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The First Automotive Easter Egg?
automandc writes "The October dead-tree issue of Popular Science is reporting that the new BMW M3 contains what they are calling the "first automotive easter egg" in its transmission control software. Apparently, the proper combination of commands to the electronically controlled manual transmission will cause the car to rev up to 4000rpm and drop the clutch (premitting burnout, which is normally impossible). According to the article, use of the feature more than 15 times voids the warranty in Eurpoe. Other limitations of the "acceleration-assist" feature are discussed in this Car and Driver article. According to popsci, U.S. laws won't allow the warranty limitation, so the U.S. version of the software only revs to 1500rpm, but dealers will install the european software if you ask. The only other mention I could find on the web is here."
....it's was originally called the 'kamikazi dyno', where you trick out the software and the only place you can test it is out on the street.
Messing with software to control a car is not new, and I can think of many 'features' that could qualify as easter eggs, such as holding the pedal down on 1985 Fords with EEC-IV would shut off the injectors, resulting in a no start.
So who else is anticipating the day some idiot tries rolling his own acceleration software and winds up killing a dozen people?
For everyone that has the $141,000 car (*cough*, umm, yeah I have 2) this is how you do it.
1) Disable traction control
2) Select Agressive Shifting mode
3) Hold the shift lever forward for a few seconds
4) Slam the pedal
Your electronically limited to only 30 "acceleration assisted" burn-out's for the life of the clutch (torque converter) and only 1 per hour.
Fun but, for $141,000 I want a damn 5-speed.
As I recall the Ford Windstar 2001 has an Easter Egg as well. Flick the windshield wiper on and off 20 times in quick succession and the wiper motor will burst into flames. Ah, those crazy minivan designers, with their silly little pranks.
more on topic:
Crusin' USA for N64
Brake, Brake, Brake, Gas, Brake, Gas - Nitro boost
if only that could be an easter egg in a car!
"the fax machine is nothing but a waffle iron with a phone attached to it." - Grandpa Simpson
Imagine all the CEO's who read this article and thought 'SWEET!' , ran into the car park, got in their beamers and drove out the back of the building to lay a fat one.
Sorry to disappoint (and it would be a waste of a whole slashdot story), but the acceleration assist is documented in the manual.
You need an M3, and you need SMG (the Sequential M Gearbox).
Basically, you stop the car; turn off DSC, change the drive logic to (S6).
Now, hold forward the gear selector, and floor it.
When you release the gear selector you will launch. Get ready to change gear quickly, first gear doesn't last too long. The warm-up lights become "gear change indicators" and flash at you when its time to change gear.
One thing that isn't mentioned in the manual is that if you press the accelerator quickly when setting this up, then it will do a "burn out" start, but if you press it more slowly then you will get a traction controlled start.
Pretty awesome.
And yes, I own an M3.
F1's are optimized for the track and even then the driver sometimes "hints" the transmission. There are also a couple of drivers who still prefer to use a manual. For consumer cars, a 5 or 6 speed is the way to go.
The only thing in consumer cars that can come close to a manual is Audi's Multitronic. Although similar in some ways to belt driven variable shifters found in many hdro-electric cars, Audi's transmission is far more advanced and is designed for performance in mind. Although it gets virtually the same gas mileage and performance as a 5 speed, it's still a tad bid slower and it adds a bit more weight to the car. Audi's other incredible transmission, the Tiptronic, is also very good, but a good driver in a 5 speed will smoke it even in "sports mode".
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
As a hardcore BMW geek, I am really glad to see the M3 and it's very cool SMGII transmission make it to the front page of Slashdot. For more info, check out:
BMW's Flash SMGII Transmission Presentation
The Unofficial BMW E46 FAQ
I wouldn't call Launch Control an easter egg however. If you explore the BMW Flash presentation, they mention it. While BMW North America said it would be disabled on US cars, as soon as the M3 SMG came over, the first (privilaged lucky bastard) owners tried it out and it worked.
I have a new 325Ci (5 speed) and a previous genneration M3 race car that I built up from a crashed car and used parts. My only regret is that many people view Bimmers as yuppie mobiles, when in fact, they are amazing to drive, very technically advanced and probably the best overall vehicles on the road. Oh well... that feeling goes away when I am at the track or on an empty road.
