[car_fan]

Originally Posted by mlhj83

This is not a 6MT vs DCT discussion, but how is being able to select 3rd in a manual advantageous? You can do the same thing in DCT. OP's situation was that he executed the automatic multiple downshift function that DCT has but it didn't select the lowest gear for whatever reason. However, if he had done the conventional way of manually selecting 3rd by pulling the downshift paddle multiple times, he would have got 3rd.

It is also worth noting, that for a lot of people, they don't always know the optimum gear for a particular road speed for maximum acceleration. It's people who take driving seriously that know. For example, your average person may be able to tell you whether you need to change up or change down a gear based on the feel of whether the engine is over-revving or labouring, but once they get to a steady cruise and suddenly need maximum acceleration, majority cannot tell you the exact gear that would give maximum acceleration. This is because the driver has lost the incremental feel of accelerating and decelerating from one gear to another. Don't believe me? Ask your friends, neighbours, relatives, random people etc, whether they know with absolute certainty what the optimum gear is for acceleration at any given speed for their car. Most will be at least one gear off.