[Cialug] OT: safe/reliable fuel-efficient cars.

[Eric Junker]

Nathan C. Smith wrote:
> A lot of the high end cars seem to come with something
> tranmission-a-tronic or matic where you can shift, or the car will do
> it for you.  Really lame IMHO.  Volvo and Porche have stuff like
> that.

The point of semi-automatic transmissions is that you don't have to use 
a clutch. The electronics can synchronize the timing and torque to make 
the gear shift quick and smooth. A lot of race cars have paddle shifters 
on the steering wheel for shifting. So in a way it is a cool feature to 
have if you want to pretend to be a race car driver :)

Eric