Great question! It really forced me to think.
It is partly curiousity (coming from a long time driving only manual cars) that I'm keen to understand what gear the car is in when in auto mode. It will take me a while to get used to when it shifts to what gear and under what load and in what mode - and knowing the gear would help my learning. I realise that the whole idea of an auto is to take away the issue of what gear it is in, and just let the car do what it has to do, and I realise that I have bought an automatic car and that it is not a manual, but I am still keen to understand what gear it is in in what mode (probably just not ready to give that whole gear thing away entirely ... yet).
As an example - I have heard people say that it won't shift readily into 8th in Sport mode until you hit speeds beyond the limit, but in Comfort mode it will. Unless I have an indicator that tells me what gear I am in, I won't know (am I revving overly hard in 7th or cruising in 8th?). I'll learn it eventually - but it will be faster if I can see the gear I am in.
A lot of my driving is longer distance at 100km/hr ... punctuated by occasional bursts of fun at roundabouts and the like ... so for the fun bits I want maximum acceleration and "sportiness", but for the rest I just want to be in 8th gear cruising along. I am probably describing comfort mode for the most part I guess ... with my right foot being heavier as I exit the roundabouts (and maybe paddle shifting - knowing that after I hit the speed limit and ease off, that it will revert to full auto). I certainly don't want to be changing from Comfort ... to Sport everytime I hit a roundabout ... then back to Comfort when I am back at the speed limit, but I also don't want to stay full time in Sport if it is going to hold higher revs or not let me into 8th gear.
I guess the other interest in what gear the car is in, is if I am in auto mode and then want to use paddleshifters (perhaps to gear down for an approaching roundabout - so that I arrive in the optimal gear for how I want to tackle it / exit it) ... then before I shift it would be good to know what gear I am in, then I will know how many shifts to make to be in the gear that I want to be in. Apparently the only way that your gear is displayed though - is after you have already made that initial paddle shift (from gear "x" to gear "x-1").
Forgive me for the above seeming pretty theoretical - as that is exactly what it is. We have only had a couple of short test drives - and the above is based on some pretty limited impressions (while we wait for delivery of our Stinger - in the coming weeks). The main thing that stayed with me from those drives (other than how awesome the car felt to drive - and the amazing acceleration) was that I preferred Sport mode for its immediate acceleration - but didn't like the way that it hung onto the gears. In my manual cars - I often make my initial gear change at maybe 4000RPM (on a quickish take off), but once I reach the speed limit I ultimately slot it into a gear that will sit around 2,000RPM (which is what I would equate to a sort of "auto" mode). In the Stinger - it seems that the only ways to do this are to drive:
It is partly curiousity (coming from a long time driving only manual cars) that I'm keen to understand what gear the car is in when in auto mode. It will take me a while to get used to when it shifts to what gear and under what load and in what mode - and knowing the gear would help my learning. I realise that the whole idea of an auto is to take away the issue of what gear it is in, and just let the car do what it has to do, and I realise that I have bought an automatic car and that it is not a manual, but I am still keen to understand what gear it is in in what mode (probably just not ready to give that whole gear thing away entirely ... yet).
As an example - I have heard people say that it won't shift readily into 8th in Sport mode until you hit speeds beyond the limit, but in Comfort mode it will. Unless I have an indicator that tells me what gear I am in, I won't know (am I revving overly hard in 7th or cruising in 8th?). I'll learn it eventually - but it will be faster if I can see the gear I am in.
A lot of my driving is longer distance at 100km/hr ... punctuated by occasional bursts of fun at roundabouts and the like ... so for the fun bits I want maximum acceleration and "sportiness", but for the rest I just want to be in 8th gear cruising along. I am probably describing comfort mode for the most part I guess ... with my right foot being heavier as I exit the roundabouts (and maybe paddle shifting - knowing that after I hit the speed limit and ease off, that it will revert to full auto). I certainly don't want to be changing from Comfort ... to Sport everytime I hit a roundabout ... then back to Comfort when I am back at the speed limit, but I also don't want to stay full time in Sport if it is going to hold higher revs or not let me into 8th gear.
I guess the other interest in what gear the car is in, is if I am in auto mode and then want to use paddleshifters (perhaps to gear down for an approaching roundabout - so that I arrive in the optimal gear for how I want to tackle it / exit it) ... then before I shift it would be good to know what gear I am in, then I will know how many shifts to make to be in the gear that I want to be in. Apparently the only way that your gear is displayed though - is after you have already made that initial paddle shift (from gear "x" to gear "x-1").
Forgive me for the above seeming pretty theoretical - as that is exactly what it is. We have only had a couple of short test drives - and the above is based on some pretty limited impressions (while we wait for delivery of our Stinger - in the coming weeks). The main thing that stayed with me from those drives (other than how awesome the car felt to drive - and the amazing acceleration) was that I preferred Sport mode for its immediate acceleration - but didn't like the way that it hung onto the gears. In my manual cars - I often make my initial gear change at maybe 4000RPM (on a quickish take off), but once I reach the speed limit I ultimately slot it into a gear that will sit around 2,000RPM (which is what I would equate to a sort of "auto" mode). In the Stinger - it seems that the only ways to do this are to drive:
- in Comfort mode auto (with slightly less throttle response off the mark - and no idea what gears I am in) or
- in Sport mode auto (with it holding the gears longer - and still no idea what gear I am in) or
- in Comfort mode with paddle shift initially (and being able to see the gear I am in - at least after the initial shift) and then let it default back to auto once I hit the speed limit or
- in Sport mode with paddle shift initially (and being able to see the gear I am in - at least after the initial shift) and then hold the right shift in for 1 sec to let it go back to auto mode once I hit the speed limit and want to go back to more relaxed driving
