No More manual for A4?!

[Mark R]

I have to say, paddle shifts ARE the future of manual transmissions.
Ferrari's F1 system is simply magnificent, and the VAG DSG is very, very
good.  Personally, I'm a 3 pedal guy, but when a transmission shifts
perfectly every time, blips the throttle on downshifts, AND allows you to
downshift at redline of the lower gear.... well... what more can you ask
for?

Sometimes your hands aren't in the right postion (retrain the driver or add
longer paddles), and some systems (VAG, BMW come to mind) could use some
software tweaking for the enthusiast, but they're really quite good and
shock load the drivetrain less.  I can tell you from personal experience,
rear wheel lockup (due to rev limiter) on a downshift at corner entry sure
does get exciting!
The systems with small little shift buttons are just poor ergonomically.

 I think a lot of thier confusion (or hatred) is that people either perceive
them as an automatic, or want to drive them as such.

But drive a DSG (or another similar system) and I think everyone would come
to the same conclusions.  I still like my 6 speed manual transmissions, but
I'd drive a good paddle shifted car.

Mark Rosenkrantz
On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 9:21 AM, Brett Dikeman <quattro at frank.mercea.net>wrote:

>
> On Aug 22, 2008, at 9:16 AM, Bares, Vittorio wrote:
>
>
> B)Sophisticated paddle system like DSG?  They're in the second
> generation now, with dry clutches and reportedly better power
> handling; the next S4 may very well come with it.
>
> Drive a DSG, in the TT or A3.  Unless you're simply nostalgic, you
> won't want anything else.
>
> Brett
>