Blasphemy or inspired genius? Do you view the clutchless manual transmission as an abomination? Or do you thank DaimlerChrysler and Porsche for a blessed convenience?
Most performance enthusiasts feel half the fun of tearing about in a Lotus or Carrera lies in the shifting, right? Matching engine revs to shifts, double-clutching through the curves on Sheridan Road as you careen down and then howl up the ravine stretch north of Wilmette?
Judging your power band, kicking down for acceleration and then . . . yee-ha!
Your thrill can’t possibly be the same without a little serious left foot action? DaimlerChrysler might beg to differ. Since the introduction of its Autostick transmission option in 1995, thousands of buyers have chosen the clutchless route. Autostick is a 4-speed automatic you manipulate like a manual if the mood strikes; it’s available on Chrysler Sebring, 300M and Prowler and Dodge Stratus and Intrepid models.
According to Burke Brown, director of DaimlerChrysler’s Large Car Platform Vehicle Development Group, the reception has been generally positive: “Autostick gives the ease of an automatic with the option of using it as a manual, and it has been a huge hit for us.
“We were the first out there in terms of offering this arrangement for a sports sedan. Our Autostick hit the EPA for rating at right about the same time as Porsche’s Tiptronic transmission.
“Looking back to the early 1990s, we took a group of young engineers and gave them our 4-speed automatic transmission and told them to use their imaginations–and have at it. We wanted to make driving more interactive for buyers, more fun. The engineers came back with a modified software package and microswitch treatment that permitted drivers to upshift and downshift manually and feel more in control.”
Some 405,000 DaimlerChrysler cars have been sold with the Autostick option since its introduction.
Driving factors
According to Brown, several factors drove demand for Autostick.
First, and perhaps most important, was the creeping realization that Americans won’t drive a true stick shift any longer.
In 1999, 8.7 million new cars were sold in the U.S. Of that, 90.2 percent had automatic transmissions and 9.8 percent had manual transmissions, according to Wards Automotive statistics cited by Jason Altman, spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association. In the same year, 8.2 million light trucks–pickups, SUVs and minivans–were sold. Of that, 89.2 percent had automatic transmissions and 10.8 percent had manuals.
Brown says: “Manual transmissions are seen as an inconvenience by most people.”
An inconvenience?
If you’re 56, you may have fond memories of buzzing up the Kennedy onto the Edens in your 1975 Triumph Spitfire. But you made that commute 25 years ago, when one could still “buzz” the Kennedy at a chirpy 55 to 70 miles per hour. Today, when stop-start, 22-m.p.h. crawls along the Eisenhower are the norm, the continuous upshift/downshift ballet between second, third and fourth gears becomes an exercise in calf-shredding monotony.
“Certainly that’s one reason Autostick is an attractive option,” says Brown. “You take your heavy commute in ordinary automatic mode, then pop down a notch into Autostick and run through the gears when conditions are favorable. Autostick is great on switchback mountain roads where you throttle up and down between gears. It gives you that interaction with the driving environment.
“There are other practical reasons for taking the Autostick option. You may have one member of the household who wants a manual transmission and another who has no intention of driving a clutch. Autostick is a reasonable compromise. You get the best of both worlds. And, there’s the question of performance on snow and ice. Autostick lets you launch in second and third gears.”
Brown drives a 1997 Sebring convertible with the Autostick option. Brown uses his Autostick in heavy snow (“I start out in second or third gear. That seems to help.”); on twisty roads (“I’ll lock it into gear and play around.”); and in city traffic (“If I get bored I’ll play with the Autostick to make the drive more interactive.”).
“I bought a 1997 [Dodge] Intrepid ES and never considered using the Autostick until a colleague urged me to try it,” says George Jakubowski of Chicago, a research chemist with Baxter-Travenol. “I knew the Autostick feature was there, but I didn’t know how it would behave so I waited until I had an Intrepid rental on a trip to Florida to experiment. I suppose it’s fun. You can force the engine to high r.p.m. and find better acceleration. Do I use it often? No. I’m happy with the Intrepid’s performance in regular automatic mode. I don’t need to play around with a stickshift.”
A different arrangement
Bob Carlson, media relations manager with Porsche Cars North America, owns a Porsche 968 with the Tiptronic clutchless manual–a very different arrangement. (That term, “clutchless manual transmission,” is a bit of a misnomer. These are automatic transmissions with souped-up computer modules that allow for manual shifts.)
“Instead of a standard console gearshift, you have buttons on the steering wheel, right there in the crease. The top button lets you shift up, the bottom button brings you down a gear. That’s a safety element. . . . These are high-speed, high-performance cars, and you want both hands on the steering wheel at all times,” he said.
The latest generation Tiptronic-S, available in all Porsche models, also is offered by Audi, a former partner of Porsche, on all models but the TT. Tiptronic incorporates a 5-speed design with electronic maps (programs) that determine shift pattern.
“The most efficient way to drive with the Tiptronic is in automatic mode,” confides Carlson. “In automatic mode, the shifts are based on speed. The more aggressive you are with the pedal, the faster the shifts.”
Carlson estimates 18 to 22 percent of Porsche buyers go for the Tiptronic-S. “We’ve remained steady within that range, which means 80 percent of Porsche drivers still order the manual 5-speed with a standard clutch. They’re the purists. They need to shift through the hard H-pattern. Those who choose the Tiptronic option leave it in automatic mode and let the computer do their shifting.”
Tiptronic owners don’t wind their Boxsters out to the redline at 3 a.m. in the middle of August?
“There’s no way to over-rev the engine when you have a Tiptronic transmission,” Carlson says. “The computer won’t let you.”
Is that the same for Autostick?
“You can run with the throttle wide open in second gear and do axels on the pavement in the parking lot . . . and you can’t damage this transmission,” affirms Brown.
Well where’s the romance in that? What happened to holding your breath when Cousin Jerry opened up his 1968 Olds 4-4-2 on Stony Island Avenue between 56th Street and the “L” station at 63rd? “Oh, you can play with all sorts of upshifts and downshifts,” says Brown. “There’s all sorts of fun to have here. You can package Autostick with other goodies and really enjoy yourself.”
HOW THE CLUTCHLESS MANUAL TRANSMISSION WORKS
1. Ssensors send information about the operation of the throttle, engine, clutch and transmission to an electronic control module (ECM).
2. When the driver selects a gear by the steering wheel switch or gearshift, the ECM signals the hydraulic power pack.
3. It controls the fluid pressure in the hydraulic cylinder to engage or disengage the clutch.
4. The clutch disengages quickly and remains disengaged until after the gear is shifted. There are other types of automatic clutches. They all disengage when the control unit sends the signal from the driver to a hydraulic, electric, pneumatic or vacuum actuator.
