Quote:
Originally Posted by Edward
Agreed. An awful lot of people like to put on the ruse that by driving a manual transmission they are able to "control" the car better. I agree that you do have the final say in what your car does when you're in a manual but facing the probable fact, a lot of manual drivers cannot operate a manual transmission to an expert level where the driver input is spot on all the time.
As long as what I input is not close to perfect and this remains my only car I daily drive, I'll choose a transmission that is idiot proof so I can concentrate more on either the coffee in my hand (damn you cupholders) or other aspects of spirited driving that I'm again, not a professional at.
That being said, I will gladly give up being able to tell my car its my way or the highway with regards to how I operate it for a transmission that will 98% of the time act exactly as I wish for it to operate.
I do enjoy the heck out of driving a manual the infrequent occasions I get to drive one. Just being more involved in the driving process is fun when it's simply for that - fun.
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My statements about DCT are all physically observable realities. You are trying to falsify reality with a mix-up of semantics, twisting the word "control" outside of its true meaning. This isn't a rhetorical exercise. No need to talk about "objectivity" and "subjectivity" when describing how many physically independent degrees of control exist between the transmission and the driver. There are: MT = 2 degrees, DCT = 1 degree. It is what it is - not debatable -. This is not going to change by how you feel about it.
Now let's step to something else that you are souping things up with: "sense of speed" and "having more brain time to focus on other aspects of driving the car". You will not be able to make them pass as "control" when they have strictly nothing to do with it . I am not disagreeing that you are having driving sensations since THESE are purely subjective to each driver. But just think for a second about about how sitting on the passenger front seat in the nurburgring M3 taxi would feel incredibly faster because you have zero control of the car as a passenger. In fact the more you are in control the less fast your driving experience will feel (and the safer if you are the driver!). Ok so DCT lets you better enjoy the cup holders and enjoying beverages while driving (and what else), hey that's great. No kidding. I believe this has not been a small factor when choosing DCT in a country where the drivein was invented.
Now about the whole misconception that driving a manual is so difficult that "idiot drivers" (i am quoting your words) could not master it sufficiently to extract every bit of performance out of the M3. That is nonsense. You don't need to drive the car to 99.9% of its capacity to enjoy it (nearly all M3 owners will never be able to drive it to the edge anyway with Manual or DCT). The shifting speed superiority of the DCT is not going to make any significant difference to almost all M3 drivers. but I concede the point about he cup holder enjoyment
Not that you could also get that from a true automatic.
I want to quote one of my fellow MT driver. He said it much better but it was something along these words: I want the freedom of occasionally missing some of my shifts and hear the engine growl in discontent because that is part of the fun too.
My ideal transmission does not exist yet. It would be a manual with clutch pedal that can also be bypassed with DCT. But please no DCT for 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear.