[Blobby]

I rented a Polaris Slingshot last week. It turns out that the automatic ones are automated manuals. I’ve heard from truckers that automated manuals are pretty terrible and they’d rather have a manual or regular auto… and I agree.

I was actually amazed to see that an automated manual exists for a production consumer vehicle. It seems like something I would have heard of. I thought semis were the only things that had them. It worked very well… after I figured out why it was so bad. There were allot of whining and other bad sounds coming from the tranny but other than that I was impressed. I’d never want one tho. The Slingshot was quite a fun little car too.

Are there any other automated manuals out there I haven’t heard of.

[The Chief (tm)]

Having driven all kinds of manuals in commercial tractors (Class A) and also the Detroit-Allison 12-speed automated manual, I rather feel that the "automatic" has a lot to say for it, such as direct control via both cruise control and engine braking. For long-haul driving, if you're familiar with the controls, you could drive all day and barely touch the pedals. Very cool.

That said, it's the main air system that does the actual shifting, so you can, in fact, run into shifting problems in lengthy stop & go if your air supply drops a lot. Once that happens, you're stuck with first gear until you re-pressurize...

Still, I think it's mostly the "old-timers" who would prefer to convince themselves (and anyone within earshot) that anyone who hasn't been driving a two-stick 18-speed for the past fifty years isn't a "real" trucker.

Now, all that aside, aren't all of the modern dual-clutch "automatics" actually automated manuals? And very much in use these days in the high-performance vehicles.

[Blobby]

Originally Posted by The Chief (tm)

Having driven all kinds of manuals in commercial tractors (Class A) and also the Detroit-Allison 12-speed automated manual, I rather feel that the "automatic" has a lot to say for it, such as direct control via both cruise control and engine braking. For long-haul driving, if you're familiar with the controls, you could drive all day and barely touch the pedals. Very cool.

That said, it's the main air system that does the actual shifting, so you can, in fact, run into shifting problems in lengthy stop & go if your air supply drops a lot. Once that happens, you're stuck with first gear until you re-pressurize...

Still, I think it's mostly the "old-timers" who would prefer to convince themselves (and anyone within earshot) that anyone who hasn't been driving a two-stick 18-speed for the past fifty years isn't a "real" trucker.

Now, all that aside, aren't all of the modern dual-clutch "automatics" actually automated manuals? And very much in use these days in the high-performance vehicles.

Didn’t know they were air actuated. We had an old yard semi (916 I think?). It had a nightmare air leak. Had to idle for a few minutes before it could be moved. Definitely unsafe for the road.

I’d hope the dual clutches would feel better than this automated manual (working properly). I think of the two as different types of transmissions. Never driven one, but DCT ought should be able to mimic an automatic. This thing didn’t have a “luxury” setting. Only sporty, hard shifts. They were very confident, but definitely not something I’d want in anything except a a “toy” car.

[UnknownJinX]

Smart Fortwo features an AMT, at least the older ones did. I actually got the chance to drive one and... yeah, not great. It basically felt like someone who is rather new to driving a stick shifting for you. The shifts happen too late, they are slow, and you do feel the shift jerks in lower gears.

Another one that may come as a surprise, but a lot of Honda automatics are technically AMT as well. Their internals is a lot closer to a manual trans than a planetary gear auto. Those are okay and don't feel too different from a planetary gear auto, but let's just say that the one in my Accord Coupe V6 gave me the motivation to learn to drive a manual. It's reliable, but man the gear ratios are stupid and the WHP is so much lower than the manual transmission cars.

And then there is the Saab Sensonic, which has an automated clutch with a manual trans. It's still worth wearing your left leg out for a clutch pedal in many situations, unfortunately.

Originally Posted by Blobby

I’d hope the dual clutches would feel better than this automated manual (working properly). I think of the two as different types of transmissions. Never driven one, but DCT ought should be able to mimic an automatic. This thing didn’t have a “luxury” setting. Only sporty, hard shifts. They were very confident, but definitely not something I’d want in anything except a a “toy” car.

DCT generally isn't considered AMT due to, well, having two clutches. This allows for very fast shifts, unlike most AMT. The efficiency is also better on DCT than planetary gear AT.

I drove a Kia Forte with DCT before and it felt fine for a family car. Porsche PDK is also highly regarded, particularly at the track.

The thing with DCT is that you need great logic to go with it if you want it to shine at a track, which is why you see BMW and MB going from DCT back to planetary gear AT (ZF8, in their cases). Supposedly BMW engineers said that if the DCT makes a bad call and shifts to the wrong gear, it can take too long to shift to the right gear. Planetary gear AT has improved to the point that shift time could be comparable to DCT and they can recover faster from a wrong shift. Ford-GM 10AT is said to have faster sequential upshifts in the first few gears than PDK.

And whatever you do, don't buy a Ford family car with DCT. Those are horrible and had lots of issues. There is a reason why Ford abandoned DCT in the end on their FWD cars.

[Spaceme1117]

Several M BMW's have had automatic manuals. The E46 M3 is a good example. Could get it in an actual manual trans or the auto manual. The auto manual was terrible and people avoid it like the plague as it was very unreliable.