In article ,
NY wrote:
Not having a gearbox (automatic or manual) must make it much easier to
drive because torque/acceleration is directly dependent on accelerator
position and not a combination of that and gear ratio - you don't get
gentle acceleration which suddenly becomes kick-in-the-back
acceleration as the automatic transmission reacts to your gradually
increasing accelerator position by suddenly deciding to change down in
a situation where a manual driver would hold onto the present gear. I
find this the hardest thing about automatics: I accelerate out of a
roundabout and the car suddenly lurches forward so I ease off the
throttle slightly and it changes back up - very difficult to hit the
happy medium.

Well written software on an auto should make it change rather like a well
driven manual.

But it's a pretty poor auto that 'lurches' forward. And where it changes
down where there is no need. The now ancient pure mechanical GM auto in my
old Rover is pretty well always in the gear I'd choose if it were a
manual, and certainly never lurches forward. Of course if you floor it at
moderate speeds it will drop to 1st gear and take off like a scalded cat.
But not something that happens by accident.

--
*The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.