Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

To assume that you can’t like a car with an automatic is narrow minded. Even if t’s not always what some of us want.
 
To assume that you can’t like a car with an automatic is narrow minded. Even if t’s not always what some of us want.
It's a personal preference but to me shifting is a very big chunk of what I find fun about driving a car. The biggest reason why I don't hate driving the X, even though it's really outside of my general vehicular tastes is that I can still shift.
 
You all missed that the + and - shift directions are reversed between the two cars :p
It has always bugged me that this was never standardized.
 
You all missed that the + and - shift directions are reversed between the two cars :p
It has always bugged me that this was never standardized.

Paddleshifting still isn't standardized and it was around longer than Tiptronic.
 
You all missed that the + and - shift directions are reversed between the two cars :p
It has always bugged me that this was never standardized.

93flareside sees, 93flareside doesn’t care. :)
 
Paddleshifting still isn't standardized and it was around longer than Tiptronic.
You sure about that? I don't remember commonly seeing paddles in street cars till this decade, while my 04 A4 already had a tiptronic. Actually I think the first "paddleshifted" car I saw was a Pontiac G6, but they weren't actual paddles just buttons on the steering wheel.

You all missed that the + and - shift directions are reversed between the two cars :p
It has always bugged me that this was never standardized.
VAG did it wrong, in BMWs and the Fiat it's in the same direction as a dogbox/sequential racing box
 
You sure about that? I don't remember commonly seeing paddles in street cars till this decade, while my 04 A4 already had a tiptronic. Actually I think the first "paddleshifted" car I saw was a Pontiac G6, but they weren't actual paddles just buttons on the steering wheel.

A rudimentary form of paddleshift appeared in 1901 with the first street car fitting this early paddleshift being IIRC 1912; the first paddleshift system that looked like the modern systems we use today appeared in Ferrari racers in the 1980s. Thing is, from 1901 to today, there's still no standardized implementation of paddleshifting - pull only vs push/pull, which side is up or down a gear, actual flap vs button or even ring (yes, ring) etc.

VAG did it wrong, in BMWs and the Fiat it's in the same direction as a dogbox/sequential racing box

Dogboxes can go either way - even on motorcycles, which are the longest continuous users of them, we have two patterns, "conventional" and "Grand Prix".
 
I actually knew that, not sure why GP is not the standard, seems much easier to upshift.

Because (among other reasons) while racing you rarely have to go from neutral to first the speed disadvantage that the GP layout confers on that action (stomping down is faster than tilting your foot up) is actually a safety issue on the street where you may have to quickly accelerate away from a light. It also makes it so a panicking operator can't accidentally keep shifting up (by stomping down as the GP layout lets you do) and making the motorcycle go faster.
 
You all missed that the + and - shift directions are reversed between the two cars :p
It has always bugged me that this was never standardized.
Yeah this is the specific thing that kills me on that. The bug is up to upshift but the fiat DOWNSHIFTS so I will go to upshift the fiat and downshift and it gets angry :|

And yeah the reason you shift the bug is the automatic is somehow programmed in a way that it is both terrible for mpg AND speed because it upshifts when the torque kicks in. The fiat's transmission is a lot smarter so I feel obligates to do the bug more.

That being said when this transmission eventually dies I will absolutely be looking into a manual swap. The only reason I still have it auto is because vw offered me a free replacement even though the warranty was actually up and it would be stupid to throw out a free expensive part lol.

Like I won't lie, I am frequently glad my cars are automatic because my town has been an absolute nightmare recently with traffic jams and frankly even in automatic mode it's a literal pain for me as someone who cannot hit the pedals while resting their foot on the ground.

Edit: in true bullshit fashion it seems I have sublaxed my right hip from afforementioned physical strain of traffic jam while barely tall enough to reach pedals....
 
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Stick with regular auto in D in the bug, since tiptronic is terrible anyways, and use the manual mode only in the Fiat - that way you'll just get used to the Fiat's shift directions and that's it.

Where are you again? Saugus or something?
 
Stick with regular auto in D in the bug, since tiptronic is terrible anyways, and use the manual mode only in the Fiat - that way you'll just get used to the Fiat's shift directions and that's it.

Where are you again? Saugus or something?
Near the 93/95 cloverleaf

And I shift the bug BECAUSE it's so bad. Like "it feels like they intentionally picked the worst possible settings" bad. I have had the beetle 15 years so I know it's best in the 3-4000rpm range and the transmission in auto mode seems to actively try to avoid ever being in that range. Maybe it uses more gas that way but it already has terrible mpg. Basically I am trying to say the beetle cannot afford to be worse.

Also frankly the upgrade speed wise was so huge between the cars (like I think the fiat is almost 2x as fast??) I don't even know what to do with the fiat most of the time. Like I barely even remember it has a sports mode. It legit took me until like 2 months ago to realize I can PASS CARS ON THE HIGHWAY.

I am sure it will gradually switch and honestly the degree of bad the bug's transmission is right now makes me suspect it may be dying. I am hoping it lasts out long enough I can plausibly do a manual swap. I don't really have a mechanic right now though so I have to find someone who can do it first.
 
I can pretty much guarantee manual swapping the bug is a no go. Between all the VAG electronics that would have to be replace/reprogrammed and the fact that there is no enthusiast scene for new beetles...
 
I can pretty much guarantee manual swapping the bug is a no go. Between all the VAG electronics that would have to be replace/reprogrammed and the fact that there is no enthusiast scene for new beetles...
oh man. The world needs a Low Lyfe VW Douchebag Cambergang New Beetle.
 
I can pretty much guarantee manual swapping the bug is a no go. Between all the VAG electronics that would have to be replace/reprogrammed and the fact that there is no enthusiast scene for new beetles...

There used to be a New Beetle enthusiast scene - but like the cars themselves, it died an early death. :p
 
I can pretty much guarantee manual swapping the bug is a no go. Between all the VAG electronics that would have to be replace/reprogrammed and the fact that there is no enthusiast scene for new beetles...

Not even an APR engine or trans tune?
 
Not even an APR engine or trans tune?

APR makes an engine tune (because the engine is shared with the Golf/Jetta) for the original New Beetle, but no trans tune or pretty much anything else significant. They don't even offer a short shifter kit for manual New Beetles, even though they do for the contemporary Golf - kinda tells you everything you need to know.
 
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