and feel macho. Pure stupidity.
Almost as bad were the button controls on my 1964 Plymouth. They were so stiff in operation that you had to use your thumb on them. And the 'Park' control wasn't even a button but a lever working in a vertical slot in the dash. Went with the horizontal ribbon speedometer.
Autos used to be controlled by a stalk behind the steering wheel, with an indicator somewhere useful just below the driver's normal eyeline. Since that worked perfectly well and didn't tempt the driver to look far from the road, there was nothing wrong with it.
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>>Autos used to be controlled by a stalk behind the steering wheel, with an indicator somewhere useful just below the driver's normal eyeline. Since that worked perfectly well and didn't tempt the driver to look far from the road, there was nothing wrong with it. <<
Yes, the Mk II Jaguar had just that and it was fine - the box was a bit slow on the uptake (or downtake as well) though.
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Our FRV has 3 individual front seats - they can be arranged like a bench, but you actually get better room by sliding the middle front backwards to help driver arm-room. The middle seat folds down to give a great arm-rest/picnic table when not required. It's slight extra width over normal hatchbacks also means 3 child seats fit abreast easily in the back - not something many large/luxury saloons are capable of (ISOFIX on both outer rear seats and front middle, and 3-point seatbelts all round).
Not handsome, but muuuuch nicer on the eye than the Multipla.
The auto-stick in in the dash - it doesn't have tiptronic but it does have a D3 button to use the 3 lower ratios and 1st/2nd can be manually selected.
I usually just use extra boot to change down as required, reserving D3 for engine braking or 'readying' for an overtake at 50mph+.
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Now, let me think about this...nope, don't care.
:-)
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Much as I loved the column change on my A50 (see above), I suppose it would get in the way of the column stalk for the indicators. I like the positioning of the selector on the Honda FRV (on the dash near the driver) and the lever in the previous-shape Civic (on the dash, central) worked well too.
I never drove a Citroen 'traction avant' (1935-55) but that had a gloriously and idiosyncratically French lever which sprouted from the dash with a right-angled bend towards the driver. The push-me-pull-you lever in the 2CV and Renault 4 worked well too - so let's see more levers / selectors mounted on the dash.
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I'd rather have a gearstick - Badwolf