Freude am Fahren
Manual transmissions are more efficient in transfering power to the wheels than automatics. This is there main advantage. Because of this they will accelerate faster and usually get better gas mileage than automatics. Plus, manuals trannys are a hell of a lot more fun to drive. Give me an stick over and slush box any day.
"I have a porkchop, you have a porkchop. I have a veal, you have a veal".
I've always hated automatic boxes (and in the UK, they're in the minority, thank goodness). They take away all the fun from driving; they never seem to be in the right gear.
:-D
I think I read that something like 89% of new vehicles sold in the US now come with a slushbox. I have never owned one, nor do I want one. Especially in a car with no torque.
But the SMG is very, very fun. It's not big or clever to be able to use a manual gearbox. Heck, every 17 year old over here can do it (we learn just about exclusively in manual cars).
See above. I know far too many people who turn the color of an iMac when asked to drive a stick. It is disgusting, indeed.
But being a "yank," and no disrespect to the Europeans, I like this better. And yeah, it's got a real clutch.
I just was just about to go try this out, then I relized this doesn't work on my 15 year old minivan out back. For the price of this car, why don't you just go out and buy a real muscle car, with enough time you could probably write your name in the parking lot. Peeling out is cool, all you have to do is bald your tires!!
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
Spectators are guaranteed to be awestruck. Emergency personnel will probably be confused, until they figure out the explosive devices and determine that the accident was actually an elaborate suicide.
My other first post is car post.
That's a real feature of the transmission.
:-)
NB: the transmission in question is not a normal manual (i.e., with a foot clutch and stick). It's a hybrid auto-manual which has an electronically controlled clutch (i.e., there's no foot pedal since the computer controls the clutch entirely). The gearing is controlled by the computer or (as desired) by two paddles (+/-) along the steering wheel for up/down shift. BMW calls its version SMG (Sequential Manual Gearbox).
Ferrari and F1 cars also have this feature (similar technologies).
The acceleration assist is a genuine feature which basically tells the SMG to accelerate hard from a standstill as a special case (F1 cars also have launch control). It's a genuine feature, not an easter egg.
Cool car, M3!
No current F1 cars have manual transmissions. Last year some (notably BAR) were using clutches for the start. With traction control now legal again in F1 nobody could afford to use a clutch - you'd never win a start.
Computer: Thank you for pressing the self-destruct button.
President Scroob: Hey Helmet! Check this out! I found an easter egg in the ship's computer.
Computer: nine... eight... six...
Helmet: And a pretty major bug. What happened to seven?
President Scroob: No, Gates said that was a feature.
Computer: Just kidding...
Hints the transmission how, exactly? F1 cars are electro-hydraulic, but that doesn't make them automatic in any way. Right paddle near the steering wheels shifts up, left shifts down.
The transmissions are still very much manually actuated, as FIA rules currently ban the use of auto trannies.
So where's the post detailing a hack to reset or eliminate the 30/lifetime and the 1/hour limits? Oh, and don't forget the 155 mph governor.
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
I meant to say the transmissions in the cars are electro-hydraulic, not the cars themselves.
The rules:
Only two wheels may be driven and automatic gearboxes are banned.
Each individual gearchange must be initiated by the driver.
The minimum number of forward gear ratios is 4 and the maximum is 7.
All cars must have a reverse gear operable any time during the race when the car's engine is running.
Yeah I'm with you. Auto and "clutchless manual" gearboxes suck.
Not to mention all the "clutchless manual" boxes in Australian cars aren't at all, they're just a standard old slushbox with a selectable gear so long as the computer thinks you're doing the right thing...
Give me a nice mechanical shifter and 3 pedals thank you very much. I like to be in control of my car, not giving hints to a computer and hoping for the best.
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
Is this really an Easter Egg? It strikes me as more of a cheat code. Easter Eggs seem to be pretty but basically useless feature. They often times display the developer's names or give you some little extra bonus. But cheat codes are designed to unlock hidden potentials in the system, to circumvent rules, or basically... to cheat.
[news for me, stuff that doesn't matter]
Apparently the human, Mr. Slushbox Fanboy.
The Car and Driver article said they beat the SMG M3 by .3 seconds in a manual M3.
There's more to a transmission than how quickly the gears change, sonny.
-Kevin
Don't you all remember the Easter Egg in the De Lorian, triggered by reaching 88mph? I seem to remember that from about 1985.
