FormerFF
10-04-2013, 10:03 PM
Someone backed into my daily driver, so while it's in the body shop, I have a rental 2014 Toyota Corolla. This particular one is equipped with a continuously variable transmission and, oddly enough, paddle shifters. Put the car in Drive, move the shift lever to the left, and the car gives you control of the shifting - sort of. It puts a number up on the dash display which corresponds to what "gear" it's in. It will more or less act like a transmission with gears, unless you do something it doesn't think you should do, at which point it takes back over.
Quite honestly, just plonking along in traffic, it makes better decisions than I can. The CVT has an impressive range of ratios, and depressing the gas pedal gets the engine up to 4000 RPM quite smartly. The engine speed, when in automatic mode, varies depending on load, rather than vehicle speed. Since there's not an actual gearchange, it's fairly seamless, to the point where I don't think it would upset the car if you squeezed the throttle in as you approached the apex of a turn, so much of the reason for manually "shifting" the transmission aren't there.
I can think of one use for the paddles: descending a hill, in auto mode there's little or no compression braking. Engaging the paddle will get you some. It might also have some entertainment value on a twisty road, but I doubt you'd get a better lap time.
I've always been a manual transmission guy, but it's hard to ignore all the new transmission technology going on out there. My sister bought a VW Beetle with a dual (wet) clutch transmission, my wife's new Explorer has a conventional 6 speed automatic, but it has a manual mode, Ford has a dry dual clutch setup for its current Focus and Fiesta range, and any number of marques are developing or already have CVTs, and then there are pure electrics with a one speed transmission. What the conventional three pedal setup has going for it is simplicity, low cost, and good efficiency, but most people don't like to clutch or shift. Depending on the parasitic losses in the CVT system, it's very possible that this will be the predominant technology in the near future.
I still prefer the three pedal setup, but if something else is more efficient, I'm not going to be the last one clinging to an obsolete technology. If that winds up being a dual clutch or CVT, so be it.
Quite honestly, just plonking along in traffic, it makes better decisions than I can. The CVT has an impressive range of ratios, and depressing the gas pedal gets the engine up to 4000 RPM quite smartly. The engine speed, when in automatic mode, varies depending on load, rather than vehicle speed. Since there's not an actual gearchange, it's fairly seamless, to the point where I don't think it would upset the car if you squeezed the throttle in as you approached the apex of a turn, so much of the reason for manually "shifting" the transmission aren't there.
I can think of one use for the paddles: descending a hill, in auto mode there's little or no compression braking. Engaging the paddle will get you some. It might also have some entertainment value on a twisty road, but I doubt you'd get a better lap time.
I've always been a manual transmission guy, but it's hard to ignore all the new transmission technology going on out there. My sister bought a VW Beetle with a dual (wet) clutch transmission, my wife's new Explorer has a conventional 6 speed automatic, but it has a manual mode, Ford has a dry dual clutch setup for its current Focus and Fiesta range, and any number of marques are developing or already have CVTs, and then there are pure electrics with a one speed transmission. What the conventional three pedal setup has going for it is simplicity, low cost, and good efficiency, but most people don't like to clutch or shift. Depending on the parasitic losses in the CVT system, it's very possible that this will be the predominant technology in the near future.
I still prefer the three pedal setup, but if something else is more efficient, I'm not going to be the last one clinging to an obsolete technology. If that winds up being a dual clutch or CVT, so be it.