I've just added a Smart Pulse to the company fleet as a pool car (OK, and for a bit of a laugh too...) and it came with the paddle-shift thrown-in. The Smart 'box is a tad sluggish, but the fun factor is massive (and with only 700cc and 60 or so horses) - if Honda produced a sequential box, I'm pretty sure it would work brilliantly with 237 hp and 9,000 rpm. Let's hope there's one on the option list for the next model...

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by markwneale
[B] if Honda produced a sequential box, I'm pretty sure it would work brilliantly with 237 hp and 9,000 rpm.

 

There's a major difference between so-called Tiptronic gearboxes and a true sequential - I consider a Tiptronic little more than "ye olde" auto with lock-up converter and a simple manual shift/overide - this system was in an A8 I ran for a short while and is the same "fiddle about with it when the car's just been bought then forget about it 5 minutes later" system that's in my mums and countless other Merc's.

A true sequential system - Ferrari F1, Alfa Selespeed, BMW SMG, VW DSG etc is what I'd like to see fitted.

 

I went out with me pops in my mums fto a few months back, we were flying downa dual carridgeway in 3rd (tiptronic) when a car in the left hand lane suddenly pulled out. My dad broke really hard we ended up sideways on the wrong side of the road but somehow managed not to hit anything. Anyway as a result the gearbox got stuck in 3rd gear (of 4) we consequently had to drive 5 miles home through a town centre without changing gear or letting the car stall. Twas like a mini version of Speed the film , great to think back to.

So no thanks, I too will give it a miss.

 

Love the gearbox, cant really see the fun in a sequetial..

But hey, cant say no till I've tried it

 

I drove an M3 smg last week and the box was great fun although the delay between gears was a little strange you kind of have to imagine that you have a clutch as your head keeps moving during gear changes, the best bit was changing down 2 gears and flooring it, the throttle blips automatically and sounds great. When I got back into the S I thought it might feel totally inferior and make me want an M3 but I found myself enjoying the drive more and feeling so much more part of the car. The M3s a great peice of kit but the S just has that fun factor.

 

No way - the present S gearbox is just fab. I don't think I'd go for a sequential gear box.

Bharat

 

Mark, the 'boxes you referred to above are all 'robotised manual' gearboxes - an example of a true sequential 'box would be a motorbike gearbox. To illustrate this, in a Selespeed you can drop straight down to first when stopping at the lights without having to go through the other gears in between, whereas in a sequential 'box you wouldn't be able to.

Still, I'd agree with you in that a DSG mated to a 9k engine would be

 

I think the major advantage of these actuated systems is that you can keep two hands on the steering wheel at all times...and the car dealer could never say you over rev the engine after it goes bang during a downshift.