.....it's was originally called the 'kamikazi dyno', where you trick out the software and the only place you can test it is out on the street.....
You need to hack the control unit in order to get an accurate dyno reading from an M3, since the front tires need to be spinning at the same rate as the rear wheels. If this isn't the case, the spark timing is retarded quite a bit, reducing horsepower (by quite a lot). The hack supplied by BMW also negates this. Remember to do this prior to putting your new M3 on a dyno.
Also, make sure the dyno shop has a cooling tower. Running a stationary M3 at redline without the proper cooling also invokes the dreaded spark timing retarder. It also might invoke the dreaded Abuse clause in your warranty.
This is one of the things that the 4x4 guys argue about all the time. The thing about it is that the multiplication (in most cases) drops off pretty quickly as you move up the RPM band. As for the five speed thing....what I've found is that many cars with a decently-sized engine don't need that low first gear to get off the line. I rarely use first gear in mine, because it's got enough oomph (242 cid I-6) to get out of the hole okay.
And I agree with the slushbox on a boat......one of the most fun cars I've ever driven was a Chevy Impala SS. *drool*
People have been fucking with car software, since, well since there has been car software. I'm sure people have already crashed 'mod-chipped' cars.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
So it is a documented feature according to some reactions. Here is somebody that didn't read the manual carefully. According to the accompanying text this driver stepped on the gas instead of the brakes, but my guess is she activated the easter egg.
But being a "yank," and no disrespect to the Europeans, I like this [dodge.com] better. And yeah, it's got a real clutch. :-D
;) It might have something to do with the fact that distances in the USA are *huge* compared to the relatively compact cities of Europe.
No disrespect to the Yanks, but I've noticed that europeans are much more likely to buy a car with a manual transmition. The top three reasons for this: price, fuel consumption and control. Cars are dirt cheap in the states, gas is next to free and... well... we like the control.
Or I could be talking out my ass.
As many people have mentioned, the article here's easter egg is actually a documented feature. A real bmw easter egg however, is in the e36 models, hold 10 and 1000 buttons on the onboard computer in at the same time. You'll then be prompted for a test number. These 'tests' can display things like litres of fuel in your tank, current speed according to computer etc, which are not normally visible.
check here for a list of what all the tests do.
----
Some people are good with words, others,
Take the shift stick, and shift up,up, down, down, left right left right, brake, gas then turn the key.
God spoke to me
The talking dash version Austin Montego/Maestro had a 'Marvin Paranoid Android Mode' where it complained about the abuse it was receiving from the driver.
OK, so it's not an easter-egg, but it's still cool. Here's a description of the "racing start" and "burn-out" modes:
p hp?postid=525686&page=1
:)
http://forums.roadfly.org/bmw/forums/e46m3/forum.
I think this is what I like most about BMWs - they take something like a computer-controller clutch, and proceed to build in a bunch of neat features to make use of the new tech. Another example would be opening the windows and sunroof with the remote control. It's definitely a geek-thing.
What I like least about BMWs? The effect that driving a BMW has on a person's road-manners.
I heard somewhere there was an easter egg hidden away in some GMC DeLoreans that enabled time travel, steps go something like:
1. Ensure Mr. Fusion is fitted, if not source Plutonium (In order to supply 1.21 'Jigga'watts)
2. When in front of steering wheel, enable time circuits on mid console... Be sure to check your destination date, year is correct on the dash..
4. Check that Flux capacitor is 'Fluxing'
5. Start driving, aparently when you hit 88 mph the easter egg will activate (indicated usually by a large flash of light) sending you back (or indeed forward) in time.
Please note I have never done this, so i cannot verify its success.
Ok so its a lame post.. oh well..
-- If at first you don't succeed, lie!
The ``easter egg'' will be on the Bimmer's face when it tries to race against the real boys.
These kinds of easter eggs are dangerous. I've inadvertantly triggered easter eggs in software, putting un-expected results in a car, especially this type of feature, is nuts.
It's a fairly tame one, but my 1991 Ford F150 with the 6 speaker sound system had a minor easter egg in the radio. There were normally only 6 presets but if you mashed together a pair of presets at once you got access to additional presets. This always seemed to me like it had to be intentional. Whatever radio they built the plastics around had 8 memory locations, but the plastics only had room for 6 buttons. The engineers use combinations of buttons to access the additional presets rather than doing the typical thing which would priority encode them.
