Twin-clutch better than manual?
February 15, 2009 by Matt Zollo
Filed under Blog
M-DCT
Driving a M-DCT equipped BM, noticing how irritatingly smooth and seamless the twin-clutch activities are compared to my jerky manual efforts, recalling from the press blurb how a DSG trims CO2 and improves economy, thinking how a PDK is probably a lot better than me at launching a 997 off the line, I came to a quite controversial conclusion: really, the majority of cars that come out of the showroom should be equipped with an automatic gearbox as standard nowadays. That is, as a default, without having to ask and certainly without having to pay a premium, you should be supplied with a car that has the ability to choose its own cogs.
Manual Transmission
Think about it – how antiquated and altogether quaint is the system of changing gear manually? Let revs rise to desired level; back-off throttle pedal whilst at the same time dip another pedal; move a stick down by your left from its current no-longer-correct position to the next correct-for-the-mean-time position; release other pedal whilst at the same time reapplying throttle pedal. Repeat tonnes of times throughout your journey, as well as mess about with left pedal in unison with right pedal millions of times when you’re stuck in a stupid tailback because some numpty has crashed five miles up the road on the other side of the motorway.
S-Tronic
I’m sorry, but that’s just one big ball ache for the 95% of the population who simply want a car to take them from A to B, pure and simple, with as few complications as possible. Of course, this doesn’t apply (as much) to me and you. We like to dilly-dather with our stick and prod and poke our left pedal because, for reasons only we know, we like to get involved in the whole driving thing, and we like to think we can do better than a bunch of sensors, microprocessors and actuators.
PDK
Of course, if manufacturers did suddenly decide to do something about this archaic (but enjoyable) aspect of their products then it would cause us lot problems. For a start, as it eventually became difficult to justify the cost of developing and then accommodating manual boxes in hot versions of normal, automatic cars, our opportunities to self-shift would dwindle. Imagine it: a Golf GTi or BMW M3 not available with a stick and left pedal to twiddle and prod. And then there would be the eventual problem of limited availability of second-hand manual cars for us lot to choose from.
But would that be a big problem? Driving a PDK 997 isn’t exactly a hardship – once they’ve switched those shifts buttons about – compared to driving an old Tiptronic 996. Seamless, uninterrupted acceleration from an M3’s V8 isn’t exactly a bad thing. A microprocessor-induced farty barp noise from a TT-S’s turbocharged four’ on every up-shift is a novelty that never ever wears thin and a gratuitous throttle blip on every down-change – without feeling a jerk in the driveline – is pretty cool even when you’re not doing it yourself.
And all this coming from someone who hates cars changing gear for him and would always, without question, pick a manual over an auto. Which kinda sums it up, really: M-DCT, PDK, DSG, S-Tronic; acronym-ise twin-clutch to what you will, it surely is the future.
-
- DSG
-
- Manual Transmission
-
- M-DCT
-
- PDK
-
- S-Tronic
Related posts:
I completely agree - I think that there’s all too often an elitist approach in the motor press as to whether a manual or auto box is better. Some how you are “more of a purist” if you say the manual gives a “more rewarding drive”.
There is one down side (which doesn’t entirely apply to top end sports cars) but CO2 emissions are often higher with an auto box and means in the UK we’d be taxed more for running one.
Other than that I’m right there with you.