Re: smart stuff
I have run into a number of conversations where it becomes clear that to some folks, they really don't give a crap about what would happen if they need someone else to take over their house/thing/whatever.
As an example: people who have driven Teslas and then drive a Hyundai EV are finding it infuriating that you have to tell the car every time you get in it that you want it to engage one-pedal driving. It will not stay on.
I actually think that makes perfect sense.
If for whatever reason I need someone else to drive my car, whether that be in an emergency, to help me out, or even like valet parking if I have to do that somewhere, I would rather it behave like a normal car.
I don't think it's much of an ask for me to have to squeeze the left paddle every time I turn it on to turn on one pedal driving. But some other folks really really hate that, and in fact one person told me "who cares about other people driving my car?"
Well, I do!
@TechConnectify My part in this conversation is academic - I'm an electrical engineer who has designed HMIs (human-machine interfaces) for a few industrial machines, so I have to think about that stuff. There's a balance between safe/expected defaults and not wasting time.
Not having driven an EV I'm not sure how 1-pedal would feel to me, but I'm sure the majority of North America feels something is wrong with my car with three pedals! 😂 I find automatic transmission "creep" very bothersome!
@evilspoons ah. If you're used to manuals, creep probably does seem unsettling.
But let me try to change your mind! I find the car creeping in reverse to be so so so much safer than any other paradigm. Why? Because you have to hold down the brake pedal to *keep* it from creeping
That means your foot is *always* touching the thing which will stop the car instantly, and you're modulating how much you *don't* let it move.
@evilspoons and to be honest, it works the same way in drive as well.
It is an interesting perspective shift, I'll grant you. But when I learned how to drive a manual, it felt needlessly complicated. So it's always funny to me when I hear people who are used to manuals talk about automatics as confusing!
One pedal make go faster
Other pedal make go slower
None of this friction point or gear picking nonsense!
@evilspoons This is such an alien perspective to me. Like, I'm not trying to paint you as wrong or anything. It just feels so weird.
I think a lot of this comes from the fact that over here, you generally don't get taught about engine braking. Because in an automatic, it doesn't really happen unless you deliberately downshift - and that's the only context we are taught about. How to handle going down a descent without using the brakes.
@evilspoons so like, for those of us over here in automatic is the default land, the only way you slow the car is with the brake pedal. You will get some minimal amount of deceleration when you let off the accelerator, but it's much closer to coasting than in a manual.
And while I have heard people give me situations where they believe having a manual gives them more control, it has been truly hard to empathize with for me. I just accept the car doesn't have that finesse
@evilspoons but, EVs and hybrids* make this irrelevant anyway.
*Most hybrids. Hyundai and Kia do weird shenanigans through a dual-clutch automatic and my understanding is they feel much more like a conventional auto. Haven't driven one myself, though
@TechConnectify I'm Canadian & I had the same experience in driving school and with the general public. I would shift my 80s auto into 2 and 1 all the time to come to stop at lights and a coworker actually asked me wtf I was doing that for.
Fortunately my parents' 2015 Volvo automatic actually does do engine braking when you're slowing aggressively, so that's nice! The trans is also good enough I probably wouldn't complain vs my manual, but I've driven so many lousy autos over the years.
@evilspoons I mean to be honest, I am also going to ask what the hell were you doing that for? 😂
Remember, or maybe you don't know, I have a 1991 Nissan Figaro with a lousy three-speed automatic. And like, aside from not having enough gears, it's not like it feels any different from any other automatic to me.
It probably would if I were driving it by manually downshifting towards the stop but like... why?
@evilspoons and when I say that transmission is lousy, I mean it!
It will shift into third gear by 15 mph under light throttle. Most of the time it might as well only have two gears because first gear is almost irrelevant except from off-the-line starts. In fact, it doesn't even go into first on a rolling stop. You pretty much have to come to a complete stop for it to engage first at all.
Yet, it doesn't feel dangerous to me and it doesn't feel like I don't have enough control over the car.
@evilspoons heh. Well, to be honest, a RWD car in a snowy climate is almost always a mistake in my eyes - but of course FWD only became normal kind of recently.
I'll submit this is a valid thing to do, but it feels very edge-casey. And in any car with ABS, ABS is going to do a better job
@TechConnectify ABS is definitely better than having to manage traction w/these manual techniques. I think the 740 got ABS the year after mine.
But there's still that push from the idling engine you have to overcome in addition to actually stopping the car that nags at me, which a clutch solves. Modern autos (dual clutch especially) might disconnect under braking too, I'm not sure.
Once you're at the needed skill level though, and on good tires... RWD or the right AWD in winter is huge fun
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