Chris Kuivenhoven is a thief, beware
> It might have something to do with the fact that
> distances in the USA are *huge* compared to the
> relatively compact cities of Europe.
Could also be the traffic. Since there are more cars in the U.S., and in most parts of the States, there isn't public transportation to speak of (not like the train systems in Europe). It's annoying to drive a manual in stop/go traffic every day.
Plus, it's hard to shift when you're chomping down on a hamburger and drinking a soda while you're driving. And try talking on your cell phone while you're shifting in that traffic and eating your lunch.
So, there are probably many factors why you don't see as many manual transmission cars in the U.S. any more.
In my car (SLK320 with six-speed manual, BTW), the European version comes with sunglasses holders in the dash. In the U.S. version, they substitute a beverage holder. Figures.
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
Not that I could afford to anyway...
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
I don't think this qualifies as an easter egg or a design flaw but old Mopars (mid 60's to late 70's) had leakage through the heater blower motor that allowed you to listen to the radio without the keys.
If you hit the brakes, turned on the turn signal, and had the heater motor on any position but off, the radio would work. My friends dad worked for a Dodge dealer in the mid 70's and we used to play around in the cars.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
This is the most asinine thing I've heard in a while. Are you sure? They can't put a freaking button in the car, or maybe setup some WIFI or something? They have to have a geek run out on the course to reset the computer??
Way to understand how it works.
Part of doing the easter egg is FLOORING THE PEDAL.
Somehow I don't think this will be triggered by accident.
-- Dr. Eldarion --
It has nothing to do with the computer. F1 cars don't have an electrical starter. It'd be stupid, since they can use an external one to start the car. It would just be deadweight during the race. Even if nowadays they make the car lighter than regulations, it'd be stupid to add a starter because its a weight which they can't move to balance the car.
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you
The Ford Aerostar does this without any user input. I've personally witnessed three Flaming Aerostars that spontaneously combusted and I've heard of many more.
------
Objects in Mirror are Losing!
The "floor the gas to turn off the fuel injectors" thing is by design. This feature is also in GM's cars (at least those which used TBI). This is known as the "flood clear" feature. Of course, if you do this while the engine isn't flooded, the car won't start.
Apparently, when I was in USAF and the fleet had just started getting fuel-injected vehicles, airmen used to carbs were tripping this feature... so each "new" vehicle had something like "DO NOT FLOOR GAS PEDAL WHILE STARTING" on the dashboard.
--
Me spell chucker work grate. Need grandma chicken.
When I need software to peel out in a BMW. WTF?
The biggest problem is most consumer price CVTs cant take much torque, the Audi model might be better at this, but the honda CVT is only available for smaller civics.
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
So what happens if you get the embedded-software equivalent of a BSOD in the transmission controller while trying this stunt?
;-)
Hmmm... simultaneous launch of all four wheels in different directions, perhaps?
Loud complaints and cuss-words from the onboard speech synthesizer?
Noises that would make those in 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' seem reasonable?
Oh, the possibilities!
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
Why should I pay $150k for a car to get the privilege to burn out??
I've got two cars for under $5000 that can do the exact same thing any time I want. [Private/personal] cars have really went downhill in the past 30 years.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
Brake, Brake, Brake, Gas, Brake, Gas - Nitro boost
Has anyone ever tried this one in Simpsons Road Rage?:
Gas, brake, honk. Gas, brake, honk. Honk, honk, punch. Gas, gas gas! (From "King Size Homer")
~Philly
Viola!
What was that? You only have an automatic transmission? You can't drive stick? Then you're up a creek where you belong. The more you let a machine control your car the less control you have and you deserve to be stuck with having to look for these silly Easter Eggs in order to wrest control from the machine to do what you want the car to do.
I used to work at a BMW dealership in the service department. When the first M3 with SMG arrived last winter, there was actually a button just aft of the shifter labelled "LAUNCH." How is this an Easter Egg?
You are correct, however the BMW M3 doesn't have an automatic. It is a manual gearbox, with a proper cltuch, and normal gears.
Except the clutch is opened/closed by computer, much faster than any human could do so.
It is _exactly_ like the gearbox in a formula 1 car, it's most similar counterpart in production automobiles is in the ferrarri 360 and f355.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
First off, the SMG gearbox is NOT an automatic. It is an improvement upon a manual gearbox (the computer automatically double-clutches downshifts, etc etc)
secondly, C&D is not known for spectacularly reproducible test conditions or scientific thoroughness.
