Norm Peterson
Corner Barstool Sitter
If Ford really was really interested in retaining as much of a conventional MT's feel as possible, they'd have given it a proper shift lever. Better still with a +/- gate for gear selection at that lever (like at least two other mfrs have done with conventional automatics). Not a knob inspired by the sort of small kitchen appliance that you might shop at Bed, Bath & Beyond for.View attachment 11103 The new Hot Rod magazine has a pretty good article on the DCT transmission.
On HRM's apparent position . . . they're trying to define 'automatic' strictly in terms of conventional AT design (torque converters and planetary gearsets, vs shift forks and synchros), when by all logic anything whose operation is either partially or fully automated falls under the umbrella of 'automatic'. That doesn't make it bad, just not all-manual.
Norm
Last edited: