Flipping to Manual whilst zipping along

[imcquade]

Originally Posted by jwight

Thank you for using "whilst" in a sentence!

Thanks for noticing the use

I find it odd that anyone would notice such a small grammatical insertion

Funnily enough the owner of my company seemed 'tickled pink' at the usage in an email I composed to her a number of years back and also felt compelled to comment on the word

I gather I should also thank everyone for their input whilst revisiting this post as it made me feel more comfortable about flipping in to and out of manual mode

Cheers

Ian

[mdfortwoguy]

Originally Posted by JPaul

That's right! During the test drives I took whilst the caravan stopped around DC, I remember filling a form with preferences about the shifter. Especially during the last stop, in December, when they had a couple of NA451 US and a couple of EU451 with the "classic" shifter box. It'll be nice to see the results of those surveys on paper, and not just in our cars...

I had a friend from clubsmartcar visit me a few weeks ago in his '06 pulse cdi coupe (450) without softip. I drove it about 10-11 miles around Bethesda/Rockville, and found it absolutely delightful to shift with the paddles. I'm usually too concerned in my test drives with the 451 to do much with them... I'm looking forward to having them in my car... which is 19 days away

[SuperGeek]

Originally Posted by imcquade

I know that you can just shove the pedal to the floor to pass... but it is very delayed and crap (IMO) - flipping and shifting down seems to work much better

If you peg the pedal to the floor, yes, it's delayed a few seconds because of RPM matching. Try one quick pump to the floor and let up to just past your original position. The auto mode will keep the lower gear until you override with the + paddle shifter or until it's pretty convinced you're done with high RPMs. For me, it shifts twice as fast and gives me control without too much surge. I can tell it I want to go uphill in 4th gear not 5th by just pressing the 'button' once... in fact, I think someone said there's a physical button under the pedal to trigger the kickdown.