My new toy

[Sheep]

I disagree! I learned to drive on a 4 speed renault 5 (le car, as it was called in the U.S.), I actually like driving a stick. But I also drive through heavy traffic often and that's when the fun ends. Tiptronic brings SOME of the fun of the stick shift, but only when you want it. Formula 1 race cars actually have paddles at the wheel to shift up and down, no cluth and stick; so tiptronic is more like an F1 than a traditional stick.

F1 cars don't use the style of triptronic you're thinking of. Modern day Triptronic transmissions are basically automatics that your shift. They still have a TC, and they are still slower then a good stick.

F1 cars use sequential gear boxes.

Formula One cars use semi-automatic sequential gearboxes with six or seven forward gears and one reverse gear. The driver initiates gear changes using paddles mounted on the back of the steering wheel and electro-hydraulics perform the actual change as well as throttle control. Clutch control is also performed electro-hydraulically except from and to a standstill when the driver must operate the clutch using a lever mounted on the back of the steering wheel. By regulation the cars use rear wheel drive. A modern F1 clutch is a multi-plate carbon design with a diameter of less than four inches (100 mm), weighing less than 2.20 lbs (1 kg) and handling 900 hp (670 kW) or so.

Variable shift gearboxes have been long banned, thus creating heated contention in the introduction of the new seamless shift gearbox, which eliminate the split-second loss of drive during a gear change. The ultimate advantage of this is said to be from five to ten seconds over a complete race distance, which is a significant gain when races are sometimes only won by three seconds or less.

SheepStar

 

[johndoe]

F1 cars don't use the style of triptronic you're thinking of. Modern day Triptronic transmissions are basically automatics that your shift. They still have a TC, and they are still slower then a good stick.

F1 cars use sequential gear boxes.



SheepStar

I agree. I was just trying to say that tiptronic brings some fun back to driving automatic transmission, and that F1 cars haven't had a stick for years. I didn't equate my $18K mazda to a multi million dollar F1 car.

 

[johndoe]

I do understand the aspect of traffic and might even be able to forgive it although I never thought I would until I was stuck in crawling traffic for two hours in my car.

Feel free to visit Chicago

 

[avaserfi]

Feel free to visit Chicago

Ill be there mid-august for a couple days too bad I won't be allowed to touch anything audio related since I am celebrating an anniversary with the girl.

 

[johndoe]

Ill be there mid-august for a couple days too bad I won't be allowed to touch anything audio related since I am celebrating an anniversary with the girl.

this is way off topic, but if you and your girlfriend are into fine food and wine and are up for spending about $500 on one single dinner, make reservations for Charlie Trotter's. If this is your cup of tea, make them NOW, don't wait. I'm going to stop here because this was supposed to be a thread about a new mazda 3

 

[Hi Ho]

Hahaha, I just found THIS post on a forum. The trip computer is installed in every model, not just the Grand Touring. You can unlock it with a simple procedure! I tried it and it worked! It tells me my average speed, miles to empty, miles per gallon, and some other stuff.