Finally, the only thing that would make a standard gearbox faster than this one would be less weight, or different gear ratios. I suspect the SMG box is slightly heavier, but do not know that to be the case.
Lets put it this way. On the ferrari SMG gearbox, schumacher had a faster laptime than on the 6 speed in the exact same car. Schumacher is also about the only person who gets a better laptime with ferrari's traction control turned off.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
actually in current formula 1 cars the driver isn't even hitting the paddles anymore, the computer is selecting gears up and down at the appropriate times.
indy car still has manual gear selection by the driver, afaik.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
If i had mod points today, i'd mod you down as "stupid, read the fucking article, and also, please get a fucking clue"
It is a 100% perfectly documented beahvior of the car, extremely unlikely to be done "by accident", and the M3 is _not_ a normal BMW, it is street legal track car with a/c, leather, and a radio. People that buy these are hard core driving enthusiasts, or rich people that want to seem like driving enthusiasts.
Here's a hint: to engage this, you need to leave the gas pedal floored for a few seconds, while doing a few other things simultaneously. Do you often just lleave the gas pedal floored at a standstill ?
BTW, if you're already moving, i dont beleive this feature even works. It is ONLY for doing perfectly controlled maximum-acceleration launches. I.e. you want to drag race from a standing start.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
I think the award for First Automotive Easter Egg definitely goes to Ford for the Pinto.
Hey, any Easter egg where you don't have to use the verbal trigger "Go go Gadget Car!" is an improvement in the technology.
# Users are merely variables. I prefer to comment them out.
Electro-Hydraulic transmissions are computer controlled. F1's are essentially automatic. If you watch F1 you'll notice that only one or two drivers use the paddles to shift. However, drivers can also change the characteristics of the shifting system using controls in the cockpit. This is what I ment by "hinting" the transmission.
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
However, couples who have them tend to be emptynesters who dress alike, often color coordinated to match their car.
Thankfully, most Z3 owners are not the uptight snobs like the rest of the bimmer drivers (trolling, flamebait, call it what you will )
Do people consider themselves yuppies anymore? I thought that species died out right before the dotcom boom...
Audi's can easily handle the torque, and that's mainly because they aren't belt driven. Currently they are only available on the A4's (in the US), which boasts 221 lb/ft of torque in the 3.0litre V6 model. A belt driven CVT would definitely snap with this amount of power.
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
This is OT but I'll ask it here because you guys seem to know a lot about cars.
/.er who doesn't know much about cars and isn't interested in racing, but likes tech stuff? Something with a lot of cool accessories and automation? Let's say you could spend a lot, $40 or $50K. Thanks!
What would be a good car for a
I have an Audi S4, and I love it, but it's a great car with a mediocre tranny - and I have the 6-speed. The Tiptronic is still an automatic, and feels like it. It's much improved with a 'tip chip' that shortens the shift times and makes the shift points more aggressive, but it's still an automatic :/
However, Audi's rumored to be working on a Multitronic-based "sequential manual" style tranny for the next RS4... possibly a 7-speed!
-- "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything." -Joseph Stalin
"So now, cheap slow cars are all any domestic companies can make"
are you a troll, or just ignorant?
Viper
or
my favorite
That just the 2 big ones off the top of my head.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I sold BMWs for a few months back in the early nineties. (One of the coolest experiences of my life even though the dealership was going under and I nearly went bankrupt for the chance to play with such cool toys.) I got to be pretty good friends with the regional technical trainer (or whatever they called them) for our region. (He was a tech/engineering geek and I think he liked me because, unlike most of the salesmen, I wasn't there just to make a buck. I genuinely loved the cars and the technology and engineering that went into them.) With a name like Dietz Froelich, I figured he knew what he was talking about, too. ;-)
Anyway, there was constant debate amongst the salesmen over whether it was fact or myth that in the 8 series, when you reached 110 mph, the windows and sunroof would close automatically (to prevent the horrendous wind buffeting in the cabin resulting from the small size and aerodynamic shape of the car's interior.) I searched all the tech documentation and found no mention so I asked Dietz to settle it for me. He merely smiled and said, "I wouldn't know. It's not documented and it's illegal to drive that fast in your country. Whenever I've driven an 8 series that fast on the Autobahn I was always smart enough to have the windows and sunroof already closed."
