this isn't supposed to be the hard part about driving

[cellio]

Every time I drive Dani's car (a rare occurrence) I am reminded that driving an automatic transmission requires specific skills that I apparently haven't learned. I assume there's a trick to accelerating -- that you can regulate the gas flow (via the gas pedal) to kick the gears in when you want them to -- but I'm afraid I will be forever reaching for the clutch pedal and shifter while driving. :-) This has happened with multiple cars, so it's probably me and not the car.

(We're going to his company's winter party after work, I'd rather he drive home in the dark with the predicted sleet, and he's not cleared for my manual transmission. So since he takes the bus to work anyway, I just took his car today.)

Comments

[alienor.livejournal.com]

I assume there's a trick to accelerating -- that you can regulate the gas flow (via the gas pedal) to kick the gears in when you want them to

Yep - N and I are forever having this conversation, being a split household ourselves. When he stomps on the gas pedal in my truck, she just makes a lot of noise and doesn't really go anywhere... there's a trick to getting her to drop a gear and MOVE into traffic, which is what he's trying to do. You kinda lay off the gas for a second and then push the pedal. It's hard to explain (and varies by vehicle - mine is really finicky about it).

because it all comes down to vi vs. emacs

[brokengoose.livejournal.com]

I have the same problem, though it goes away if I stick with the automatic for a few days.

The right thing to do with a manual is exactly the wrong thing to do with an automatic. When you feel the upshift starting, you need to increase pressure on the gas pedal rather than backing off. Same thing when you slow down. Don't bump the gas on the downshift.

We push those details off to the automatic portion of our brains. Really, when was the last time you consciously thought "I need to shift from second gear to third gear now, so I'll press the clutch in while easing off on the gas, push the shifter over and up, and then slowly release the clutch while pushing down on the gas"?

I suspect the problem is that the rest of the driving experience is so similar that it confuses our reflexes. Think of text editors. I (and probably most people) can freely jump from emacs to vi to word. An emacs-like or vi-like editor, though, will confuse the hell out of me because it's just similar enough to make finger memory kick in.

[zare-k.livejournal.com]

The one thing that gets me every time I drive an automatic is the reflex to step on the clutch and downshift when taking a corner. I end up groping around for the gearshift and stomping either on dead pedal or the edge of the brake.
Regardless, yes-- you can influence when an automatic transmission shifts by how much gas you feed it, and each one is slightly different.

[caryabend.livejournal.com]

In normal driving I don't bother trying to flip the gears myself, though I know how. In bad weather, the gearshift gets set to D2 or D1 (sometimes D3 or D4) as needed. Plus, as an automatic, you can change the gear from 4 to 3 to 2 on the fly.

Re: because it all comes down to vi vs. emacs

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

When you feel the upshift starting, you need to increase pressure on the gas pedal rather than backing off.

Odd; that's my S.O.P for both my wagon (manual) and minivan (automatic). The only things I really do differently are [a] when starting the upshift, the automatic requires a more careful touch on the gas to get the shifting sequence started, and [b] the minivan's transmission needs to be babied in general. (Which is why I'm in the minivan more often; montuos is hell on iffy trannies.)

There's a trick

[laid.livejournal.com]

You just have to forget how responsive a car can be with a manual. There's a reason they're called slushboxes.

[cellio]

In normal driving I don't bother trying to flip the gears myself

I didn't set out to either. This morning I started toward a mild hill from a dead stop, so I stepped on the gas and the car unexpectedly said "err, hang on a sec and I'll get back to you, ok? gotta talk to the hamsters". Or something. So at that point I decided there might be nuance beyond "press gas to go". I'm not sure what was going on there.

And yes, in bad weather I know there are other options; I wasn't even dealing with those complications.

Re: There's a trick

[cellio]

I knew they were less responsive; I just hadn't realized the scale. :-) Though Dani's car is a little more responsive when he drives it, so there's definitely driver variation there. He's always driven automatics, so I guess he's got the knack of it. I've always driven manuals except in the occasional odd case like this. (I learned on both an automatic and a manual, but given a choice between a small, maneuverable Pinto that was also a manual and the automatic land yacht, I chose the former for most of my instruction.)

Re: because it all comes down to vi vs. emacs

[cellio]

I suspect the problem is that the rest of the driving experience is so similar that it confuses our reflexes.

That makes sense. I spent a long time being reluctant to drive automatics that had the shifter where the manual shifter would be (I learned with one on the dash); I worried that I'd reach for the (manual) shifter, find something, and do something unfortunate. Eventually I decided that this wasn't going to happen if my foot didn't feel a clutch pedal first, and indeed it never has happened. But, yeah, similar interfaces for different operations are problematic.

[mrpeck.livejournal.com]

My parents had an automatic minivan that I was okay with until they did a computer update. After that it would try to slip 3rd when I made left turns in front of traffic. It made me nervous a couple of times when it felt like the van was just sitting there while cars were bearing down on me. I'd end up stomping on the gas peddle to force it to downshift and it would then jump to life. None of my other family members noticed this behavior or really believed me. I don't know if there was some trick that I was unconsciously failing to do or not. Somehow I've never had that problem with my manual transmission Civic. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

Interesting. I have horrible problems adapting to operating systems (now that I use three of them every day) because my muscle memory fails me, but no problem switching between automatic and stick shift cars. How bizarre.

It could be a different sort of subconscious assimilation of data. When driving I try to predict what other cars are going to do so am constantly thinking about optimization, whereas when typing I just think "paste!" and my fingers do something (which is no longer always correct).