The Elio Automatic Transmission

[lkptpete]

I actually own one and don't find your comments to be based on my own experience. If you want to have a Ferrari with a conventional manual you will be looking for a fairly old used car. They don't sell them anymore. Rehashing old BS is still a load of poop.

My mother owns a smart four2. The automatic manual is just as terrible as the review I posted suggests. If you don't know that it is operating normally, you would think the car is terribly broken

 

[lkptpete]

I'm getting a manual transmission model. That being said, I think a CVT would suit the Elio well.

 

[Jim H]

Hopefully, it will be an improvement over existing models

 

[Lil4X]

I don't know it would help, but one of the tricks to driving the old MoPar automatics was to learn to feather off the throttle as you approach your shift point. It took practice, and it demanded short-shifting, but it would smooth out the jerky shifts. It didn't suppress the resounding "CLACK" from beneath the floorboards that announced the completed shift into "high", but it was better than the alternative.

OTOH, without this "feathering" technique, a forced high-rev shift would have you searching the back seat for your head.

 

[ElioDigger]

The smarts have an AMT. They work good in my opinion. I drive mine mostly in manual ( you shift but there is no clutch). The draw back , and some call it jerky, is the shift points in auto mode. the shift is always the same speed ( time to go from one gear to another) So, in auto, it can be jerky under hard acceleration. That being said, I would pick a manual over a AMT if I had to make the choice. I can also say in 75k miles I have had no issues with the AMT.

 

[ElioTony]

With my own and others remarking the transmission in the SmartCars, I would suggest to folks with the ability (dealer) nearby and curiosity of how that transmission handles (shifts) in either auto or manual auto shifting to test drive and form their own opinion and worthiness of plunking down $6800 for the proposed/actual soon to come Elio....if that is the route they decide on for the transmission. But I understand nothing can really compare to the future test drive of our current wishes

 

[champsman]

The reason why PE says that the auto and manual will be the same transmission is that EM plans on using a single clutch automated manual transmission (AMT) which is simply a manual transmission with computer controlled electro-mechanical actuators added to it which work the clutch and shift gears.

So the manual and automatic are mechanically the same except the automatic version removes the clutch pedal and gear shift and replaces them with computer controlled actuators. An AMT is driven the same as any other automatic in that D is selected and everything else happens automatically. Some AMT vehicles may also include the option to manually select gears via the shift lever and/or steering wheel paddles.

I have driven 10and 18 speed AMT's in big rigs, and there were 2 main differences, one system used a clutch (3 pedal system) and the other was a 2 pedal system. The draw back to me was the 2 pedal had a very hard time creeping (slow moving manuvers) it would jerk as the auto clutch would engage and dis-engage, where as the 3 pedal system had a clutch which was only used for stopping and starting and you could manuver as slow or as fast as you liked without jerking. Otherwise both worked excellent.

 

[wheaters]

In this household we have two automatics and two manual gearboxes (I've owned an equal number of each over the forty years I've been driving) . I have no preference for either overall but I do like an auto for my 45 mile each way commute to and from work. I have to use one of the busiest stretches of motorway in UK. It can take as little as 45 minutes, or up to 2 hours 45 minutes, depending on traffic! I once tried to count how many gear changes I needed in heavy traffic. I gave up about half way home when I lost count at around 1200. I bought an auto after my old lower back injury began giving me real trouble, possibly due to all these gear changes.

However, the cheaper of the two autos we own is not so pleasant to drive. My wife uses that vehicle, she loves it.

 

[goofyone]

...However, the cheaper of the two autos we own is not so pleasant to drive. My wife uses that vehicle, she loves it.

Thanks for mentioning this as it is exactly the issue that makes it impossible to tell how anyone will like the Elio AMT. Until we actually get to drive one we will not know the characteristics of this AMT and even then some people will like it and others will not.

I have known a number of Smart owners who love their AMT equipped Smart yet have heard from others that they hate them. I have heard good things about the Nissan CVT's, and have a good friend who loves the several CVT equipped Nissans his family owns, yet I have rented several Sentras and Altimas and absolutely hate them to the point that, after several trips and several thousand miles total, I switched my preferred car rental company to avoid the CVTs.

 

[ElioDigger]

yes creeping is hard. once you learn the transmission it is a very good unit. IMHO, the smart has a bad rap for its transmission