So... we had an 850 on the lot that was over a year old and still never titled. (As I said, the dealership was going under.) It had to be driven every so often to keep the batteries (it has two) charged so that on the rare occasions someone was genuinely interested in it, it would start. One beautiful summer day I talked the sales manager into letting me take it to lunch. He reminded me that I would be working nearly two years at my current earnings level to pay for it and tossed me the key. (He was a pretty nervous guy by nature. I was shocked he actually let me take it.)
Of course I immediately opened the windows and sunroof and headed out to a stretch of smooth, open country highway near the dealership.
He nearly fainted when I came back in, threw the key on his desk and said casually over my shoulder, "The windows and sunroof thing is true."
Man, those were the days.
Like most Software people here in Oz, we could get 3x as much in the US or Europe. But that would mean leaving Australia - and I for one don't think it's worth it (having done 5 years in Germany, the US etc).
Zoe Brain - Rocket Scientist
... the hack that clears the counter that tracks how many times you've done this. :)
-- Mal: "Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious."
I don't have one of the rice-rockets or one of the various expensive eurosports coupes or sedans. Just a plain old Mustang with a 4.6 and a 5 speed (and only a mediocre rear end at 3.27) and no gotterdamerung ABS. But it's a hell of a lot of fun to drive hard and a bit of a challenge to handle winding down nice backwoods roads.
Sure, I could have a faster gearbox, an OEM supercharger, a lower ratio rear end, a dropped and tunable suspension, etc. (And I suppose I'd enjoy the 5.4L engine...)
But the fun of driving the car is in seeing what you can do with the hardware available. The skill of the driver isn't in having the most expensive hardware, its making the best use of the available hardware.
And having fun!
-- Mal: "Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious."
But being a "yank," and no disrespect to the Europeans, I like this [link to viper] better. And yeah, it's got a real clutch. :-D
Yeah, the Viper's kinda nice. A clutch, some serious rubber on the road, some cubes under the hood, and a roaring powerhouse of an engine.
But having said all that, it *is* still a Dodge.....
-- Mal: "Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious."
A good modern automatic is as fast or faster than a manual, and one heck of a lot easier to drive in heavy traffic.
I may not ever buy another car with a manual transmission, and as a Ferrari owner (308gt4 with a 5-speed, of course) I consider myself a pretty serious car guy. I have nothing against manuals (other than they're a pain in a daily driver), but I don't see anything mystical about them either.
With today's tranny tech, there's really no reason to have to put up with the downsides of a manual slushbox anymore. Automatics (whether auto-shifted manuals, high-performance automatics, or CVT designs like Audi's new one that is finally able to take non-trivial torque) are faster, easier, and better in pretty much every respect. If they weren't superior, you wouldn't find people willing to pay a serious premium for them on new Ferraris, and wouldn't find them used on every competitive F1 car. The battle is over, and in the realm pf real performance, the manual tranny is history.
I'm personally convinced that if the weenies at the car magazines quit acting like manuals are required on serious sports cars, they'd die out in a few years. I expect they'll be pretty dead in another decade, anyway, and people will wonder why anyone would want to shift those "old cars" just the same way as we look at old Model Ts and think what a pain it must have been to have to continually adjust the spark with that lever on the steering column.
People lamented the passing of that anachronism, too, but not for long. It's time for the manual transmission to go.
"The future's good and the present is nothing to sneeze at." - Roblimo's last
and got his first stock a month before Win3 was released.
No. CVT is continuously variable, but typical CVT applications (multitronic included) include preset gear ratios to mimic a traditional automatic tranny - or, for that matter, a SMG. CVT can also do really cool things, like hold you at the horsepower peak (by continuously changing the gear ratio) for great acceleration.
If Audi did an "SMG" it might actually be based on a CVT rather than a true sequential manual. They'll eventually beef up the multitronic's capabilities though.
The S4's shifter is good once you replace it (I have a tanoga short-shift and a drivetrain stabilizer) but stock it's kinda lame.
-- "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything." -Joseph Stalin
In some countries if you pass your test on a manual you may then drive auto or manual. If you pass on an auto car you can only drive an auto.
In some countries (like Poland) you can't take the driving exam on a auto, only on manual.