Advanced Driving Hub

jcochrane wrote:I entirely agree with you Mark, my experience also.
My question was to GTR1400MAN as I am puzzled as to what he does do for a very short stop if not the footbrake and does he do anything different depending on whether the auto has stop start or not.

I’ve understood that for very short stops the general advice was to stop the car creeping forward by keeping the footbrake on.

For a very short stop I keep firm pressure on the brake pedal. That way the 1st gear clutch removes drive/creep.

If the stop/start is switched on, that is when it will go to sleep ... hence why I turn it off all the time.

waremark wrote:Haven't driven a Renault with DCT. It might put me off what is otherwise a great car. What advantages does DCT now offer over a good conventional auto? The ZF 8 is so responsive that subjectively it replicates a DCT once on the go while being more pleasant while manoeuvring and at slow speeds. (I don't know whether manufacturers can optimise acceleration times with autos - are there any autos with launch control? )

Advantage is probably weight and cost saving.

I like the DCT apart from the stop/start implementation. Auto and manual, best of both worlds. Took a while to get used to slow speed manouvers.

Your ZF-8 now has 8 gears I believe there's some about with 9 or 10 gears. Soon the manufacturers will give in and realise that CVT is the end game. I'm keeping my eyes open for something sporty with CVT to appear. I may try the Civic CVT to see what it is like but it has become a bit of a porker, growing in size with each generation make over.

If you get a chance to have a go in a demo Clio, I'd be interested in your view of the stop/start implementation. Remember in your head when driving it that it has 2 DRY clutches.

waremark wrote:are there any autos with launch control?

yes - 911 with PDK and launch control - drove one at Silverstone a couple of years ago...

mind you - still can't understand the purpose of launch control - wasn't even much fun...

Alasdair

akirk wrote:

waremark wrote:are there any autos with launch control?

yes - 911 with PDK and launch control

But that's a twin-clutch gearbox. What about slushboxes with launch control?

David